The Cornish Crier, Volume 13, Number 4
Cornish Heritage Society East Newsletter Kevardhu/ December 2007

Sylvia & Wasco Hadowanetz, our meeting hosts more photos on page 11
photos by: www.eEyecam.com
CHSE September meeting
photos:
Seeing old friends
and making new ones
delicious lunch
short meeting
Sterling Hill Mine tour
Altogether, a great day!
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Hi, Barry!
So sorry to learn that you will have to "step down" as Prez of CHSE. What a GREAT job you have been doing -- both as
CEO and as Editor-in-Chief of a fine newsletter. Congratulations!
Incidentally, I'm sure your are by now well aware of the "problems" on pages 6-7 of the latest issue. Like the typos that
only appear AFTER a job is printed, your latest "Cornish World" reprint leaves a lot to be desired.
Best Regards, Bob Vivian
Volume 13, Number 4 Page 3
Working Women in Working Women in
21st Century Cornwall 21st Century Cornwall
A recent report published by Cornwall Enterprise's
business intelligence service, Enterprise Edge, claimed that
women in the South West are 41% more likely to be
entrepreneurs than the rest of the UK. In the 21st century,
women in Cornwall are responsible for a high proportion of
Cornwall's economy. The class divide which once existed
between those who worked outside of the domestic sphere
and those who didn't has been lost; women in business are
now highly respected.
The strong female presence in the Cornish
economy is aided by the many organisations
committed to raising women's profiles in the business
sector. The SMART women project is a partnership
scheme between Cornwall Business School and
Enterprise West Cornwall. The project aims to combat
the under-representation of women working at senior
levels in Cornish businesses. It steers ambitious
business women towards a range of training
opportunities which will further their career
development and skills. The Women of Achievement
Awards have also contributed to an increased
awareness of female entrepreneurs in the county - one
of the categories is business.
"There's a long tradition in Cornwall of sorting
things out ourselves," says Sue Wolstenholme of Cornwall's
Women of Achievement awards.
"Cornwall used to be fairly male-dominated," she
adds. "Now it's the other way round - women are really
making a difference to the economy."
While times may have been tough for women,
they've helped foster a sense of self-reliance that's paying
dividends today. With few large employers in Cornwall
now, self-employment is becoming common in Cornwall
and more and more women are building on Cornwall's
resources once again to do their own thing.
Cornish Heritage Society East Newsletter Kevardhu/ December 2007
There's already plenty of information and guidance for
women wanting to strike out on their own in the form of
Network Cornwall, an online support network for
businesswomen in Cornwall.
Originally publicised by word of mouth and virtual
marketing, the network now has over 900 members who can
share their experience and offer each other advice online. As
well as bringing women together and overcoming geographical
isolation, the network helps women promote their own skills
and businesses.
Deborah Clark, a farmer's daughter, has
grown up in Cornwall. At a young age she
decided she didn't want to have to move away
from the Cornwall to make money, so she
started her own public relations business in
Truro. Deborah Clark Associates helps the
regions' leading companies and agencies to
promote their products and services. Deborah is
a fine example of a Cornish woman at the heart
of the business community.
She said: “Although the tools and what we
do has changed, business women in Cornwall
are still very similar to the balmaiden figure. In terms of
determination, tenacity and having to endure long hours of
work, we don't differ an awful lot. Yes, a lot has changed but
at the same time a lot has stayed the same.”
There is no doubt that the significant change in the
role of women in Cornwall has to have come from the change
in the Cornish industry. After the decline of mining, fishing
and farming in the Duchy, the economy was open to change.
These days Cornwall's main source of income comes from
tourism; this has opened a wide avenue for women to venture
into the business world - as leaders rather than standing by
their men, which rendered them almost absent in historical
records.
DEBORAH CLARKE

MEA CULPA! As our readers have noted, we goofed! Reprinted pages of the article are hopefully
corrected this time. We sincerely appreciate any comments and corrections. Thank you. Ed.
Volume 13, Number 4 Page 4
The Rev Borlase of Ludgvan was wiser than his
parishioners might have supposed.
When he noted in 1736 that 'there are no women to
be hired in this parish for friendship or
money, being employed about copper,' he
made an observation that 21st century
historians are just starting to investigate:
that women in Cornwall were as, if not
more, independent than their English
sisters.
It's a pattern that's evident from a
glance at the lives of Cornish women over
the centuries. The Duchy's geography and
climate and its unique industrial and
cultural heritage have given women the
chance to break the mould: periods of great
deprivation, insecurity of employment and
reliance on limited sources of income have
forced women to diversify and find new
ways to support themselves and their
families.
The domestic range of work for women in Cornwall
was wide and diffuse: childbearing and child-care, weaving and
sewing, dairying, cooking, storing, kitchen-gardening, brewing
and candle-making. Much time had to be spent gathering fuel,
both for baking and washing, and storing for winter. Washdays
without running water, electricity and gas constituted an
almighty struggle. So wide was the field of work in a family
home or in domestic service that it was not recorded, just
assumed.
Until recently Cornish women's contributions both to
Cornwall and to the UK have been largely unexplored.
Researching women's work in Cornwall is a struggle in itself
as there's little evidence and few statistics. While the names of
Cornwall's movers and shakers are well known, most of the
women who worked on and under our land remain nameless.
Women's Work Women's Work
Were Cornish women really more emancipated
than their sisters elsewhere in Britain?
Balmaidens, pipe-smoking fishwives, knitting
factory workers, pilchard packers, seine net menders, and
farmers' wives were all integral parts of their respective
industries. Infections were rife, industrial
accidents common, and women frequently
died in childbirth, leaving daughters to take
their place at the core of the family.
Although it's well known that women
worked for Cornwall's mines until the 20th
century, there are no accurate figures to
show how many or who these women were.
Both local mine managers' records and
official census figures vary widely and
contemporary reports tend to reveal more
about their writers than their subjects.
Nonetheless, it's now being recognised that
Cornwall's balmaidens made a huge
contribution to Cornwall's economy and
culture and, more widely, to women's
gradual achievement of equality.
The lack of written evidence about the
balmaidens is meaningful in itself. It reveals much about
their status and the nature of their work, which was flexible,
unskilled and often seasonal, and much about the nature of
the Cornish mining industry as a whole.
The balmaidens in fact played a vital if little
documented role in Cornwall's mining economy. These
young women, many of whom were under 18, worked in the
open air wheeling barrows, separating tin and copper ore from
rock with heavy hammers and grinding it on anvils.
Journalists and writers told tales of plucky girls who
sang at their work, but there's no doubt that there was little
to sing about. Pay was low and sometimes non-existent or
paid up to two months in arrears, and workers were at the
mercy of the demand for metals.
Reprinted from the Cornish World Issue #52, June/July 2007
continued on next page
Cornish Heritage Society East Newsletter Kevardhu/ December 2007
Volume 13, Number 4 Page 5
Yet while they may not have known it, balmaidens
were better off in some respects than their sisters outside the
mines, most of whom worked in domestic service or in the
clothing trades. Cornwall's cost-book system gave women a
significant degree of economic and personal freedom: unlike
mining families in the north of England, Cornish miners
weren't housed by mine owners or under the same obligation to
work set hours for one employer. As freelance workers could
move from one mine to another, in search of better pay or
working conditions, and before mines became tightly controlled
limited liability companies in the 1890s, mineworkers,
including balmaidens, often worked on quotas and could leave
when their quota was fulfilled.
Because most balmaidens were
unmarried, the money they earned could be used
to supplement the family income or, if they were
allowed to keep some of their wages, it could pay
for new clothes and jewellery. Journalists and
visitors to Cornwall frequently commented on
and criticised the way mining women managed to
keep up with the latest fashions despite their poor
living and working conditions.
That women had a choice and used it to
improve their lot is significant. In an era in
which women were only just beginning to gain
legal status and financial freedom, balmaidens
were using the limited opportunities they had to change their
own lives.
“A lot of comment has been made about the choice
women made to go into the mines,” says Lynne Mayers, author
of the award-winning study of balmaidens published in 2004 by
the Hypatia Trust.
“They could and did choose: their only other option
was domestic service, which offered much less freedom. They'd
have to live in and would still be on duty at the end of the
working day. Balmaidens went home at 6 or 7 o'clock. They
were their own people.”
