Dressmakers employed by Veitch of Peebles, ca.1890
Title
Dressmakers employed by Veitch of Peebles, ca.1890
Category
Textiles
Description
This photographic portrait, posed in the studio of photographer G. Watson of the High Street, Peebles in about 1890, shows ten women described as ‘some of the dressmakers employed by Mr Veitch’, plus a small boy. Several are teenage girls, with their uncorsetted figures and long hair, who would have been apprentices to the trade; others are young adults. The figure in the centre, with the child leaning against her knee, may have been Mrs Veitch, co-owner of the establishment. The fashionably dressed figures seated on either side are notably good looking and have an air more commonly associated with the leisured elite than with working women. This was a feature of the bespoke dressmaking trades, whose appeal to customers was based on a cultivated veneer of gentility. The everyday reality of working life for the women involved was, however, very different, with long hours and poor pay the usual experience. It was only by setting up in business on your own account that the skilled dressmaker could hope to better her fortunes.
The small town of Peebles, twenty miles south of Edinburgh on the banks of the river Tweed, was a summer resort for tourists by the 1880s, famous for fishing and other country sports. The Hydropathic Hotel, built in 1878, provided accommodation for 200 visitors and there were numerous smaller hotels and guest houses in the town. There were several genteel boarding schools for girls in Peebles and the female population, dominated by middle class women, their servants and the trades that supported them, including dressmakers, exceeded that of men. By the end of the century there were as many as ten drapers, outfitters and tailoring shops located in Peebles, mostly with premises in the High Street. One of these was the notable firm of Veitch’s, whose shop on a prominent corner site, is still there today. The firm was founded in 1884 by local man Robert Veitch and his wife Helen Binnie, a milliner. It survived through four generations of Veitch-family ownership to 2008. At its height at the turn of the century it was reputed to have employed twenty-six dressmakers, some of whom may well be recorded in this portrait, in workshops and fitting studios on the two floors above the shop.
First introduced in the 1840s, early photographic portraits were the preserve of the wealthy, but the development of the cheap wet collodian process and glass negatives in the 1850s reduced costs and led to an explosion in demand. Photographic studios were founded in high streets in small towns the length of the country from the 1860s. Some photographers were trained as artists, others combined their trade with additional shop-based businesses. By the 1890s, at the time this portrait was taken, twenty percent of commercial photographers were women and a modest carte-de-visite portrait cost as little as 2s 6d for a dozen copies. The reasons for taking this photograph are not recorded, nor are the names of the sitters. The history and fortunes of G. Watson, the photographer, have not been traced.
The small town of Peebles, twenty miles south of Edinburgh on the banks of the river Tweed, was a summer resort for tourists by the 1880s, famous for fishing and other country sports. The Hydropathic Hotel, built in 1878, provided accommodation for 200 visitors and there were numerous smaller hotels and guest houses in the town. There were several genteel boarding schools for girls in Peebles and the female population, dominated by middle class women, their servants and the trades that supported them, including dressmakers, exceeded that of men. By the end of the century there were as many as ten drapers, outfitters and tailoring shops located in Peebles, mostly with premises in the High Street. One of these was the notable firm of Veitch’s, whose shop on a prominent corner site, is still there today. The firm was founded in 1884 by local man Robert Veitch and his wife Helen Binnie, a milliner. It survived through four generations of Veitch-family ownership to 2008. At its height at the turn of the century it was reputed to have employed twenty-six dressmakers, some of whom may well be recorded in this portrait, in workshops and fitting studios on the two floors above the shop.
First introduced in the 1840s, early photographic portraits were the preserve of the wealthy, but the development of the cheap wet collodian process and glass negatives in the 1850s reduced costs and led to an explosion in demand. Photographic studios were founded in high streets in small towns the length of the country from the 1860s. Some photographers were trained as artists, others combined their trade with additional shop-based businesses. By the 1890s, at the time this portrait was taken, twenty percent of commercial photographers were women and a modest carte-de-visite portrait cost as little as 2s 6d for a dozen copies. The reasons for taking this photograph are not recorded, nor are the names of the sitters. The history and fortunes of G. Watson, the photographer, have not been traced.
Image copyright
National Museums Scotland
Item Location
National Museums Scotland
Files
Citation
“Dressmakers employed by Veitch of Peebles, ca.1890,” Artisans in Scotland, accessed October 15, 2025, http://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/items/show/22.