The Housing of Potato Diggers by Margaret H. Irwin examines the accommodation provided for seasonal agricultural workers in Scotland. Issued by the Scottish Council for Women’s Trades and Union for the Abolition of Sweating, this short report is concerned with the people behind the harvest and the buildings in which they lived while doing the work.
The harvest beyond the field
Irwin places temporary accommodation within the broader problem of rural housing. She argues that work recurring each season can be anticipated and should be accompanied by proper provision for the workers who perform it.
The introduction describes efforts to secure an official inquiry and explains why the Council undertook a further investigation. The report states that this work, together with earlier inquiries, covered sixty farms.
Its evidence gives a different perspective on agricultural self-sufficiency: producing a crop also involves organizing shelter, warmth, food preparation and ordinary daily needs for the people employed in harvesting it.
Comparing accommodation
The report groups the accommodation under four assessments: bad, indifferent, good and excellent. It records nineteen farms in the first group, fifteen in the second, fifteen in the third and seven in the fourth. Other cases involved farms no longer employing diggers or access that was refused.
Irwin then develops the comparison through individual examples. Earthen floors, leaking or dilapidated buildings, poor light, inadequate ventilation and insufficient bedding recur in the less satisfactory accommodation.
Her descriptions connect the condition of a building with the worker’s day. Returning from wet field work was particularly difficult where there was nowhere sheltered to cook or dry clothing. Open fires in exposed yards could offer little comfort in bad weather.
Better examples and workers’ views
The report also describes accommodation judged good or excellent. Separate sleeping spaces, better floors, windows, bedding and arrangements for cooking made a visible difference. These examples show that the inquiry was comparative rather than simply a collection of the worst cases.
Comments from workers, gang organizers and farmers appear alongside the investigator’s observations. Some statements conflict, especially over responsibility for accommodation and the separation of sleeping quarters. Irwin preserves those differences instead of presenting every explanation as agreed fact.
Reported overcrowding receives a separate section. The concern extends beyond the physical size of a shed to privacy, cleanliness and the ability to maintain ordinary domestic routines during a temporary stay.
Suggestions for improvement
The proposed improvements are concrete. The report calls for sound, clean, dry buildings with adequate light and air, suitable sleeping arrangements, bedding and facilities for cooking and washing.
It also considers whether accommodation should be specifically provided for a predictable seasonal workforce, rather than improvised from whatever space happens to be available. This question makes the pamphlet relevant to the history of farm planning and rural buildings.
A final section reviews action by local authorities. It includes a Glasgow health-department communication dated July 1910 and discusses recommendations dealing with space, ventilation, bedding and sanitary provision. These are period administrative standards, preserved here as historical evidence.
Audience, date and digital copy
This free ebook is useful to readers studying agricultural labor, rural housing, women’s reform work and the social history of food production. It is a short investigation, rather than a potato-growing manual or a set of architectural plans.
The pamphlet itself has no printed publication date; it is catalogued as 1910. Its factual details should be read with that distinction in mind. The PDF contains nineteen digital pages, including the original cover, preliminary material and blank leaves. Small type and quoted correspondence benefit from enlargement.
Book details
- Author: Margaret H. Irwin
- Publisher: Scottish Council for Women’s Trades and Union for the Abolition of Sweating, Glasgow
- Year: 1910 (catalogued; scan undated)
- Edition: Undated pamphlet; catalogued as 1910
- Digital length: 19 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 0.77 MB
