Shetland’s serfs

CLOSE cousins to Andrew HN Gray’s miners as “serfs” (Letters, 17 March) were the Shetland crofters and fishermen in thrall to the truck system.

They were compelled to barter their wares to their landlords’ shops, their sole source of goods, sold at high prices.

This racket only came to an end after the Truck Commission’s hearings and report in the 19th century.

Jeremy Godwin

Drovers Lane

Penrith, Cumbria