Shona
14-12-12, 14:57
Great-grannie, Bell, was born illegitimate. No father is named on her birth certificate. Yet there was family story that her father was a Polish miner.
Today, I came across this interesting hidden history. The Poles brought in were, in fact, Lithuanians. And, apparently, Sir Matt Busby, had Lithuanian hertitage.
There were many different reasons why they left their home on the shores of the Baltic - some were escaping conscription into the Russian army, others were freedom ighters, carrying illegal books in the proscribed Lithuanian language, some were Jews fleeing persecution while others were economic migrants, desperate to escape the crushing poverty at home and prepared to go anywhere in search of a better life.
Many came to Scotland as they couldn't afford the journey on to America, others were even duped into believing they had arrived in America, only subsequently to discover they were, in fact, in Scotland.
When they arrived in Scotland, mostly at the port of Leith, the Lithuanians split into two groups, the Jewish immigrants settling in the Gorbals and the Catholic Lithuanians heading for the smelting works of North Ayrshire, the mines of West Lothian and Fife and, mainly, for the iron works and mines of Lanarkshire, the vast majority settling in the area round Bellshill and Mossend.
Lanarkshire always formed the centre of the Lithuanian community in Scotland, not only did the bulk of the population settle there, but the area also contained the resident Lithuanian priest and the Lithuanian Social Club.
One of the main focal points of the community across Scotland was an annual pilgrimage to the grotto at Carfin - where the Lithuanians have their own plaque. Many who came to Lanarkshire were allegedly recruited in the Baltic by agents of Merry & Cunninghame, owners of ironworks and coalmines in the Carnbroe area. Whether this is true or not, by 1914 over 4,000 Lithuanians had settled in the area.
The Lithuanians weren't made welcome in Scotland. They were seen as competition in the market for jobs, and prepared to do them for less than the indigenous workers. Employers were often accused of using them as strike-breakers. Not only were the newcomers obviously foreign, with little or no grasp of the English language, but they were also devoutly Catholic in a fiercely Presbyterian land. The Lithuanians were routinely referred to as 'Poles' - the same as calling a Scotsman an Englishman! Even the Lithuanian names were subject to native ignorance, with many being changed by immigration officials and bosses at the pits to random Scottish names, Vicentas Stepsis becoming Willie Millar for example. There is even the case of a Lithuanian in Ayrshire who after signing for his pay with an X, saw his name transform into Joseph Ecks. Others changed their name voluntarily, in a bid to avoid harassment and fit into Scottish society more easily.
This ignorance and hostility was apparent at all levels of society, John Wilson, the Unionist candidate for St Rollox, Glasgow, in 1900 did not believe 'it proper that this country should be the dumping ground for all the paupers of Europe'. Trade Unions were openly hostile, claiming that the newcomers' lack of English made them a danger at work; the Glasgow Trades Council declared the Lithuanians in Glengarnock as 'an evil' and wrote to the TUC demanding immigration controls to keep them out.
Even a figure such as Keir Hardie, founding father of the Labour Party, led a fierce, xenophobic campaign against the Lithuanians. Hardie, as a leader of Ayrshire miners, wrote an article for the journal, The Miner, in which he stated that: 'For the second time in their history Messrs. Merry and Cunninghame have introduced a number of Russian Poles to Glengarnock Ironworks. What object they have in doing so is beyond human ken unless it is, as stated by a speaker at Irvine, to teach men how to live on garlic and oil, or introduce the Black Death, so as to get rid of the surplus labourers.'
After a while, however the new arrivals began to fit in to their new adopted country, as their children attended local schools and as trade union involvement by the men gained them a foothold within the local communities.
Lithuanians also moved out of the mines and ironworks, setting up small businesses and even founding their own newspapers, such as Iseiviu Draugas (Immigrant's Friend). The Church also made special provision for the Lithuanians and, from 1904, Father John Czuberkis became the first priest to offer pastoral care specifically for them, based at Holy Family Church in Mossend.
However this process of assimilation was to be rudely brought to a halt with the onset of the First World War. The restrictions placed on immigration during wartime under the Aliens Restriction Act of August 1914 ended immigration from Lithuania for the duration of the conflict. This act was also followed the same year by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, which forced the Lithuanians to register as aliens, despite the fact that many had been living in Lanarkshire for thirty years or more, and many sons of Lithuanians were serving in the British armed forces.
Things became even worse when, in 1917, Britain signed the Anglo-Russian Military Convention. This document related to 'the reciprocal liability to military service of British subjects resident in Russia and Russian subjects resident in Great Britain.' In other words, while the Lithuanians were Poles to the ordinary Scots, they were Russians to the British government, and as such, were liable for service in the Russian army. This led to many of the Lithuanian men of working age in Scotland being sent to Russia. By the time most arrived, the country was in the grip of the Bolshevik Revolution, with over 200 dependent families being left behind in Bellshill alone, facing the threat of eviction from company-owned housing. Of the 1,200 or so men who had gone to Russia, only about a third ever returned to Scotland.
Many of those who had left for Russia were not allowed to return to Britain after the war and their families were forced to leave for Lithuania after the British government suspended dependents' allowances. These families, many comprising people who were Scots-born, were faced with the choice of either leaving or remaining in Scotland with no means of support in an uncertain economic climate.