Independence from rigid employment conditions also
allowed Cornish miners to maintain their own culture, too.
Continued reliance on fishing and farming alongside mining
meant that feasts, fairs and festivals permeated the working year.
Tools would be downed and whole communities could join in
the celebrations.Of course, a degree of financial independence
didn't lead to an improvement to working or living
conditions - as unskilled workers, balmaidens were the first
to be laid off when times were tight. It also didn't bring
about an improvement in status. Indeed, the dearth of
evidence also reveals much about what people thought about
them.
“From about 1870 balmaidens were looked down
upon,” says Lynne Mayers.
“People thought only the coarsest people did that
kind of work. Even now, some people are embarrassed to
admit some of their ancestors were balmaidens. Yet these
women really were able to make a difference. They were at the
forefront of strike action and had a real sense of
identity.
“The whole of British and imperial achievement
wouldn't have been possible without metal
industries, and without Cornish industry.
Balmaidens were key players in this, even if they
didn't know it,” she adds.
Contemporary commentators were often shocked
by the balmaidens' determination to break with
convention. Royal commissioners visiting
Cornwall in the 1840s commented on the girls'
foul language and journalists' criticisms of their
lavish clothes and apparent over-enjoyment of
their free time remain a testament to the balmaidens' lifestyles
in the absence of other first hand evidence.
The publication of commission reports and
journalists' articles also helped to underline a radical line of
thought: that women could work successfully outside the
home and make financial contributions to their families and
communities. Accounts of balmaidens' limited autonomy,
their economic value to productive industry and their ability
to make choices about their lives helped plant seeds of
equality that are still growing today.
Nonetheless, the balmaidens' unusual way of life
was far ahead of its time, and many contemporary writers
preferred to fume about the immorality of women working at
the mines. Yet while religious leaders offered salvation to
'fallen women' through the church, little was done to protect
women from unwanted sexual attention or to support children
born as a result.
omen's Work, continued
Yet there was an even darker side to this way of life
that is only just beginning to be researched. Prostitution was
rife and in an environment in which women worked closely
alongside men, sexual attacks and predation were common.
Local efforts centred around rest centres and homes
such as those set up in Falmouth and Penzance. Seamen's
centres sometimes looked after women with no other support
but there seem to have been little co-ordinated public attempt
to address the problem.
Women from the Cornish upper classes also made
valuable contributions of which most, again, is not
universally recognised.
The women of independent means were wives and
daughters of well-off merchants, ship-owners, bankers and
professional men, who had the financial support to do as they
wished - including voluntary charitable work amongst the
poor and sick. Exemplars were the ladies of the Bassett
family of Tehidy, so prominent in supporting hospitals for
the welfare of the working population. In education, the Fox
daughters of Falmouth and the Carne women of Penzance saw
the needs and initiated remedies. These women were in a
minority, and if they wrote books, following in their educated
families' traditions, they often published anonymously or
under men's names.
Single women of education and refinement, who
found themselves responsible for their own livelihood because
of being unmarried, orphaned or widowed, formed part of
these upper classes.
Ann Bake took over the Delabole Slate Quarry in
1830 when her husband died. Mrs Louisa Gillett ran the
Royal Cornwall Gazette after her husband died in 1835.
Jemima Drown edited the Penzance Gazette in West Cornwall
during the mid-19th century, and Elizabeth Heard managed the
West Briton similarly. Elizabeth Carne took over the running of
the Penzance bank of Batten, Carne and Carne from her
illustrious father, Joseph Carne FRS, in 1858, until her own
death in 1873. She used her great inheritance generously by
endowing schools, bells at St Mary's Parish Church, and a
mineralogical museum in Penzance. These were unusual women
for their time, but accepted and recognised as integral working
members of the Cornish communities.
These were not the common wage earners. Indeed, they
were the women who, as leaders looking around themselves at
the poverty and illiteracy in their communities, formed
campaigning and devotional groups such as the bible-reading
classes, the Women Liberals and the temperance movement.
As the 19th century came to an end, women were
active in the Salvation Army, the YWCA and various
campaigns to vote.
