page_title: Caddie (18thC Edinburgh)
section_title: 18thC descriptions
hierarchical_section_title: Caddie (18thC Edinburgh) / 18thC descriptions
caption_attribution_description: English: A mid-19thC depiction of the High Street of Edinburgh in the 18th century with the 'Heart of Midlothian', the old town tolbooth and its railed-in execution platform, centre right. Note the members of the Town Guard, one below the barber-surgeon's pole with bleeding bowl on the left, two conversing with gentlemen on 'the croon o' the causey' (middle of the street), and two in the distance beside the tolbooth. Beyond the forestair on the left can be seen a Newhaven or Musselburgh fishwife with a fish-creel (basket) on her back. A child, lower left, carries a water-jug from the Lawnmarket Well seen on the right, before which stands a 'cadie' (all-purpose hireling), employed as a 'waterman', with a water-barrel on his back.
context_page_description: A caddie, also spelt "cadie", was an urban occupation in 18th century Scotland, best described, albeit inadequately, as a "messenger-boy". It is neither clear exactly when it originated, nor when it ceased to exist. Although the Scottish National Dictionary states its occurrence "in Edinburgh and other large towns", printed sources refer specifically to Edinburgh. The name appears to have been a borrowing of the military term 'cadet', though pronounced as the original French word cadet. While the historical record provides no explanation for the choice of that particular term, it may be that a caddie's relationship to his employer was seen as resembling that of a military cadet attached to an officer, whose commands he was expected to obey.
context_section_description: Apart from the purposes identified by Maitland, caddies acted as town guides hired for their specialist knowledge of the city in an age before street plans and directories were available. Hugo Arnot wrote in 1799 that, "They are acquainted with the whole persons and places in Edinburgh; and the moment a stranger comes to town they get notice of it."
  An English visitor, Edward Topham, writing in the mid-1770s, noted that,
  "It is impossible at Edinburgh to be concealed or unknown, for though you enter into the City a mere traveller, and unacquainted, you cannot be there many hours before you are watched, and your name, and place of abode, found out by the Cadies. These are a Society of men who constantly attend the Cross in the High-Street, and whose office it is to do any thing that any body can want, and discharge any kind of business. On this account it is necessary for them to make themselves acquainted with the residence and negotiation of all the inhabitants; and they are of great utility, as without them it would be very difficult to find any body, on account of the great height of the houses, and the number of families in every building. This Society is under particular regulations, and it requires some interest to become a member of it. It is numerous, and contains persons for every use and employment, who faithfully execute all commands at a very reasonable price. Whether you are in need of a valet de place, a pimp, a thief-catcher, or a bully, your best resource is to the fraternity of Cadies. In short, they are the tutelary guardians of the City, and it is entirely owing to them, that there are fewer robberies, and less house-breaking in Edinburgh, than any where else".
  "To tell you what these people do is impossible; for there is nothing almost which they do not do. ... A certain number of them stand all day long, and most of the night, at the top of the High-street, waiting for employment. Whoever has occasion for them, has only to pronounce the word "Cadie", and they fly from all parts to attend the summons. Whatever person you may want, they know immediately where he is to be found. Trust them with what sum of money you please, you are quite safe: they are obliged by the rules of their Order to make good every thing they lose. A gentleman once sent one of these Mercuries with a letter enclosing bills for some hundred pounds; the man lost it, and the Society (who are responsible for these losses) restored the sum to the proprietor".
  Topham also asserted that the Society of Cadies contributed to law enforcement by acting as the eyes and ears of the Town Guard.
  "The moment a stranger comes into Edinburgh, they know it: how long he is to stay; whither he is going; where he comes from, and what he is. In regard to the Police, this may be a convenience, otherwise it would be a great nuisance. (...) These are the people who are the great means of preserving the public peace, and of preventing all those crimes which are generally perpetrated under a Police which is ill-observed. It is the certainty of punishment which prevents guilt: for when a man is sure of being discovered, he dreads the commission of the smallest offences. ... Nothing can reflect more honour on this City, than the safety in which every man finds himself and his property".
  For visitors to the city without their own manservants caddies could be hired to guide them safely by torchlight through the warren of closes in the Old Town at night. Captain Edmund Burt, an English soldier visiting Edinburgh in the 1750s, relates how he was assisted to his lodgings at ten o'clock at night, just as the beat of the city drum signalled the time for residents to empty their chamber-pots from their windows with the cry of "Gardyloo!" (said to derive from the French gardez [vous de] l'eau!).
  "Being in my retreat to pass through a long narrow wynde or alley, to go to my new lodgings, a guide  was assigned to me, who went before me to prevent my disgrace, crying out all the way, with a loud voice, "Hud your haunds". The throwing up of a sash, or otherwise opening a 
caption: The High Street of Edinburgh in the 18th century. The figure seen talking to a member of the Town Guard below the barber-surgeon's pole and bleeding bowl, lower left, may be intended to depict a caddie imparting information. A water-caddie carrying a barrel on his back can be seen in front of the wellhead on the right of the picture. Click to view enlarged image.
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