Like many other early records those of the Hammerman Craft were assumed to
have been lost when General Monck sacked the Town of Dundee. The earliest
surviving records therefore date the craft as 1587. However there is a record of
the craft under its Deacon, Alexander Moir, in the Nine Trades’ Inventory of
Charters, which includes what purports to be a copy, giving a date of 21st
September 1525.
Hammerman of all kinds were working in the Burgh of Dundee. A local armourer,
Wat Moncur, was known as The King’s Armourer and not only supplied James 1V with
specially made suits of armour but was under contract to the Customs of
Edinburgh to supply all kinds of protective armour. Another Moncur, John was
working in Dundee in 1440’s.
More than thirty crafts figure in the Hammerman records, including: Armourer,
Blacksmith, Gunsmith, Gold and Silversmiths, Clocksmith, Jeweller, Watchmaker,
Knocksmith, Cutler, Bucklemaker, Farrier, Saddler, Brassfounder, Plumber and
Pewterer.
Dundee guns were famous all over Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries and were
much sought after. Very few records remain of the methods or style of Dundee
guns of the time, but certainly guns of the ‘fishtail’ and ‘lemon butt’ design
were superbly crafted and there is an example of both in the National Museum of
Scotland, Edinburgh. The Kelvinside Museum in Glasgow has pistols of Snaphanse
Globose Butt and Snaphanse Fishtail Butt design made by I.Low of Dundee dated
1624.
One record in 1602 gives licence for a Hammerman outwith the area to work in
Dundee by paying a weekly penny to the craft. Restricting goods from outwith the
town was one way in which the Craft retained the work for its own members.
In 1699, Journeymen were charged £1.10shillings (£1.50p) if they moved from one
master to another. The master was charged 10shillings (50p) if the servant
stayed more than a year. Fees were charged at every stage in a Craftsman’s life,
and masters were required to pay the Craft for the special Smiddy Coal used in
their fires.
The reason for the high fees and long apprenticeships was partly to limit the
number of people entering the Craft, thus protecting the master’s income, and in
order to care for the widows and orphans. This was of prime importance to the
craft, because of course there was no form of sick pay or pension. The care of
these people fell to the Craft who took their duties very seriously.
In 1846, by act of Parliament, all trades privileges were abolished and the
authority of the trades was slowly eroded, including the right to sit on the
Town Council. The craft still takes its duties of charitable work very
seriously. It is also involved in education by the giving of grants and prizes
to engineering students, particularly at Abertay University, Dundee.
The Craft continues to expand its interest, with members drawn from all the
newer technological branches of Engineering and it is playing an important part
in the life of Dundee.
Members are eligible from men over 21 years of age who are engaged in or who are
qualified in any trade associated with the working of metal or the use of a
hammer.
Extracts taken from ‘A Short History of the Hammerman Craft of Dundee’
by Innes A. Duffus
Archivist to the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee.