Even as
labour was first being ‘Unionised’ in the first decade of the last century, a
form of indenture that was little removed from slavery prevailed in the
largely-unregulated agricultural labour market.
Where our Hiring Fairs were held
Some
historians say that Hiring Fairs owed their origin to the fourteenth century
Black Death and the consequent shortage of labour:it is said that they were, in response an
attempt to control the supply of labour and to fix wages.
Whatever
the truth of this, by the early twentieth century in Newry (and throughout the
northern part of our isle) poor families readily hired out their children for
six months at a time, boys and girls, at some eighty “Agricultural Labour
Markets”.Ours was in the Market Street/Castle Street area.
Gradually
some regulation crept in and by 1904 a Newry newspaper carried the
advertisement that …
‘A Hiring
Fair will be held in the Butter Market vicinity on 19 May when wages arranged
for six month periods will be ..
Ploughman
- £10 -£10/10s
Farmhands
- £9 - £9/10s
Strong
Hands - £5 - £6
Little
Fellows for Light Work £4/5 - £4/15
Strong
young women with general knowledge £7 - £8
Young
General House Servants £6 - £7
Litle
Girls £4 - £4/10’ .
Despite
the above, even into the War Years and after, most people were unaware of any
fixed rate for six-month work.Of any
hired persons I have spoken to, the going rate appears to have been £4 - £5 for
the half year – and if you were lucky, you got your washing done as well as
your keep.
Careful
note was made of any essential spending upon you and the total deducted from
your wages at the end of your hiring!
By way of
comparison/contrast, young girls – live-in skivvies in the homes of the more
affluent - were earning about £2 a month here some forty years after that date,
that is, at the outbreak of the Second World War.
History 
