Scotland at work and at war
• 3 industries in Scotland were boosted by the great war: coal mining, ship building and the production of iron and steel.
• These industries went into serious decline after the war and by the mid 1920's Scotland was facing rising unemployment and industrial decline.
Shipbuilding
• just before war broke out 100,000 workers in Scotland depended in some way on the shipbuilding industry for their wages.
• when war broke out, all the main shipyards were taken under the control of the royal navy.
• The increase in production line technology sped up the process of shipbuilding but also threatened jobs.
• after the war, even more jobs were lost as the demand for ships almost completely dried up.
Fishing
• historians of Scottish fishing look back at around 1900 as the 'glory days'.
• huge shoals of herring provided wealth and employment to fishing towns all over the country.
• by 1913 there were over 10,000 Scottish herring boats and Scotland caught 25% of the UK total.
• when railways were opened and booming, smaller fish towns benefited as they could get their fish to other places to sell.
• Quote from Daniel Mciver, minister at EU congregational church in eyemouth reported "the catch landed at eyemouth this year represents the work of only a hundred boats in all. 1906 is a record year for the quantity caught. "
• 1907-2.5 million barrels of fish were exported.
• main markets-Germany, eastern Europe, Russia.
• the government wanted to keep fisherman fishing until they needed their skills to look for floating water mines. So they created the royal navy volunteer reserve.
• after the war, the fishing industry recovered but the war created a few problems.
• fuel for boats was more expensive.
• the compensation for boats used during the war was too small to properly repair and equip broken boats.
• the first world war had ended the 'glory days' of herring fishing.