The Diary of John Sturrock, Millwright, Dundee, 1864-65

John Sturrock’s diary represents unique primary source material for students of Victorian Britain, at all levels. Topics which are well represented include: the ideology of “respectability”, including self-help, thrift and charity; religion, work and workplace relations; injuries and illness; class and working-class consciousness; gender relations; leisure habits and popular culture; family; urban-rural links; and courtship. Complementing the diary is a set of Sturrock’s financial accounts. For one year (1865), he recorded virtually every single item of his expenditure, thus providing readers with a wealth of raw information on his spending patterns, which can be related to his income. Useful, too, is the picture given of the rapidly-growing textile town of Dundee. Another side of “Juteopolis” is revealed – the world of the male artisan. No other working-class diary for this period in Dundee’s history has so far been found. In it, Sturrock records much of what was happening in Dundee during the boom which accompanied the American Civil War. Dock construction, military parades, visiting lecturers, circuses, shows and other forms of entertainment are all described.Christopher Whatley’s introduction places John Sturrock within the social context of mid-Victorian Britain and Dundee, taking account of current thinking amongst historians about “respectability” and class and popular consciousness.