Today, I came across this interesting hidden history. The Poles brought in were, in fact, Lithuanians. And, apparently, Sir Matt Busby, had Lithuanian hertitage.
There were many different reasons why they left their home on the shores of the Baltic - some were escaping conscription into the Russian army, others were freedom ighters, carrying illegal books in the proscribed Lithuanian language, some were Jews fleeing persecution while others were economic migrants, desperate to escape the crushing poverty at home and prepared to go anywhere in search of a better life.
Many came to Scotland as they couldn't afford the journey on to America, others were even duped into believing they had arrived in America, only subsequently to discover they were, in fact, in Scotland.
When they arrived in Scotland, mostly at the port of Leith, the Lithuanians split into two groups, the Jewish immigrants settling in the Gorbals and the Catholic Lithuanians heading for the smelting works of North Ayrshire, the mines of West Lothian and Fife and, mainly, for the iron works and mines of Lanarkshire, the vast majority settling in the area round Bellshill and Mossend.
Lanarkshire always formed the centre of the Lithuanian community in Scotland, not only did the bulk of the population settle there, but the area also contained the resident Lithuanian priest and the Lithuanian Social Club.
One of the main focal points of the community across Scotland was an annual pilgrimage to the grotto at Carfin - where the Lithuanians have their own plaque. Many who came to Lanarkshire were allegedly recruited in the Baltic by agents of Merry & Cunninghame, owners of ironworks and coalmines in the Carnbroe area. Whether this is true or not, by 1914 over 4,000 Lithuanians had settled in the area.
The Lithuanians weren't made welcome in Scotland. They were seen as competition in the market for jobs, and prepared to do them for less than the indigenous workers. Employers were often accused of using them as strike-breakers. Not only were the newcomers obviously foreign, with little or no grasp of the English language, but they were also devoutly Catholic in a fiercely Presbyterian land. The Lithuanians were routinely referred to as 'Poles' - the same as calling a Scotsman an Englishman! Even the Lithuanian names were subject to native ignorance, with many being changed by immigration officials and bosses at the pits to random Scottish names, Vicentas Stepsis becoming Willie Millar for example. There is even the case of a Lithuanian in Ayrshire who after signing for his pay with an X, saw his name transform into Joseph Ecks. Others changed their name voluntarily, in a bid to avoid harassment and fit into Scottish society more easily.
This ignorance and hostility was apparent at all levels of society, John Wilson, the Unionist candidate for St Rollox, Glasgow, in 1900 did not believe 'it proper that this country should be the dumping ground for all the paupers of Europe'. Trade Unions were openly hostile, claiming that the newcomers' lack of English made them a danger at work; the Glasgow Trades Council declared the Lithuanians in Glengarnock as 'an evil' and wrote to the TUC demanding immigration controls to keep them out.
Even a figure such as Keir Hardie, founding father of the Labour Party, led a fierce, xenophobic campaign against the Lithuanians. Hardie, as a leader of Ayrshire miners, wrote an article for the journal, The Miner, in which he stated that: 'For the second time in their history Messrs. Merry and Cunninghame have introduced a number of Russian Poles to Glengarnock Ironworks. What object they have in doing so is beyond human ken unless it is, as stated by a speaker at Irvine, to teach men how to live on garlic and oil, or introduce the Black Death, so as to get rid of the surplus labourers.'
After a while, however the new arrivals began to fit in to their new adopted country, as their children attended local schools and as trade union involvement by the men gained them a foothold within the local communities.
Lithuanians also moved out of the mines and ironworks, setting up small businesses and even founding their own newspapers, such as Iseiviu Draugas (Immigrant's Friend). The Church also made special provision for the Lithuanians and, from 1904, Father John Czuberkis became the first priest to offer pastoral care specifically for them, based at Holy Family Church in Mossend.
However this process of assimilation was to be rudely brought to a halt with the onset of the First World War. The restrictions placed on immigration during wartime under the Aliens Restriction Act of August 1914 ended immigration from Lithuania for the duration of the conflict. This act was also followed the same year by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, which forced the Lithuanians to register as aliens, despite the fact that many had been living in Lanarkshire for thirty years or more, and many sons of Lithuanians were serving in the British armed forces.
Things became even worse when, in 1917, Britain signed the Anglo-Russian Military Convention. This document related to 'the reciprocal liability to military service of British subjects resident in Russia and Russian subjects resident in Great Britain.' In other words, while the Lithuanians were Poles to the ordinary Scots, they were Russians to the British government, and as such, were liable for service in the Russian army. This led to many of the Lithuanian men of working age in Scotland being sent to Russia. By the time most arrived, the country was in the grip of the Bolshevik Revolution, with over 200 dependent families being left behind in Bellshill alone, facing the threat of eviction from company-owned housing. Of the 1,200 or so men who had gone to Russia, only about a third ever returned to Scotland.
Many of those who had left for Russia were not allowed to return to Britain after the war and their families were forced to leave for Lithuania after the British government suspended dependents' allowances. These families, many comprising people who were Scots-born, were faced with the choice of either leaving or remaining in Scotland with no means of support in an uncertain economic climate.