Baltasound, Unst, 16 July 1883 - Alexander Harper Homeron

ALEXANDER HARPER HOMERON, Westing (72)—examined.

20469. The Chairman.
—What is your complaint?
—I think the grazing has been ruined, and that we have poor bits of land. The poor were wont to live amongst us, and now they have a little from the parochial board, but it cannot keep them. The poor before lived amongst the poor. One half of the island is now under grazing.

20470. Your complaint is that the island is now under sheep farms?
—I complain that the best of the land is now under sheep farms.

20471. What are you—a crofter?
—No, a boat-builder.

20472. You live here?
—Yes.

20473. Has your trade improved?
—No, it was the little boats I built. I built decked boats, but then they were not used, and now that decked boats are coming in, I am not able to build them.

2 comments:

  1. The capitalisation suggests this guy's name is "ALEXANDER HARPER HOMERON" and that he lived somewhere in the "Westing". However, going by the 1871 and 1881 census returns, his name is "ALEXANDER HARPER" and he lived in "HOMERON, Westing"

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    1. This is a literal transcript, corrected only for OCR errors. It is however important to highlight factual errors like this one, and am much obliged to you for doing so.

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