The plight of assistant keepers 1872
A totally gratuitous photo of Inishgort lighthouse in Clew Bay. Photo the Western People
'The public will sympathise with the hard fate of assistant keepers in lighthouses. Many of them live on desolate rocks, far out at sea, unvisited for weeks or months, and separated from wife and children. They must be wakeful all night, and keep the lights ever burning which guide or warn the mariner. Lonely lives they lead, with the wild waves ever beating and the storms raging around them.
'They are renumerated by two shillings and five pence a day, and out of this, they must support their wives and families. They did appeal to the Irish Light Commissioners for an increase of salary, and the commissioners munificently promised £1 10s annually to those who had passed five years service, and who had been recommended by the inspector. Thirty shillings annually is very nearly one penny a day, so that the lighthouse-keeper, after five years service ands a recommendation, may receive 2s 6d daily instead of 2s 5d.
'We suspect the Irish Light Commissioners cannot increase any man's salary without a voluminous correspondence with the Trinity Board, London and the Board of Trade, and that 'My Lords' suppose they have settled the business of the light keepers at the cost of one penny a day. A much more liberal addition than this should be cheerfully given by a maritime nation whose merchant ships crowd on every sea.
'We will, for the present, only add that it is cruel to delay the payment of this small sum, promised in April last, as the letter of one of the sufferers proves to have been the case. From the Irish Times'
'They are renumerated by two shillings and five pence a day, and out of this, they must support their wives and families. They did appeal to the Irish Light Commissioners for an increase of salary, and the commissioners munificently promised £1 10s annually to those who had passed five years service, and who had been recommended by the inspector. Thirty shillings annually is very nearly one penny a day, so that the lighthouse-keeper, after five years service ands a recommendation, may receive 2s 6d daily instead of 2s 5d.
'We suspect the Irish Light Commissioners cannot increase any man's salary without a voluminous correspondence with the Trinity Board, London and the Board of Trade, and that 'My Lords' suppose they have settled the business of the light keepers at the cost of one penny a day. A much more liberal addition than this should be cheerfully given by a maritime nation whose merchant ships crowd on every sea.
'We will, for the present, only add that it is cruel to delay the payment of this small sum, promised in April last, as the letter of one of the sufferers proves to have been the case. From the Irish Times'
– Sligo Chronicle 14th September 1872
Another completely gratuitous photo, this time of St John's Point, Donegal. Photo Aiden Behan
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