With the downturn in mining and fishing fortunes,
from the 1830s through to the end of the century, more than
half of the population of Cornwall left to work in other
countries.
Some men went alone, to return (or not) later, and
women remained to take over their work on the land, in mills
and in slaughtering.
Edited by Nigel Pengelly with contributions from
Melissa Hardie and Olivia Rowland.
Links:
Hypatia Trust: www.hypatia-trust.org.uk
Balmaidens site: www.balmaiden.co.uk
ONE OF OUR OWN
BALMAIDENS
CAROLINE RIDDLE RODDA
Born: Redruth June 26, 1836
Immigrated to the US in 1871
Died: Wharton, NJ Oct 4, 1929
Enumerated as a mine girl in the
1861 Cornwall Census


West Briton newspaper transcripts at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad/cornwall/intro.html
Transcribed by:
Julia Symons Mosman, OPC for St Austell and Rita Bone Kopp, OPC for St
Stephen In Brannel, along with Isabel Harris, and William Kemp
West Briton,
18 August 1843
continued on page 8
ANOTHER CHURCH-RATE CONTEST
On Friday last, a meeting of the inhabitants of
Helston was held at the Guild Hall, for the purpose of making
a church-rate, the worshipful the mayor in the chair. After the
business of the meeting had been opened, the church-wardens
asked for a rate of two pence in the pound, which was strongly
opposed; and on a show of hands the majority was against the
rate. The church-wardens, however, with the consent of the
minority, immediately made a rate for the amount they
required.
GORAN HAVEN
One night last week, a schooner carried away several
of the nets belonging to DANIEL OLIVER, of this place, a
poor man, who will be greatly distressed by so serious a loss,
this being his first season of having a boat, which he has
raised with much difficulty. We often hear of vessels carrying
away the nets of the fishermen, from not caring or trying to
avoid them; and in this case, there was a great deal of
willfulness, for the fishermen called, and made all the noise
possible to attract the attention of the schooner. What makes
this matter the more disgraceful is the fact that the schooner's
people cut away the foot rope, which runs the whole length of
the nets, for the purpose, if run over, of saving the wreck of
the nets. We cannot too strongly censure those who so
unfeelingly injure men who toil so hard, and suffer so many
privations, to obtain their scanty subsistence.
THE MONSTER OF THE DEEP AGAIN
During the past week, the inhabitants of the Lizard,
Kynance, and Cadgwith, have been attracted to the sea side,
by the appearance of a large fish, supposed to be a whale,
which has several times come within gun-shot of the shore,
spouting the water as high as the church tower, to the
excessive amusement of the spectators. The preventative men
have fired several shots into the huge monster without any
apparent effect. At Porthleaven, it has done considerable
damage by rolling into and destroying a large shoal of
pilchards which had just been enclosed by Mr. CUDLIP's
sean. Scarcely ten hogsheads had been taken up before the
monster, measuring upwards of 60 feet, and looking as large
as a sean boat in the water, made its appearance, and bid
defiance to every resistance that could be offered. Three other
large shoals are now enclosed, and being tucked at Gunwalloe.
THE "CORNWALL" STEAMER
On Friday evening last, this steamer arrived at
Penzance, from Hayle and St. Ives, having on board about
260 passengers; and, on the following morning soon after six
o'clock, this beautiful boat started for the Channel Islands
and Havre, with about 90 passengers. The weather has been
remarkably fine, and no doubt the trip will be a pleasant one.
TRURO POLICE
On Monday last, GEORGE SAMPSON. Beer-shop
keeper, of Truro, was charged with keeping his house open
for the sale of beer after eleven o'clock. He was fined GBP 2
and costs. JOHN TIPPET, another beer-shop keeper, was
charged with harbouring and keeping disorderly persons in
his house and was fined 10s. with costs. On Thursday,
ANN BLAMEY and ELIZA ROWSCROW, from Illogan,
were charged with indecent conduct in the streets. They were
sent to the house of correction, Blamey for three months,
and Rowscrow, for one month's hard labour.
FILIACIDE
On Wednesday last, a widow woman, of Redruth,
of the name of ELIZABETH MOORE, in a fit of passion at
he disobedience of her son, a boy about eleven years of age,
threw a large stone at him as he was seated on a hedge, and,
striking him on the back of the head, so dreadfully fractured
the skull, as to cause his almost immediate death.
