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The Christian Watt Papers
At the age of forty-seven Christian Watt began to write down recollections of her life; she continued until her death at the age of ninety in 1923. Her tale is a remarkable story, vividly told with a natural narrative gift. She was born into a Fraserburgh fishing family, and spent much of her life gutting and selling fish, and, for a time, working in domestic service, first to the Duchess of Leeds and subsequently travelling to New York to serve as tablemaid to Winston Churchill's grandmother. Hers was a life of constant toil and hardship. The sea brought her family a precarious living and often a violent death: four of her seven brothers, her husband and her favorite son all died at sea. Anxiety and grief eventually led to mental breakdown, and Christian spent the last forty years of her life as a patient in the Cornhill Infirmary.
Her treatment there was enlightened and humane; she continued to work and travel and it was there that she wrote, drawing on her vivid memory. Her writings offer a vivid insight not only into the life of the north-east of Scotland during the middle and later part of the nineteenth century, and into the twentieth, but also on events of national and international interest. Christian was a woman of beauty, character and intelligence, and her writing is fuelled by her sense of family pride, her anger at social injustice, her hatred of war and her profound religious faith. Her courage and compassion are everywhere evident, as is her frankness, spontaneity and insight. Her papers have remained in her family, but thanks to David Fraser's careful and sensitive editing are now available to a wider public. He has arranged the papers in a coherent chronology and provided narrative and explanatory links, but for the most part leaves Christian to tell her story in her own words. Previously privately published, this book has not been widely available for many years.
Her treatment there was enlightened and humane; she continued to work and travel and it was there that she wrote, drawing on her vivid memory. Her writings offer a vivid insight not only into the life of the north-east of Scotland during the middle and later part of the nineteenth century, and into the twentieth, but also on events of national and international interest. Christian was a woman of beauty, character and intelligence, and her writing is fuelled by her sense of family pride, her anger at social injustice, her hatred of war and her profound religious faith. Her courage and compassion are everywhere evident, as is her frankness, spontaneity and insight. Her papers have remained in her family, but thanks to David Fraser's careful and sensitive editing are now available to a wider public. He has arranged the papers in a coherent chronology and provided narrative and explanatory links, but for the most part leaves Christian to tell her story in her own words. Previously privately published, this book has not been widely available for many years.
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 1983
About the author
Christian Watt
1 bookChristian Watt was a Scottish servant girl, lady's maid, fishwife and memoirist.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 21, 2025
A memoir from a working class woman born in the fishing port of Fraserburgh, in NE Scotland, in 1833. She lived until 1923, although she spent the last half of her life in an asylum in the nearby city of Aberdeen. Her illness was brought on, in her own account, by repeated family tragedies. It was living in the asylum that allowed her the time to write her memoirs.
Part of my reason for reading this was that an ancestor of mine lived in Fraserburgh for a period that overlapped with the author’s. My ancestor was born in 1812 in the parish of Halkirk, in Caithness. This was an inland farming area, about as far north as you can go on the Scottish mainland. Somehow or other he fetched up in Fraserburgh, a coastal town about 200 miles/300km to the south east, where he died in 1856. The registration of death gives the cause as “convulsions following intoxication by adulterated spirits”. (Yikes!). I thought this memoir might give me some insight into life in Fraserburgh at the time my ancestor lived there.
So, back to the book! Christian Watt was a very interesting character. She was no-one’s doormat, that’s for sure. She describes her politics as “staunchly radical”. She doesn’t use the term “feminist” and probably would not have known it, but she clearly was one. She was additionally a Scottish nationalist and, in her late twenties, she became a “born-again” Christian, throwing herself into religion with the same passion as her other beliefs. This didn’t alter her politics though, her Jesus was the Christ of the suffering poor.
