Trades and Professions

Abstract

Edinburgh’s tightly controlled burgess network, which was regulated by the Town Council, strongly defined the middle orders. It also controlled the limits of what was politically tolerable for those looking to make their way in society via the trade and craft incorporations of the city: Chirurgons and Barbouris (who separated in 1722), Goldsmythis, Skinners and Furriers, Hammermen, Wrights and Masons, Tailors, Baxters, Fleschouris, Curdwainers, Wabstaris, Waekaris [hatters], Bonnet-Makers, and Dyers and Candlemakers. Control of the system was strongly identified with the exercise of political control on a wider stage, as burgess privileges and licensing were an established route to patronage.