A to Z Challenge 2020 - I

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2020 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. My theme is...
Ancestor Occupations 

IRON WORKERS

My 3x great grandfather Alexander Falconer Tait, was born 1801 in Sorn, Ayrshire. After being discharged from the military at the end of his service he lived in  Hutchesontown, Glasgow where he married and had seven children. I don't know his occupation before the 1841 census of Scotland, but by then Alex was working as an Iron Weigher. There were iron works in the 1828 directory too. In the ten years between 1835 and 1845 iron production increased by 700%.

Pig Iron

In 1831 the Scottish Iron Moulders Friendly Society became the Scottish Iron Moulders Union. Due to its high subscriptions, it was able to pay a pension of 3s 6d per week to retired members, and additional benefits including one for members who suffered accidents at work.

On the 1841 census Alex was an Iron Weigher at an iron works. An Iron Weigher weighed iron products from the foundry, mostly pig-iron, to be sold by the ton. In Lanarkshire the best paid workers were around the iron-works and the coalfields. In 1843 the lowest labourer made 6.50 shillings per week in Glasgow. (from The state of the Scottish working-class in 1843, pg.117 Available to Borrow at Internet Archive.) 

The state of the Scottish working-class in 1843, pg.117

By the 1851 census Alex is an engine worker at the iron works. He probably worked on the lathes that turned cast iron. Both Alexander's son William and grandson Alexander went on to work in the Iron Industry. William was an Iron Refiner and Alexander was an Iron Turner (using the lathe).

Alexander Tait died in 1846 at the age of 56 of heart disease.