Christian admits that some people viewed her as “proud and haughty”. She speaks her mind, something that is often a virtue but which, taken too far, can be a fault. Her pride led her to be disdainful of others. During her parents’ time, the local fisherfolk were not allowed to build their own boats. These had to be provided by the local estate, who then took a sixth of the fisherman’s catch in return for their capital outlay. The fishers fought a long campaign against this system, and eventually succeeded in gaining the right to construct their own boats and keep the whole of their catch. This gave them an element of freedom other workers of the time did not have. Farm labourers operated under a system where they agreed to work for a farmer for a 6-month period in return for a set fee. They could not break the contract once agreed. Watt comments that:
“The feeing markets at the Broch [Fraserburgh] and Strichen were hilarious affairs, where bairns bartered themselves into slavery.”
Many of my ancestors were labourers hired at feeing markets, so I took her comments a bit to heart!
The book though, does provide a fascinating portrait into the time and place. Christian would salt the fish caught by her male family members and carry it inland for sale. There was a certain amount of risk to being a solitary woman wandering the roads:
“Fishwives were often attacked both for money and carnal knowledge. All carried sharp gutting knives. I would not have hesitated to plunge it into anybody who attempted to molest me.”
When Christian herself married she described a custom of which I was unaware.
“I entered into a marriage contract at the end of January. It was a bond of handfast, drawn up by the lawyer. Within a year and a day, we could produce evidence of a forthcoming child; or failing, by mutual consent, we could end the contract with no liability.”
She had no cause to worry about that though. She ended up with ten children.
For a woman of her time she was well-travelled. For a period she became one of the “herring girls” who moved around the coast, gutting herring. She worked for a while as a servant girl in London, and even went to the USA for 8 months.
“I got a job as a tablemaid with a Mrs Jerome who had a beautiful mansion near the Eyrie waterway at Palmyra” (Said Mrs Jerome would become Winston Churchill’s maternal grandmother). Christian was enormously impressed with the US:
“Anybody with eyes could see the rising of a great democratic nation, that will one day be as a lamp to the western world…There was a kind of snobbery based on money, but it degraded nobody as in class-ridden Great Britain.”
She would have liked to have stayed in America, but had promised her parents she would return.
19th century Fraserburgh seems to have been quite cosmopolitan. I suppose port towns often are. The book has some great descriptions.
As mentioned, the author suffered a series of family tragedies. Menfolk were lost at sea or in wars, and both sexes were felled by infectious diseases – cholera, tetanus, TB, scarlet fever, and others. I got the impression Christian rather played down the reasons for her committal to the asylum, understandably perhaps. Contrary to the modern image of 19th century asylums, she was treated with kindness whilst there. I found this part of the book less interesting than her earlier life though. She spends much of this part writing about her religious beliefs, and her conviction that The Second Coming was close at hand.
Overall though, I found it a fascinating read.
Part of my reason for reading this was that an ancestor of mine lived in Fraserburgh for a period that overlapped with the author’s. My ancestor was born in 1812 in the parish of Halkirk, in Caithness. This was an inland farming area, about as far north as you can go on the Scottish mainland. Somehow or other he fetched up in Fraserburgh, a coastal town about 200 miles/300km to the south east, where he died in 1856. The registration of death gives the cause as “convulsions following intoxication by adulterated spirits”. (Yikes!). I thought this memoir might give me some insight into life in Fraserburgh at the time my ancestor lived there.
So, back to the book! Christian Watt was a very interesting character. She was no-one’s doormat, that’s for sure. She describes her politics as “staunchly radical”. She doesn’t use the term “feminist” and probably would not have known it, but she clearly was one. She was additionally a Scottish nationalist and, in her late twenties, she became a “born-again” Christian, throwing herself into religion with the same passion as her other beliefs. This didn’t alter her politics though, her Jesus was the Christ of the suffering poor.
Christian admits that some people viewed her as “proud and haughty”. She speaks her mind, something that is often a virtue but which, taken too far, can be a fault. Her pride led her to be disdainful of others. During her parents’ time, the local fisherfolk were not allowed to build their own boats. These had to be provided by the local estate, who then took a sixth of the fisherman’s catch in return for their capital outlay. The fishers fought a long campaign against this system, and eventually succeeded in gaining the right to construct their own boats and keep the whole of their catch. This gave them an element of freedom other workers of the time did not have. Farm labourers operated under a system where they agreed to work for a farmer for a 6-month period in return for a set fee. They could not break the contract once agreed. Watt comments that:
“The feeing markets at the Broch [Fraserburgh] and Strichen were hilarious affairs, where bairns bartered themselves into slavery.”
