John was born in Ireland during the Great Famine (1845-49). By 1871, he and his family had emigrated to Scotland. The census shows that they lived in Old Kilpatrick, then a small town on the banks of the Clyde River outside Glasgow. John and his father Denis were (ag) laborers, his sister Roseann was the housekeeper and brother James was an Ironstone miner. In April 1873, John travelled back to Ireland to marry Charlotte (a possible family connection through her mother who was born a Boyle) in Saint Johnston Parish Parochial House in Raphoe, County of Donegal - a Catholic Church.
The couple returned to Scotland and went on to have 7 children – the youngest Margaret died aged 3. John worked as an Agricultural labourer and then a Carter. But by 1901, aged 56, he was a Watchman working for the town council in the then rapidly growing town of Clydebank. In the same census, their 4 daughters were working as French polishers in the Singer sewing machine factory. By the time of next census, that job would spark a dispute which became world famous. Aside from Fanny – our ancestor – no marriages or families have been found for the other 5 Boyle children.
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Singer’s factory was built on 46 acres of farmland at Kilbowie, Clydebank. With nearly a million square feet of space and almost 7,000 employees it produced an average of 13,000 machines a week, making it the largest sewing machine factory in the world, and yet demand continued to exceed production.
Early in 1911, twelve women cabinet polishers at the plant went on strike when their work was re-organised in a way that disadvantaged them. Three defect repairers were withdrawn from a team of fifteen women working in the cabinet polishing department, and the repairers' duties were added to those of the remaining twelve women but they were offered no increase in pay. The women were paid piece-work rates and were likely to lose around 2 shillings from their usual 16 shilling weekly wage packets. Within two days almost all of the then 11,000 workforce went out on strike in sympathy with the women.
The Industrial Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) and the Socialist Labour Party backed the striking workers but management went on the offensive by closing the works and threatening to remove production to other plants in Europe. Three weeks later, the strike committee conceded defeat. Soon afterwards the company started a culling campaign which resulted in the sacking of over 400 workers. The strike is considered the first battle between labour and international capital in Scotland if not in the UK.
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By the 1911 census (the same year as the strike), only Catherine was clearly still working in the polisher job. Fanny was a mother of 6, and Mary J and Susannah weren’t living with the family and haven’t been found elsewhere. John (snr) was still a Watchman but died before 1917 when Charlotte died of Hemiplegia (possibly following as stroke) (a widow at that time). Hemiplegia is a condition caused by brain damage or spinal cord injury that leads to paralysis on one side of the body. It causes weakness, problems with muscle control, and muscle stiffness.
John and Charlotte’s eldest son John (jnr) enlisted for WWI in about 1914 in the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, 6th Battalion. He would’ve been aged about 40. He was killed in action on 25th September 1915, the day the Battalion fought the Battle of Loos in France.
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