{"id":26903,"date":"2025-02-03T11:58:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26903"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:34:58","slug":"episode-1229-edward-freeman-hated-my-job-as-head-gardener-too-much-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26903","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 1,229: EDWARD FREEMAN…”HATED MY JOB AS HEAD GARDENER — TOO MUCH PRESSURE”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE  1,229: EDWARD FREEMAN…”HATED MY JOB AS HEAD GARDENER — TOO MUCH PRESSURE”
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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
feb. 4, 2025<\/div>\n

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EDWARD FREEMAN \u2014 INCOME AS HEAD GARDNER AT EYWOOD<\/div>\n
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What was Edward Freeman earning as head gardener at Eywood from<\/div>\n
1898 to 2006?  I never asked him.  Is it too late to find out?  I mulled<\/div>\n
that question over all night and discovered there is a way to remove<\/div>\n
the cobwebs.<\/div>\n
Average \u00a3110 pound a year \/ $536.00 (19th Century) <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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*lodgings included<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1960 <\/div>\n
british pound was  worth  $2.80  US<\/div>\n

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Bunmahon,  Southern Ireland in 1960<\/div>\n

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MY JOB IN IRELAND HELPED \u2014 LEARNING TO MANAGE MEN \u2014 MONEY <\/div>\n

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Many of our Irish employees at Kirwin\u2019s pub, Bunmahon, 1960<\/div>\n

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As mentioned earlier I had an interestng job in Southern Ireland in 1960.<\/div>\n
There is an abandoned copper mine called Knockmahon on the western<\/div>\n
edge of County Waterford.  In 1960 the African source of copper was in<\/div>\n
jeopardy so Denison Mines contracted Hunting Technical and Exploration<\/div>\n
Services to complete a surface survey of the site using A Turam electro magnetic<\/div>\n
instrument.  Since the previous summer I had been using the Turam<\/div>\n
system in Western Alaska the company sent me to Ireland.<\/div>\n

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Why did I need so many employees?  Imagine a bull or a near feral hog?  Or trying to work above and below ground<\/div>\n
alone \u2014 needed help.<\/div>\n

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My pay was $400 a month. The job lasted three months.  Help was <\/div>\n
to be hired in Ireland.  The daily rate of pay was one pound per day\u2026i.e. $2.80 U.S. per day.<\/div>\n
I hired a lot of people as the job was made difficult by herds of cattle<\/div>\n
eating great swaths of our insulated copper base line. Then they would<\/div>\n
ruminate and throw up balls of our wire terminating the survey.  Another<\/div>\n
danger was feral pigs that Barney Dwan, my first helper, said had eaten<\/div>\n
a Nun and all that was found were her shoes with feet in them.  Would you<\/div>\n
believe that story?  No matter. I was strapped in to the Tjuram and needed<\/div>\n
a man to lift me or push me through the bramble fences of small Irish<\/div>\n
fields.  Another problem was training a linecutting crew to set up our<\/div>\n
grid for the survey.  And a man or two men to guard our motor generator<\/div>\n
which was used to create a magnetic field.  Why should you care?<\/div>\n

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All these employees had to be paid. So I discovered the rate of pay<\/div>\n
in Ireland in 1960 was one pound per day ($2.80 U.S,.). Each Friday<\/div>\n
was payday.  Seemed to me the rate of pay was low so I bought<\/div>\n
packs of cigarettes and chocolate bars as sweetenters for the job.<\/div>\n
Made me feel like a big shot.<\/div>\n

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 I really was just a field man gathering data for Dr, John Scam, a geophysicist,<\/div>\n
to study and try to determine how much copper was beneath the ground.<\/div>\n
John Hogan, a geologist was also present representing Dennison Mining Corp.<\/div>\n

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How could this experience help me discover what my granddad, Edward <\/div>\n
Freeman earned as head gardener at Eywood?   In 2020, historian Chantal Grayson <\/div>\n
researched the incomes of servants on great estates in England like<\/div>\n
Eywood.  She averaged the rates of pay and arrived at a figure for<\/div>\n
each class of servant.  Head gardeners earned an average 110 pounds<\/div>\n
peer year.  Presto!  Now I knew what Edgar Freeman earned. $560 er year.<\/div>\n
Or 46.6 cents per day\u2026six day week.  Of course Edward also got a<\/div>\n
house and perhaps food.<\/div>\n