Many of my ancestors were labourers hired at feeing markets, so I took her comments a bit to heart!
The book though, does provide a fascinating portrait into the time and place. Christian would salt the fish caught by her male family members and carry it inland for sale. There was a certain amount of risk to being a solitary woman wandering the roads:
“Fishwives were often attacked both for money and carnal knowledge. All carried sharp gutting knives. I would not have hesitated to plunge it into anybody who attempted to molest me.”
When Christian herself married she described a custom of which I was unaware.
“I entered into a marriage contract at the end of January. It was a bond of handfast, drawn up by the lawyer. Within a year and a day, we could produce evidence of a forthcoming child; or failing, by mutual consent, we could end the contract with no liability.”
She had no cause to worry about that though. She ended up with ten children.
For a woman of her time she was well-travelled. For a period she became one of the “herring girls” who moved around the coast, gutting herring. She worked for a while as a servant girl in London, and even went to the USA for 8 months.
“I got a job as a tablemaid with a Mrs Jerome who had a beautiful mansion near the Eyrie waterway at Palmyra” (Said Mrs Jerome would become Winston Churchill’s maternal grandmother). Christian was enormously impressed with the US:
“Anybody with eyes could see the rising of a great democratic nation, that will one day be as a lamp to the western world…There was a kind of snobbery based on money, but it degraded nobody as in class-ridden Great Britain.”
She would have liked to have stayed in America, but had promised her parents she would return.
19th century Fraserburgh seems to have been quite cosmopolitan. I suppose port towns often are. The book has some great descriptions.
As mentioned, the author suffered a series of family tragedies. Menfolk were lost at sea or in wars, and both sexes were felled by infectious diseases – cholera, tetanus, TB, scarlet fever, and others. I got the impression Christian rather played down the reasons for her committal to the asylum, understandably perhaps. Contrary to the modern image of 19th century asylums, she was treated with kindness whilst there. I found this part of the book less interesting than her earlier life though. She spends much of this part writing about her religious beliefs, and her conviction that The Second Coming was close at hand.
Overall though, I found it a fascinating read.
March 29, 2024
This is a fascinating account of a working-class Scottish woman. Like others of that time, she had a really tough life. She was born in 1833 and had began work at the age of nine in domestic service. She became a fishwife, and after a tragedy at sea, she lost a number of male members of her family. It was to rob her of her sanity and she ended up in the Cornhill Asylum. She was encouraged to write her memoirs in pencil and that bundle of papers became this book.
She was a strong woman and didn’t have any tolerance for the airs and graces of the aristocracy, often calling them out on certain matters. She was frequently told that she was speaking above her station, but thankfully that didn’t stop her at all. She held similar opinions of those with a lot of religious power too, most of these people were more concerned with how the were perceived in the eyes of others and had no intention of actually putting their Christian teaching into practice.
She details how the feudal system still worked at that time. The lairds would take a portion of every catch, just because they could. The whole of society was heavily in favour of the aristocracy but as that faded in importance, their lives were then ruled by capitalists, who only cared about profits and little else. Because of the heavy skewing of the system, she and may others spent a lot of time in debt and poverty.
The loss of her family members was too much to cope with and she ended up in asylum. It was here where she learnt who her true friends were and those who now shunned her because of where she had ended up. It made her already tough life, just that little bit harder. She was allowed out after a while, but was readmitted again having been declared insane. And yet it seemed to suit her, the pressures of outside life had gone, but she worried about the children and grandchildren that she had left behind.
