November 26th 1794

Gloves and Skins

Glover Street and Skinner Street are now the only reminders of what were once important industries in Perth. The Incorporation of Glovers and Skinners had about seventy members at the end of the 18th Century and a flourishing trade in skins and gloves. In 1794 they were dressing about 30,000 sheep and lambs annually, about one third of which were brought into the town from the surrounding countryside.

Most were imported to London and were “much esteemed for their cleanness from grease and for their fineness of grain.”

There was also a trade in kid skins but “kids having become scarce from the breed of goats not being encouraged in the Highlands on account of the plantations they have of late been in part supplied with Italian kid, and lamb skins, for their glove manufactury; and they have a plentiful supply of mort lamb skins for that purpose from the South of Scotland, and particularly from the country bordering on the River Tweed. The glovers here have long been famous for making good gloves. The quantity manufactured yearly is from two to three thousand pairs, and are chiefly for home consumption.”