Hi Richard,
I would like to share with you, how I first learned the origin of the SCOTCHER name.
During my childhood I attended 3 schools, 2 in England (infant & Secondary modern) and one in Scotland (infant & Junior).
It was while attending junior school in Scotland that a lady teacher introduced the class to how surnames were derived.
As you would no doubt realize Scots Clan names and Mac derivatives were heavily discussed, but she also read a story to the class from book she owned on how the English name SCOTCHER came to be.
Hope you find the following story of the SCOTCHER NAME interesting.
As a child it fascinated me............
THE TALE OF OUR ANCESTORS AND THE (ENGLISH) NAME SCOTCHER:
In the year 1667 Tim (9) his sister Kate (7) live with their frail grandmother just beyond the outskirts of the new London.
Sent by their parents to live with her in 1665 to escape the Bubonic Plague that was ravaging old London, she is now their sole relative.
The children are orphans as all other family members have perished either by the plague or in the subsequent 1666 great fire.
During the spring and summer season, Tim and Kate work as child labour on farms.
In the Autumn they collect mushrooms, chestnuts etc, and foraged for kindling that is used in winter to heat their grandmothers hovel; they sell any surplus.
Winter is the harshest time for the children as the only employ is placing rocks behind the wheels of coaches at steep inclines, for a few pennies tossed by the coach travellers.
The rocks stop the heavy horse drawn coaches from rolling backwards down the slippery cobblestone road.
This work is known as "scotching the wheels" and it is fraught with danger, because the rocks are unpredictable and prone to breaking.
With raw chapped fingers chilled to the bone, Kate collects the rocks and Tim fits them behind the coach wheels.
One day Tim places a rock into position and it disintegrates causing the coach to roll back onto him crushing his leg.
The coaches wealthy occupants toss a few silver coins (as is the custom) to compensate injured Tim.
Writhing in agony Tim is placed onto a handcart then Kate wearily dragged him slowly home, where his grandmother sets his leg.
Recovering from the accident Tim is left permanently crippled and unable to work effectively, but work he must in order to survive.
He hobbles behind the coaches jamming the head of his oak wood crutch against the wheels, and is dubbed "Tim the cripple" by fellow child workers.
The oak wood crutch head under the intense pressure does not last long before it splinters to pieces.
However, at the very lowest moment of his entire life Tim has a clever idea!
Using the last of the accident money he commissions a blacksmith to forge and fit several iron wedges onto long stout oak poles, and embarks on a unique career.
He hires these efficient "scotching poles " out to the other children who are eager to rent them in place of scotching rocks.
The scotching poles eliminate the need to hunt for rocks and enable the scotching of the coach wheels in safety.
The rent pennies soon mount up and Tim, Kate and their grandmother are able to live a comfortable modest lifestyle.
Tim and Kate also manage to pay for a little tutoring thus freeing themselves from the yoke of illiteracy.
When Tim and Kate reach adulthood they had become relatively wealthy educated members of the working class London hawkers.
Entrepreneur Tim (no longer called "Tim the cripple") is thereafter referred to by the nickname "Tim the scotcher" and this ultimately evolves to become his permanent name ......Tim SCOTCHER..... THE END>
A SHORT HISTORY OF THIS PERIOD:
In two successive years of the 17th century London suffered two terrible disasters.
The Great Bubonic Plague in 1665 known as the Black Death, and in 1666 the Great Fire of London.
In the spring and summer of 1665 an outbreak of Bubonic Plague spread from parish to parish until thousands had died and the huge pits dug to receive the bodies were full.
It began in London in the poor, overcrowded parish of St. Giles-in-the-Field.
It started slowly at first but by May of 1665, 43 had died.
In June 6137 people died, in July 17036 and at its peak in August, 31159 people died.
In all, 15% of the population perished during that terrible summer.
Incubation took a mere four to six days and when the plague appeared in a household, the house was sealed, thus condemning the whole family to death!
These houses were distinguished by a painted red cross on the door and the words, 'Lord have mercy on us'.
At night the corpses were brought out in answer to the cry,' Bring out your dead', put in a cart and taken away to the plague pits.
One called the Great Pit was at Aldgate in London and another at Finsbury Fields.
The King, Charles II and his Court left London and fled to Oxford.
Those people who could, sent their families away from London during these months, but the poor had no recourse but to stay.
The plague lasted in London until the late Autumn when the colder weather helped kill off the fleas.
In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the centre of London but also killed off most of the black rats and fleas that carried the plague bacillus.