I would say this is essential reading for anyone interested in the social history of this country and in particular Scotland. What is quite terrifying is that even though was have come on over a century or more, some of the same restrictions that hold the working class and poor in that position, are still in place today. The great and the good (ha) still have more power and wealth at the expense of wider society. I thought that the editing of the notes was really good. Fraser steers us in understanding about the time that these were written and the wider historical context, whilst letting her voice come through clearly.
She was a strong woman and didn’t have any tolerance for the airs and graces of the aristocracy, often calling them out on certain matters. She was frequently told that she was speaking above her station, but thankfully that didn’t stop her at all. She held similar opinions of those with a lot of religious power too, most of these people were more concerned with how the were perceived in the eyes of others and had no intention of actually putting their Christian teaching into practice.
She details how the feudal system still worked at that time. The lairds would take a portion of every catch, just because they could. The whole of society was heavily in favour of the aristocracy but as that faded in importance, their lives were then ruled by capitalists, who only cared about profits and little else. Because of the heavy skewing of the system, she and may others spent a lot of time in debt and poverty.
The loss of her family members was too much to cope with and she ended up in asylum. It was here where she learnt who her true friends were and those who now shunned her because of where she had ended up. It made her already tough life, just that little bit harder. She was allowed out after a while, but was readmitted again having been declared insane. And yet it seemed to suit her, the pressures of outside life had gone, but she worried about the children and grandchildren that she had left behind.
I would say this is essential reading for anyone interested in the social history of this country and in particular Scotland. What is quite terrifying is that even though was have come on over a century or more, some of the same restrictions that hold the working class and poor in that position, are still in place today. The great and the good (ha) still have more power and wealth at the expense of wider society. I thought that the editing of the notes was really good. Fraser steers us in understanding about the time that these were written and the wider historical context, whilst letting her voice come through clearly.
December 21, 2023
Christian Watt has an encyclopaedic memory, her ability to remember names, relationships, ages and addresses of her family and neighbours was mind blowing…at least it was to this reader who often forgets his own age. Her wit and knowledge knows no bounds, practical skills are second to none and she demanded an independence way ahead of her time…in my opinion she had superhero status.
The book is laid out chronologically and we start off with her childhood and her brief education before she starts to earn money for the family, as she gets older she paints a picture of life in a Scottish fishing village in the 19th century. As the memoir moves on she falls in love and has a family before she is hit with many tragedies, it was more than her mind could handle and she moves in to Cornhill Asylum for the rest of her life. Whilst we learn all about this, Watt recalls various events from history and gives her opinion on many political areas from war and the concentration camps that Britain created, to how the poor are dealt with and a rather sassy opinion of Queen Victoria. Throughout the book she uses her local dialect and using the glossary I have learnt some cool new words.
The best part of the writing was during The Great War and the poor men staying at the Asylum, some of the most haunting words I’ve ever read and there was so much rage barely suppressed within her words, having witnessed so much tragedy to then see more family members go off to die in a politician’s war was almost too much for her. If Watt was alive today she would be outraged that nothing has changed in the 100years since her death.
Watt was an incredible writer who lived such a long life, her scope of life skills had people flocking to visit her in twilight years, she was the sort of woman I would loved to have met and to listen to her stories. Another cracking book from Eland, if they hadn’t republished this memoir then I would never have heard about the superhero Christian Watt.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...
The book is laid out chronologically and we start off with her childhood and her brief education before she starts to earn money for the family, as she gets older she paints a picture of life in a Scottish fishing village in the 19th century. As the memoir moves on she falls in love and has a family before she is hit with many tragedies, it was more than her mind could handle and she moves in to Cornhill Asylum for the rest of her life. Whilst we learn all about this, Watt recalls various events from history and gives her opinion on many political areas from war and the concentration camps that Britain created, to how the poor are dealt with and a rather sassy opinion of Queen Victoria. Throughout the book she uses her local dialect and using the glossary I have learnt some cool new words.
The best part of the writing was during The Great War and the poor men staying at the Asylum, some of the most haunting words I’ve ever read and there was so much rage barely suppressed within her words, having witnessed so much tragedy to then see more family members go off to die in a politician’s war was almost too much for her. If Watt was alive today she would be outraged that nothing has changed in the 100years since her death.
