HUNTER’S OF BRORA

In 1949, this advertisement appeared in the Oban Times:

HUNTER’S WOOL SERVICE
CROFTERS from the Mainland and the Islands of Skye, Tiree, Mull, Islay and Jura, CAN NOW SEND US WOOL FOR KNITTING YARN if they have obtained Licences from the Wool Control. Price List and Patterns free on request.
T. M. HUNTER, LTD.
BRORA
Specialists in the Manufacture of Wool
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 11 June 1949, 6)

Thomas Hunter had founded the Sutherland Wool Mill in Wick in 1901, soon relocating south to Brora on the Sutherland coast. The family also ran a brickworks, the Brora Colliery, and the Brora Electric Supply Company, making it the first town north of Inverness to have electric street lighting. After wool prices fell in the 1970s due to the rise of synthetics, the company closed in 1993.

Although Tiree was more famous for its barley, modern sheep breeds were introduced to the island around 1840, and large sheep farms were established in Hynish, Heylipol, and Hough. In 1911, the island’s census listed five professional ‘yarn spinners’, five ‘stocking knitters’, two ‘handloom weavers’ and four ‘retired hand-loom weavers (tweed)’. By 1921, following the disruption of the First World War, there were none. Tiree crofters increasingly turned to factories on the mainland to process their wool. Most chose Hunter’s of Brora. In 1952, crofters were encouraged:

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WOOL: SEND IT TO BRORA
For manufacture into blankets, bedcovers, travelling rugs, tweeds, knitting yarns and weaving yarns. Wool Control Licence still required for Fleece Wool and Gathered Wool.
T. M. HUNTER LTD. BRORA
Specialists in the manufacture of wool
(North Star and Farmers’ Chronicle, 15 March 1952, 6)

Armies use a lot of wool, for uniforms, overcoats and blankets. In 1916 a body called Wool Control was set up, compelling sheep farmers to sell all their wool to approved merchants at prices set by government. Between the wars, regulations were relaxed, and crofters became free to sell their wool on the open market. But Wool Control was re-established in 1939 under the Ministry of Supply.

This structure continued after the war. Conflict had prevented wool exporters in the southern hemisphere from moving their stocks. In 1945, representatives from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa met to discuss how to deal with this stockpile, estimated to be twelve years’ worth. The British Wool Marketing Board was set up in 1950, and licences were abolished soon after.

2005.79.2
Red and blue woven blanket made at Hunter’s of Brora with wool from A’ Chreag Ghlas, Balevullin.

As well as selling their wool, Tiree crofters also sent their clip to Hunter’s for it to be spun into knitting wool or woven into blankets. This was then returned to the crofter. An Iodhlann has several blankets made in Brora from Tiree wool. This was sometimes referred to as ‘drugget’. This is an old Scots word for coarse, woven material, coming from the French drogue meaning something that is of poor quality.

Dr John Holliday