A LASTING LEGACY

By Archie Mckellar MA (Hons)

Stewarton, the Bonnet Toun, like all other cities, towns, and villages in Scotland did not escape the darker times of the 20^th Century. The 1929 Wall Street crash in America was responsible for the British Depression of the early 1930’s. Unemployment rose rapidly, causing much poverty. Trying to promote economic recovery, the government of the day increased income tax and reduced the salaries of public service employees, harsh measures indeed that only added to the misery. Those were dark, dismal, days.

In 1932 three members of Stewarton Town Council, Baillie, later Provost, Tom Barclay, Baillie John Aitchison and Councillor Hugh Muir put forward the idea of holding a Gala Day for the children of the town, in order to uplift the spirits of the local people during this time of great hardship. The Town Council of the day immediately agreed to support the suggested festival.

A committee headed by the three men who put forward the original idea was formed amid much enthusiasm for the venture. Provost James W Mackie, John Hamilton, the town Clerk, many local councillors, teachers, businessmen and sportsmen were all- eager to assist. By calling themselves Stewarton Bonnet Guild and electing a Deacon and two Baillies together with the staging of a pageant and parades, the committee resurrected the town’s former Guild of Bonnet Makers, a Craft Guild, which had disappeared many years earlier.

The first gala day was held on Saturday the 24^th June 1933, preceded by a concert held in the Picture House, now the Social Club, the previous Thursday. Baillie Aitchison, a native of Peebles was able to obtain details of the crowning ceremony of the Beltane Queen. Based on the Peebles Ceremony, the first Stewarton Gala Day was acclaimed a great success and with the exception of the war years the festival has continued and grown ever since.

The history of Craft Guilds can be traced back to the 15^th Century and Merchant Guilds even further. Merchant Guilds first appeared in Scotland in the 13^th Century, when the enterprise of Scottish Merchants was aided by the formation of guilds. These guilds were brotherhoods of merchants founded upon a pledge and an oath, headed by a Dean of Guild, and overseen by his guild court.

Found only within major burghs, early merchant guilds were very powerful organisations. Their main purpose was to maintain a monopoly of the trade within their burgh and to provide an organisation by which the merchants could nominate the burgh councils. In 1441 Aberdeen Merchant Guild elected Aberdeen Burgh Council at their regular guild meeting. This was not uncommon at this time as many merchant guild members were also members of burgh councils.

Entrance to these Merchant Guilds was restricted to the sons and son-in-laws of existing members and in order to keep the monopoly of control of the burgh among the merchants, these merchant guilds set their entrance fees too high for craftsmen to join. The fee to join the Merchant Guild of Berwick in the 13^th Century was £2, when at that time a labourer earned only 1 pence per day and a skilled craftsman 3 pence per day.

It was not until January 1451 that the first craft guild appeared in Scotland, when a group of Edinburgh Skinners bound themselves to the upkeep of part of St Giles Cathedral. The group requested that this obligation be entered in the Guild Book of the Burgh. However craft guilds only began to be recognised and develop after the Scottish Parliament passed an Act in 1469 regulating burgh elections. This Act allowed each craft to choose one of its members to have a vote in the election of the burgh officers.

After 1469 many craft guilds started to appear, these included bakers, barbers, bonnet makers, coopers, dyers, goldsmiths, masons and silversmiths. Almost all the craft guilds except the minstrels who were not considered “crafty” enough to have a craft guild. Like the merchant guilds the purpose of the craft guild was to uphold the rights of a small group of privileged citizens from the dangers of unknown craftsmen entering the burgh.

All the social activities in the burghs were organised by the various guilds, plays and pageants were staged during local festivals. Plays such as “Robin Hood” and “The Queen of the May” together with Passion Plays were performed, the expenses of the production being met by the craft guilds. Prior to the Reformation of the Church of Scotland in 1560 these craft guilds also paid for the upkeep of alters in their local churches. Craft guild members and their families regularly marched to a place of worship and after the service was provided with food and wine, paid for by the guild.

As time went by the various guilds decided that the money spent on the various social and religious activities would be better spent on their own business ventures, as a result the social and religious undertakings of the various guilds died out. By 1740 guild restrictions governing the various crafts had also vanished.

Although the records of Stewarton Bonnet Court of Corsehill date back to 1549, it is difficult to determine when the first Stewarton Guild of Bonnet Makers was formed. According to the banner, used each year at the Bonnet Guild Festival, Stewarton Bonnet trade was Instituted in 1590. As guilds were very religious organisations and Stewarton Parish Church did not have a regular minister until 1589, it is possible the original Guild of Bonnet Makers was instituted by a religious service in Stewarton Parish Church in 1590.

The present Stewarton Bonnet Guild organise various social activities throughout each year, including the Remembrance Service at the War Memorial each November, but the highlight of their year is the Festival Week each June. By staging a pageant and parades and by inviting the other organisations to join them in worship on the final Sunday evening of the festival week, Stewarton Bonnet Guild is preserving a piece of craft guild history which otherwise would have been lost in the mists of time.

Born out of the dark days of the 1930’s Depression, Stewarton now has a splendid festival week in June each year, which has been developed, over the years by past and present guild members, from the original Gala Day. However the people of Stewarton will be forever indebted to the three town councillors, Provost Tom Barclay, who was the originator of the idea, Baillie John Aitchison and Councillor Hugh Muir who 70 years ago out of concern for the children of the town, at a difficult time in history, pioneered today’s events.