Watt was an incredible writer who lived such a long life, her scope of life skills had people flocking to visit her in twilight years, she was the sort of woman I would loved to have met and to listen to her stories. Another cracking book from Eland, if they hadn’t republished this memoir then I would never have heard about the superhero Christian Watt.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...
May 28, 2026
Christian Watt grew up and lived in Fraserburgh, located on the eastern side of Scotland, north of Aberdeen. She was born in the 1830s and lived a long life, although about half was in a mental asylum. It seemed like a home that looked carefully after their wards, and Christian was able to leave at times. It was there during her time living there it was suggested she write down her history, which is how the books pages came about.
Christian grew up very poor, the only girl in a large family of brothers, then many died in a boating accident. There were two left, but later those two also died. She had many losses in her life, too many. When she was a little older and married she ended up with having ten children and struggled to get by. At one point she says, if only one of my brothers had lived.
After her husband died in the sea as well was when Christian’s mental troubles started. Trying to manage all on her own became too much. The doctor suggested a rest in the asylum in Aberdeen. After a time she came back home but was shunned by many in the community, they would no longer buy fish from her. Christian said this was when she found out who her true friends were.
Christian had a great memory, remembering all the many people in her family and in the village, and this is all told in the book. It was at times a difficult read due to all these names of people, but to get a sense of what it was like during this time in that place, the book is excellent.
This is an edited autobiography, with the editor adding commentary and explanation to the text. Looking at the included family tree it appears that the editor is a Sir and related to Christian as well.
Christian grew up very poor, the only girl in a large family of brothers, then many died in a boating accident. There were two left, but later those two also died. She had many losses in her life, too many. When she was a little older and married she ended up with having ten children and struggled to get by. At one point she says, if only one of my brothers had lived.
After her husband died in the sea as well was when Christian’s mental troubles started. Trying to manage all on her own became too much. The doctor suggested a rest in the asylum in Aberdeen. After a time she came back home but was shunned by many in the community, they would no longer buy fish from her. Christian said this was when she found out who her true friends were.
Christian had a great memory, remembering all the many people in her family and in the village, and this is all told in the book. It was at times a difficult read due to all these names of people, but to get a sense of what it was like during this time in that place, the book is excellent.
This is an edited autobiography, with the editor adding commentary and explanation to the text. Looking at the included family tree it appears that the editor is a Sir and related to Christian as well.
April 19, 2025
a detailed and surprising memoir of a lassie born into fish gutting in NE Scotland in the 1820s. Great social commentary, sassy raging and her observations, especially on wealth and class divide, still frustratingly topically relevant.
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January 23, 2019I don't know how to rate this, because this is not a book you read for fun. I was reading it as research for a young adult novel I'm writing set in Christian Watt's grandmother's time. You might be reading it because you're related to the Frasers, or because you're studying fishing in the 19th century (spoiler alert: everyone died), or because you're some kind of privileged world traveler and you got to go to Broadsea one time. Whatever the reason, this is an ideal source for information, because it was written for outsiders to Christian's life-- the doctors and nurses at the asylum where she spent her last years, and even, I think, the Fraserburgh merchant class and nobility who looked down upon hard-working families like Christian's. It's not exactly gripping-- I took six months to read it-- but it isn't dry either. It's kind of like visiting your fiery Scottish great-grandmother in the hospital. She tells you all these interesting stories about her life, and then she starts getting preachy about how the world is going to hell and asking whether you've been saved, and you're like, "K see you next week, Great-Grandma."
