David McCann: Brushing up on Capital's trade unions of the past

IN their heyday they were the job centres, unions and regulators governing much of Edinburgh's workforce.

Born from an Act of Parliament in 1494, they enjoyed unrivalled authority over the traditional occupations to which every hammer-wielding builder, tailor and candlestick maker were obliged to enrol if they wanted to practise their craft.

Known as trade incorporations, they held the keys to traditional employment in the city since the Renaissance - a pre-eminence that endured until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution some 300 years later.

What many people do not realise, though, is that to this day ten of the city's original incarnations remain.

Gordon Wyllie, who is the current clerk for Edinburgh's Bonnetmakers and Dyers, as well as a member of the Hammermen, explained: "When King James II came back to Scotland he felt that the workmen were not sufficiently well regulated. All the burghs where there were craftsmen had to come together and be regulated by a deacon - an elected representative by the members themselves.

"It was a trade union, and a weights and measure authority, a poor relief organisation and an employers' federation. If you are a painter and decorator, you can't also be a joiner.

"In order to be in business at all, whether as a skilled employee or an employer, you had to become a burgess of the town. In many cases in Edinburgh that's still the case."

In Edinburgh by 1600, there were 14 trade incorporations: the Fleshers, the Tailors, the Skinners, the Furriers, the Waulkers, the Bonnetmakers (now Bonnetmakers and Dyers), the Baxters (bakers), the Websters (weavers), the Cordiners (shoemakers), the Hammermen, the Goldsmiths, the Surgeons, the Wrights and the Masons.

Mr Wyllie said that, by 1846 and the passing of the Burgh Trading Act, the "guilds' monopoly of practice" spiralled into decline.

However, Mr Wyllie's Bonnetmakers and Dyers incorporation, chartered in 1530, exists today for "benevolent and social purposes" and to support the traditions of the past.

Many of the guilds now operate as "friendly societies" preserving their individual heritage. However, several incorporations remain, including:

Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers (established 1505)

This association survives today as the Royal College of Surgeons, one of Edinburgh's most celebrated organisations.

From its earliest origins it has been an examining body principally concerned with the setting and maintenance of professional standards.

A century later, a distinction developed between the Barbers, who simply cut and shaved hair, and the Barber Surgeons, who also practised blood letting and other forms of surgery. The Surgeons gradually abandoned hair cutting and shaving.

Throughout the 16th century the incorporation met in the house of its deacon but meetings were also held in one of the aisles of St Giles' Kirk.

One of the most important landmarks in the early history of the Barber Surgeons is the Royal Charter granted to them by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1567, which formally relieved them from bearing arms in defence of the realm but obliged them to treat sick and wounded soldiers in the Queen's armies.

Incorporation of Goldsmiths (established 1525)

Originally subsumed by the Incorporation of Hammermen, this organisation still exists today, preserved by its statutory role in regulating the assay of articles crafted in precious metals, and is the oldest consumer protection group in Scotland.

Charged with the assaying and marking of its work - dubbed hallmarks due to being struck in the incorporation's own hall - it guaranteed that its customers were buying wares made of gold or silver of the agreed legal standard of fineness.

Today, it administers The Assay Office - Scotland, based at Goldsmiths Hall, in Broughton Street. To mark the turn of the century and a new Scottish Parliament, 15 of Scotland's finest designer/silversmiths were commissioned to create The Millennium Collection for Bute House.

Incorporation of Hammermen (established 1483)

One of the oldest of the trades organisations in Scotland, it owes its origins to the influx of European craftsmen and a desire to protect the monopoly of local trade.

It was common for the larger incorporations such as the Hammermen to encompass several divisions, which in this case included armourers, blacksmiths, beltmakers, cutlers, clockmakers, gold and silversmiths, locksmiths, pewterers and saddlers.

Due to its numbers, it gained considerable influence and by 1583 the incorporation's deacons were permitted to become councillors in local government.

Its role today has changed vastly after 500 years but contacts with Heriot-Watt University's Faculty of Engineering and Telford College have been retained.

It operates a charity fund, to which members contribute through their annual subscription to help fund an annual award for the best student in the Faculty of Engineering at Heriot-Watt University.