David Allan, Lead Processing at Leadhills, Pounding the Ore c.1786

Abstract

From an opening on the right, pallid hazy sunshine filters through into the dark interior of a high-roofed shed. Two young boys boisterously attack small lumps of grey rock (lead ore) with flat-headed, short-handled, ‘bucking’ hammers, whilst their older colleague in a brown brimmed hat and blue coat feeds their feverish fun by raking rocks down a sloping bench towards them. At the other side of the shed, a young man sedately tips a barrow-load of pounded ore onto the rough earth floor for his mate with a long-handled spade to shovel carefully into the adjacent washing tank. Both men wear frock coats, knee-length breeches, stockings, shoes, leather aprons and neckerchiefs. One has a hat—a sign of seniority? They wear no masks or gloves. In the background at a safe distance from the dust and grime, an elegantly dressed couple, classically posed, are accompanied by a bare-headed man, who points out the mischievous children hard at work. He may be a factory employee but the absence of a hat and the modesty of his dress infer a position too junior to escort such noble visitors. The object in his right hand might be a ledger or possibly a sketchbook. Perhaps he’s the artist, David Allan, who is known to have accompanied the Earl and Countess of Hopetoun on a visit to the Leadhills mineworks [ 1 ]. On the right, the rolling Lowther Hills confirm the rural setting, whilst the left reveals smoking chimneys and a burgeoning industrial landscape. The picture (oil on canvas 28×58cm) is from a set of four paintings commissioned by the Earl. The others are Washing the Ore , Smelting the Ore and Weighing the Lead Bars [ 2 ]. Allan, perhaps mindful of his patron’s goodwill and personal kindness [ 3 ], has romanticized the work scenes emphasizing the outdoor settings and portraying the hazardous employment as graceful, even playful [ 4 ]. In contrast to other critical descriptions of the mine’s working conditions [ 5 , 6 ], Allan ‘promotes industry in an acceptably genteel and sanitised way’ [ 4 ]. Yet Leadhills was a model workplace with a chaplain, schoolmaster, surgeon, a subscription library, charitable funds and pensions for sick and aged workers [ 7 ]. The four paintings were probably hung on the walls of Hopetoun Estates’ administrative HQ, Moffat House, which John Adam built for the Earl in 1767 in the fashionable spa town of Moffat [ 8 ]. David Allan was born in Alloa (1744) to father David, the port’s ‘Shoremaster’, and mother Janet who died a few days after his birth. He was educated at the local school and began drawing (chalk figures on the kitchen floor) during a forced convalescence from leg burns which kept him at home [ 3 ]. Aged 11 his father sent him to the Foulis Academy of Painting and Engraving, Glasgow on a 7 year apprenticeship. There he attracted the attention of several wealthy patrons including Lord Cathcart, who sponsored his further studies in Italy, where he stayed for 11 years. He left Rome for London in 1777 but poor health and lack of success drove him back to Scotland (1779) [ 9 ]. He settled in Edinburgh and began to paint small-scale conversation pieces and family portraits. During his stays in Rome and Naples, he had drawn many genre pictures and now he returned to these themes. His images of Scottish domestic and rural life embraced numerous trades and occupations—fishwives, lace-women, coal merchants, chimney sweeps and lead workers [ 9 ]. He also illustrated books including manuscripts by Robbie Burns, famously Tam o’ Shanter and The Cotter’s Saturday Night , and was appointed Master and Director of the Trustees’ Academy of Arts (1786) [ 9 ]. He died in Edinburgh (1796) and was buried in the city’s Old Calton Cemetery. Shy and self-conscious, but much admired for his genial humanity ‘Honest Allan’ was welcomed into the homes of rich and poor alike. In the 18th century art world, he ‘stood alone as the delineator of Scottish life’ [ 3 ]. Lead Mining at Leadhills, the delivery and sorting of the lead (oil on canvas)© Private Collection/Bridgeman Images. Although lead is widely distributed in Scotland, lead mining has always been a relatively small industry. There were workings at ‘leidhoillis’ in the 16th century and mining was well established by 1638. Output peaked around 1810 but eventually petered out (1928) [ 7 ]. Across the UK in 2014/15, there were 6319 lead workers (95% males) under medical surveillance and 19 were suspended due to excess blood lead levels [ 10 ]. An ‘In-Depth Review’ of lead toxicity in this journal argued for a thorough overhaul of these regulations to improve the ‘margin of safety between current occupational blood lead suspension limits and subclinical effects’ [ 11 ]. At Leadhills, miners no longer need protecting from ‘mill-reek’ (lead poisoning) but their 275-year-old Library continues to care for the local community [ 12 ]—Scottish enlightenment out of dark saturnine ashes.