October 24, 2022
Christian Watts begann mit 47 ihre Lebenserinnerungen aufzuschreiben und behielt diese Gewohnheit bis zu ihrem Tod im Alter von 90 Jahren bei. Ihre Aufzeichnungen erzählen die Geschichte einer bemerkenswerten Frau. Christian Watts wurde 1833 als jüngste Tochter in eine Fraserburgher Fischerfamilie geboren. Bis zu ihrem 47. Lebensjahr wurde ihr Leben von harter Arbeit bestimmt: sie nahm Fische aus und verkaufte sie, arbeitete als Hausangetellte und versorgte ihre eigene ständig wachsende Familie, ihre Eltern und ihre Schwiegermutter. Schon früh wurde ihre Leben von Verlusten geprägt: so kamen ihre Brüder, viele Cousins und Neffen und schließlich auch ihr Mann auf See ums Leben. Die Trauer und die Sorge um ihre Kinder führten zum ersten von mehreren Nervenzusammenbrüchen. Christian Watts wurde mehrmals in die Cornhill Nervenklinik eingewiesen bis sie sich schließlich entschied, den Rest ihres Lebens dort zu verbringen.
Der Anfang des Buchs war etwas träge. Christian erzählt aus ihrem Leben und zwischen den Zeilen sieht man deutlich das Bild einer stolzen, auch ein wenig arroganten Frau die teilweise auf ihre Umgebung herabsieht. Ihr Stolz hilft ihr anfangs mit allem fertig zu werden, aber als das Schicksal immer wieder zuschlägt hält er sie auch davon ab, rechtzeitig um Hilfe zu bitten. Mich hat das Bild das sie von der Nervenheilanstalt in die sie eingewiesen wird überrascht. Es war mehr ein Sanatorium als eine geschlossene Anstalt, auch wenn es solche Abteilungen natürlich auch gab. Christian hat schon früh kleine Privilegien: sie darf Tagebuch schreiben, erhält eine Anstellung in der Klinikküche und darf auch regelmässig "nach draussen". Deshalb wundert es mich nicht, dass sie letztendlich ein Leben in Cornhill, in dem sie zwar nicht frei ist dem schweren Leben in ihrem Heimatort vorzieht. Wirklich sympatisch wurde sie mir während des Lesens nicht, aber ich bewundere ihre Ausdruckskraft. Ihre Aufzeichnungen bekommen daher von mir
Der Anfang des Buchs war etwas träge. Christian erzählt aus ihrem Leben und zwischen den Zeilen sieht man deutlich das Bild einer stolzen, auch ein wenig arroganten Frau die teilweise auf ihre Umgebung herabsieht. Ihr Stolz hilft ihr anfangs mit allem fertig zu werden, aber als das Schicksal immer wieder zuschlägt hält er sie auch davon ab, rechtzeitig um Hilfe zu bitten. Mich hat das Bild das sie von der Nervenheilanstalt in die sie eingewiesen wird überrascht. Es war mehr ein Sanatorium als eine geschlossene Anstalt, auch wenn es solche Abteilungen natürlich auch gab. Christian hat schon früh kleine Privilegien: sie darf Tagebuch schreiben, erhält eine Anstellung in der Klinikküche und darf auch regelmässig "nach draussen". Deshalb wundert es mich nicht, dass sie letztendlich ein Leben in Cornhill, in dem sie zwar nicht frei ist dem schweren Leben in ihrem Heimatort vorzieht. Wirklich sympatisch wurde sie mir während des Lesens nicht, aber ich bewundere ihre Ausdruckskraft. Ihre Aufzeichnungen bekommen daher von mir
April 24, 2019
This is a stunning memoir of a woman's long but hard life in NE Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries. I got a bit bogged down in the family relationships but it brought a period of time to vibrant life.
January 4, 2020
Fascinating insight into life in late 1800's. The struggles and determination of folk remind me of how incredible human strength can be.
Such difficult times to live and love through.
As a mental health nurse I found it interesting to read Christians take on her time in Cornhill asylum.
Such difficult times to live and love through.
As a mental health nurse I found it interesting to read Christians take on her time in Cornhill asylum.
March 27, 2013
Another book written by a relative and again enjoyable because I can place many of the characters within my family tree. A wonderful insight into the fishing families and industry around Fraserburgh. There are parts of the book that are hard reading, especially some entries written during her darker moments while suffering mental health problems.This aside it is still well worth a read.
December 31, 2024
Interesting but extreamly dated narrative.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews