Matching family tree profiles for William Meldrum, "The Damask Loom"
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About William Meldrum, "The Damask Loom"
William was the first person to work on the Damask loom.
The Name of Meldrum
has long been associated with the staple industry of the city of Dunfermline. Previous to the days of James Blake who brought the secret of damask weaving from Drumsheugh in 1718 the weavers of Dunfermline were engaged on coarse fabrics. The transition from the coarse to the … was very slow for two reasons; 1) that Blake kept this secret to himself for a series of years, and 2) that looms were very expensive and money was scarce. So slow was the progress that in 1778 the damask looms in operation did not exceed 20.
A man named William Meldrum was among the first to work at the damask loom. He was the grandfather of James Meldrum who died this week and what is more he purchased the property about 1800 in which James died. The lintel above the door
BEARS THE DATE 1774
William Meldrum’s son, James Meldrum succeeded to the property and to the looms in the workshop. The property is a typical Dunfermline weaver’s dwelling house and loom shop of the eighteenth century. The property is divided by a passage which leads to the ..at one side … and garden at the back in the other. The dwelling house leads off one side of the close, and the loom-shop off the other, garret room being above. The James Meldrum of 1800 had a big family of sons:
WILLIAM ROBERT DAVID JAMES HENRY ANDREW
and 3 daughters.
All the six sons were brought up to the loom. Robert and William sleep with their father in the Abbey graveyard. because of the northern section being closed. James’s remains yesterday found a last resting place in the Dunfermline cemetery. James lived with Andrew and his sister Mary and Henry lived in a house close by. James gave up active work at the loom some years ago, but Andrew who is 67 years of age is employed daily at the loom and his brother Henry, who has seen 78 summers journeys to various towns in Scotland….. His two eldest brothers, Robert and William were great Chartist men and all the brothers were in the crowd… in 1842 when Thomas Morrison outwitted Sheriff of Fife and the Procurator Fiscal by closing the Newmill Bridge ..into the .. of Perth. It is a far cry from 1774 to 1901. During the 127 years which have elapsed since 1774 many changes have been witnessed in Dunfermline. The damask hand-loom has come and has almost gone. The click of the shuttle is no longer heard at every house in the burgh. Steam power is the order of the day.Miles of cloth are now being turned out quicker than a few yards coming out of so-called good old times.In 1801 the population of the town and suburbs was 5485, today the population of the town is 25,000 to 30,000. The old pump which stood at the Meldrum’s door at Bothwell Place, has, like all the other old town wells and pumps, vanished. Instead the town is supplied by one of the finest gravitation water supplies ion the country.
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William Meldrum, "The Damask Loom"'s Timeline
| 1736 |
May 9, 1736
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1764 |
February 19, 1764
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Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1766 |
April 6, 1766
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1768 |
February 5, 1768
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
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| 1772 |
April 9, 1772
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1774 |
April 4, 1774
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Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1776 |
May 19, 1776
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1778 |
April 8, 1778
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom
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| 1812 |
December 23, 1812
Age 76
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Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
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