Jute in Dundee was big business for nearly 100 years. Its one of the things the city is most known for. Its no surprise then that one of the most frequently asked questions at the archives is “How do I find out which jute mill someone worked in?”. This has inspired us to start a new blog series, answering your most frequently asked questions or popular family history topics. So lets start with jute mill records.
First thing I will say is that if you are looking to find out where your ancestor worked – don’t expect too much. Whilst there are some records there are not many that have survived. When it comes to business records the most likely record to survive are the records relating to money, legal contracts and possibly branding. If anything relating to staff has survived this is usually just a top line record of the amount of money spent on wages or the numbers employed. But lets look at what has survived.
Narrow it down
If you had family that lived in Dundee in the latter half of the 19th century or the early 20th century, the chances are that someone worked in one of the many Jute mills in the city. You can usually find a person’s occupation on their marriage certificate, a death certificate, the birth certificates of their children and any census records they were alive for. In case you don’t know, we don’t hold these records but you should be able to access them via the NRS’ Scotland’s People website. In some cases they might just say “Jute Mill Worker” or they could be a bit more specific “Calendar Worker”, “Jute Preparer” or “Jute Spinner”. This won’t help too much to tell you where they worked but might give you some idea of what they did in the mill. If there person you are looking for was alive during the 1921 census, this will tell you their job title and the name of the company they worked for. Sadly earlier censuses do not contain this information
Once you have confirmed when they worked in a jute mill, you next need to work out roughly where this was. Most of the records listed above will also tell you someone’s address. Most people lived quite close to where they worked. So looking at a map of the period will give you an idea of some of the mills in the area. We hold physical copies of town plans and ordnance survey maps of Dundee from the 1850s right up the 1980s. You can also find a lot of these maps on the National Library of Scotland website. If you trace your ancestors addresses over time this might give you a clue as to where they worked, but bear in mind they could have worked at multiple locations. Also a lot of mills were located close to each other so just because they lived on Princes Street this doesn’t mean that they worked at Dens Mills – the East Gate Calendar Works, Cowgate Calendar Works and the Wallace Craigie Mills were all close by, not to mention those further up the hill. But maps are a useful place to start.
Records to confirm
At Dundee City Archives our most comprehensive series of records relating to staff at a mill are the records of the Queen Victoria Spinning Works on Scouringburn/Brook Street (Ref: GD/MUS/105). There are wages books covering 1893-1940 with a few small gaps, and a further book covering 1970-1971. The records less than 100 years old are closed, but the older records are available to view upon request in our searchroom. We have a partial index of these volumes for 1893 and 1901 but hope to include this in our volunteer projects in the near future. The survival of these records is quite rare and as far as we know they are the only records of their kind for a jute mill (or other large business) in Dundee. They are the exception rather than the rule when it comes to wage or staff records.
We also hold records of the Mid Wynd Works in the James Scott & Sons Collection (Ref: GD/JS). There a few records relating to works, but they are not a complete set and are mostly mid 20th century
| GD/JS/8 | Registers | |
| GD/JS/8/1/1 | Register of accidents – Mid Wynd Works [1 booklet] See also 8/2/1 | 1897-1901 |
| GD/JS/8/2/1 | General register – Mid Wynd Works including: register of young persons, 1907-14; register of accidents, 1907-13 register of limewashing, 1907-13; register of visits of certifying surgeon, 1907-14 [1 vol.] | 1907-1914 |
| GD/JS/8/3/1 | Workers Register No.2 (gives date of commencement, date of leaving, reason for leaving) 1 vol.] | 1933-1945 |
| GD/JS/9 | Salary books, wages register | |
| GD/JS/9/1/1 | Wages register [1 vol.] | c.1930-1965 |
| GD/JS/9/2/1 | Staff salary book [1 vol.] | 1944-1954 |
| GD/JS/9/2/2 | Staff salary book [1 vol.] | 1965-1961 |
| GD/JS/10 | Time books, time sheets | |
| GD/JS/10/1/1 | Time book – Mid Wynd Calender Works Lapping Department [1 vol.] | 1863-1864 |
| GD/JS/10/1/2 | Time book – Mid Wynd Calender Works Lapping Department [1 vol.] | 1884-1886 |
Whilst the University of Dundee Archives holds the records of more jute factories, companies and families involved in the jute industry, the records relating to workers in the factories are also scarce. There is a wage book for Claverhouse Bleachfield, 1856-1859 (Ref: MS 10/4), salary books in the Low and Bonar Plc collection, 1910-1970 (Ref: MS 24/1/8/1) (ones less than 100 years old will be closed). There is an accident register for the Bowbridge Works, 1869-1935 (Ref: MS 66/4/7/1). A census of labour employed in the Jute Industry gives the names of male workers employed by Cox brothers (Ref: MS66/2/10/29). They also hold agreements for workers who went out to India to work in mills there (Ref: MS 86/1-4). For more about any of these records please contact the
Whilst the University of Dundee Archives holds the records of more jute factories, companies and families involved in the jute industry, the records relating to workers in the factories are also scarce. There is a wage book for Claverhouse Bleachfield, 1856-1859 (Ref: MS 10/4), salary books in the Low and Bonar Plc collection, 1910-1970 (Ref: MS 24/1/8/1) (ones less than 100 years old will be closed). There is an accident register for the Bowbridge Works, 1869-1935 (Ref: MS 66/4/7/1). A census of labour employed in the Jute Industry gives the names of male workers employed by Cox brothers (Ref: MS66/2/10/29). They also hold agreements for workers who went out to India to work in mills there (Ref: MS 86/1-4). For more about any of these records please contact the University of Dundee Archives.
Other Sources
If nothing described above are of any use, where else can you look?
Newspapers are always worth a try. Now that Dundee newspapers from the 19th century up to 1955 (and even some later ones) have been digitised through the British Newspaper Archive, you can search them by any keyword. Is always worth searching for someone’s name to see if they crop up in anything. They could be mentioned in an accident report, getting a long service award, playing for the mill football team, if they were involved with the union, or something else. They might even be mentioned for other activities they were involved with out of work – clubs, bands, the WI, churches etc.
We do hold records of the Jute and Flax Workers Union (Ref: GD/JF), however this does not contain lists of members. You would only find any reference to a worker if they were heavily involved with the union or on the committee. These records are also unlikely to tell you where someone worked.
If we come across any further records we will add them to this guide.
The Dundee City Archives Blog 
My Aunt worked in the Eagle Jute Mill in Arbroath Road for many years she started when she left school at 14 years of age and worked there until she retired aged 60 years she was a Jute Spinner and I often visited her at her work, I remember the smell of the Jute and the amount of stour that floated around. There was great Camaradie among the workers, she was a member of the Jute & Flax workers Union.
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My Great Grandfather Matthew Kyle along with other relatives worked in the Jute Mills. I’m told he was presented with a medal from the King for his work in India.
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