FISHER GIRLS

During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, hundreds of young Scotswomen took part in an annual tradition – ‘chasing the Silver Darlings’, ie following the herring boats all the way down the East Coast to Great Yarmouth to work gutting and preparing the fish.

Initially these ‘fisher girls’, also known as ‘fisher lasses’ or ‘herring girls’, travelled for just a few months, but as demand for the herring grew, it became an almost constant activity. The fishing boats followed the annual shoals of herring down the coast from spring in Scotland, stopping in South Shields, before arriving in Scarborough in late summer. By the autumn, the girls