CIDER STEALING
A few nights ago, MR. JOHN GLANVILLE, of
Lombard, in the parish of Lanteglos by Fowey, had his cellar
robbed of about 100 gallons of cider. There were four
hogsheads and a pipe of cider in the cellar, and the thieves
had taken out the bungs, no doubt to make choice of the
best. The pipe was emptied, and left standing on its end.
The thieves have hitherto escaped detection.
UNPOPULARITY OF THE OFFERTORY
On Sunday last, the minister officiating at
Falmouth church, a REV. MR. MARSHALL, requested that
the congregation would not leave the church during the
reading of a Offertory. This appeal was followed by a
general noise, and the Rev. Gentleman, who had commenced
reading, closed the book and sat down. When order was
restored, he resumed.
Volume 13, Number 4 Page 8
Cornish Heritage Society East Newsletter Kevardhu/ December 2007
West Briton
13 October 1843
CORNWALL
AGRICULTURAL REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER
The average temperature of September was 61.03
degrees, the hottest day having been the 3rd, when the
thermometer stood at 80 degrees, and the coldest night on the
27th, when it fell to 32 degrees. The average of the barometer
was 29.88 inches. The quantity of rain fallen during the
month is 1.41 inches. It will be seen by the above statements
that the month of September has been unusually dry and warm,
which enabled the farmers in the oldest parts of the county to
complete their harvest without the trouble unusually attending
the storing of corn late in the autumn. Never do we remember
the harvest got in with less trouble, or in better condition, than
this year; and though the grain is not generally so plump and
well filled as we have seen it, yet we have no doubt that,
taking the county through, there will be an average crop. The
weather also helped preparing the land for wheat. They were
sorry to see people burning the fields, as 'in nine fields out of
ten, it is an absolute injury'. Where ever the practice of
burning is followed for many years, every time the land is
broken up it is exhausted and poor. Farmers must avoid it.
Turnips were good, and straw abundant. They recommend
tanks to preserve the urine and soluble particles of the dung
heap; manure is only of use when it becomes soluable, which
it does very rapidly after it has undergone fermentation. If the
manure is from the stable yard, and quite dry, throw some of
the contents of the tank upon it, or at least, some water
occasionally, if it is very dry. Apply the contents of the
tank/tanks in early Spring.
HELSTON QUARTER SESSIONS
These sessions were held on Thursday, the 5th
instant, before HERMAN MERIVALE, Esq., recorder. There
were only the two following criminal cases to be disposed of.
MARY CORNISH pleaded guilty of stealing certain articles of
wearing apparel from her master, CHARLES PASCOE, and
was sentenced to two months‚ confinement in the town prison.
CHARLES LANDER was found guilty of an assault on
JAMES RI..DES, and was sentenced to one month‚s
confinement. There was an appeal case, touching the
settlement of ANN BOWCHER[?] and her two children, in
which the borough of Helston were respondents and the parish
of St. Keverne appellants, which was decided in favour of the
latter. For the respondents, Messrs. ROGERS and PLOMER;
for the appellants, MR. T. F. HILL.
CORONER'S INQUEST
On the 7th instant, an inquest was held before W.
HICHENS, Esq., coroner, at Mousehole, in the parish of Paul,
on view of the body of JULIA BLEWETT, aged 5 years and
10 months, who caught her clothes on fire on the 5th instant,
during a short absence of her mother from her house, and died
on the following day. Verdict, Accidental Death.
A PAUPER VOTE
At the Registration Court held here on Monday
last, JOHN BIGGS JAMES, a pauper, who, for some time
past, has received 1s.6d. and a loaf per week from the
reliving officer of the St. Austell Union, and whose
qualification is a freehold garden, was objected to by the
overseer of Fowey. The barrister erased his name from the
list of voters; but on Mr. GURNEY, solicitor of
Launceston, who was retained for the tories, stating that
although the objection would hold good as respected a
borough, it did not apply to a division of a county; the
observation was held to be correct, and the name of the voter
was re-inserted on the list.
SERIOUS MINE ACCIDENT
On Wednesday last, as a man named EDWARD
WILLIAMS was at work underground in Tregothnan
Consols, a scale of ground fell on him, by which he was so
severely injured that but little hopes are entertained of his
recovery.
FATAL ACCIDENT
On Wednesday, the 4th instant, a young man of the
parish of St. Agnes, about 24 years of age, named
FRANCIS BARKLA, who was intending to go out to sea
on a fishing excursion, went for that purpose to Trevaunance
quay, to get a boat; and as he was about to descend a ladder
to get into the pier, he unfortunately [fell] over a depth of
about 30 feet, and received such a severe blow on the head as
occasioned his death in about ten hours afterwards. A
coroner's inquest was held on the body, on the following
day, when a verdict of accidental death was returned.
HOG RAMS
We understand that the six months old hog rams,
got by the REV. W. HOCKEN's new Oxfordshire ram, (son
of the tup that won the first prize of thirty sovereigns at the
Royal Agricultural Society's show at Liverpool, in 1841)
fetched, at MR. GRAY's sale, at Trevathen, last week, four
guineas each.
HAYLE
EDWARD MEALY, one of the crew of the
'Horatio', from Quebec, has been committed to Bodmin jail,
in default of payment of the penalty of GBP100, incurred by
having in his possession, concealed, about 18 lbs. of
tobacco.
DEPUTY CORONER
Mr. EDMUND GILBERT HAMLEY, of Bodmin,
solicitor, has been appointed Deputy Coroner for the eastern
division of this county, which appointment has been
approved of by the Lord Chancellor.
Volume 13, Number 4 Page 9
Cornish Heritage Society East Newsletter Kevardhu/ December 2007
Reprint from the Cornish Crier of May 1999
A Logo for CHSE
by Virginia Richmond
CHSE is proud to announce that we now have a logo. Thanks goes to one of our talented members, Jane Whitman
from Jamison, Pennsylvania, who is the artist designer of our new logo. A banner is currently being made using the logo and
will be displayed and carried at the 10th Gathering of Cornish Cousins in Pen Argyl in July and August.
A work about our artist is in order. Jane Whitman came to the United States from England in 1975. some of her
family lived on the south coast of Cornwall near Marazion. She said her family name was Leigh and some of her ancestors
were sailors and fishermen. Her mother was born in St. Germans.
Jane, we thank you very much for putting your artistic talent to good use in the design of our unique logo.
Jane and her husband, Robert, at our
September meeting. Her logo is now
known to represent CHSE in Cornish
organizations all over the world.


CHSE LENDING LIBRARY
By Gerry De Lazier
Do you know that there are 229 books and publications available for CHSE members to borrow? You'll find them each time we
meet at St. John's Church in Wharton. All of them relate to Cornwall.
You will find three Daphne DuMaurier books, six A. L. Rowse books, ten novels (DeMelza, Jeremy, Poldark, The Four Swans
and Warleggan) by Graham Winston and twenty hard-to-put-down historical novels by E. V. Thompson.
Many are about the history of Cornwall. Other topics are mining, wreckers, Cornish villages, churches, sayings, epitaphs,
saints, Methodism, charms and witchcraft, the Flora Dance, recipes and pasties. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn
more about the life of your ancestors.
Members email
changes:
Ginny Richmond
ginigeni@optonline.net
Wasco and Sylvia Hadowanetz
wassyl@embarqmail.com
Member address
change:
Stella Truran
13 Eagles Nest Ln
Hamburg NJ 07419-1233
Exciting News Flash!!!!
WE ARE NOW ONLINE!!
True and amazing, thanks to the genius of Pradeep Thapa and the generousity of his wife Margaret Carne. We
are still in the process of uploading all our back newsletters in WORD fornat and creating other new files and
links. We need your support and input. Also, at our last meeting we postponed a vote on accepting Margaret's
offer to sponsor us on the web for free for two years and for Pradeep to act as our webmaster. We need to vote
on this at the Dec.1st meeting. Please visit the web at www.cornishcrier.com <http://www.cornishcrier.com>
and see for yourselves. You will be dazzled and left breathless!
Thanks again to Margaret and Pradeep! PROPER JOB!