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My Irish employees were getting $2.80 per day.  I was getting  $13.30 per<\/div>\n
day plus room and board.  The cost of tuition at the University of Toronto<\/div>\n
was $425.00 in 1960.<\/div>\n

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HERE IS THE BOMBSHELL<\/div>\n

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How did Edward Freeman earn enough money to bring his family to<\/div>\n
Canada in 2006?  Why did he decide to emigrate.   I thought he had<\/div>\n
a good job in England.   He liked his work at Eywood because<\/div>\n
he talked about the place so much.  Grandpa and grandma corresponded<\/div>\n
with many of the Eywood servants,<\/div>\n

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Edward Freeman at  Eywood and at his farm in Canada \u2014 decades apart<\/div>\n


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One day in 1955 or 1956, I asked him if emigration had been a big mistake.<\/div>\n
Didn\u2019t Edward Freeman love his job as Head Gardener?<\/div>\n

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How to discourage pigeons at Eywood Gardens <\/div>\n

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WORDS BELOW ARE MY WORDS\u2026AS I REMEMBER<\/div>\n


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\u201cNo, Alan, I did not like the job.   did not like having to tip my hat<\/div>\n
to Mr. Gwyer.  Did not  like to indicate I was a  Commoner to my<\/div>\n
\u2018betters\u2019 so often.  My job as Head Gardener was filled with tension.<\/div>\n
Food and flowers had to be produced.  Gardening is a chancy business\u2026weather <\/div>\n
and weeds.  If I failed to produce then I would lose my job. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then there was the job of  keeping the estate looking ship shape\u2026.those rotodendrons<\/p><\/div>\n

did not appear from nowhere.  The men and boys had to be told what to do.<\/div>\n
The gardens required planning.  Greenhouse glass was breakablel.  The job<\/div>\n
was endless.”<\/div>\n
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\u201cI thought you loved gardening.\u2019<\/div>\n

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\u2018i do.  I love gardening here in Canada.  Look at that crop of<\/div>\n
rhubarb\u2026that\u2019s ours.  Look at the orchard.  Those are our<\/div>\n
trees.  When we moved here from Northern Ontario our wandering<\/div>\n
ended.   Would we go back to Eywood even for a visit ?  No!\u201d<\/div>\n

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I failed to ask him how he could afford to migrate to Canada. I cannot figure<\/div>\n
out how he did it.   My cousin Ted Freeman who knew granddad<\/div>\n
better than I did said he made a little money on the stock market<\/div>\n
Is this correct?  I have no idea.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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ALAN<\/div>\n

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POSTSCRIPT<\/div>\n

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GARDENING STAFF TASKS<\/div>\n

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  1. Average wages for gardeners varied between \u00a350 to \u00a3100 per year.<\/li>\n
  2. Wages depended on the gardener’s experience and the type of estate or garden.<\/li>\n
  3. Skilled gardeners, especially those working in large estates, earned higher wages.<\/li>\n
  4. Many gardeners received additional benefits, such as accommodation and food.<\/li>\n
  5. Seasonal work could affect earnings, with some gardeners earning less in winter months.<\/li>\n
  6. The rise of horticultural societies contributed to the professionalization of gardening.<\/li>\n
  7. Wages were generally lower in rural areas compared to urban settings.<\/li>\n
  8. The introduction of labor laws began to influence wage standards during this period.<\/li>\n
  9. Female gardeners typically earned less than their male counterparts.<\/li>\n
  10. Economic conditions and demand for gardening services also impacted wages.<\/li>\n
  11. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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    NEXT STORY;  WANDERING THROGH THE WILDERNESS\u2026FAILURE AFTER FAILURE<\/div>\n

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    EPISODE  1,229: EDWARD FREEMAN…”HATED MY JOB AS HEAD GARDENER — TOO MUCH PRESSURE” alan skeoch feb. 4, 2025 EDWARD FREEMAN \u2014 INCOME AS HEAD GARDNER AT EYWOOD What was Edward Freeman earning as head gardener at Eywood from 1898 to 2006?  I never asked him.  Is it too late to find out?  I mulled that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}