Onion Johnnies

For almost 150 years until the late twentieth century, French Onion Johnnies (or ‘Ingan Johnnies’, as they were usually known in Scotland) were a familiar group of seasonal workers in towns and cities throughout Britain.

In this book, nine Onion Johnnies (including one ‘Jenny’) who worked in Scotland at one time or another between the 1920s and the 1970s recount their lives. The recollections, recorded in interviews in Brittany and at Leith in 1999 by the Scottish Working People’s History Trust, provide a fascinating insight into the lives and experience of those whose livelihood and way of life have vanished forever. It paints a poignant picture of the past and a way of life about nothing in any detail has ever been published before.

'[A] meticulous approach to recording their stories, packed with fine detail of the lives, incidents and thoughts' 

Ian MacDougall, a long-standing research worker of the Scottish Working People’s History Trust, played a pivotal role in recording working people’s lives and publishing their stories. He authored several works of social history including Bondagers, All Men are Brethren, Voices of Scottish Journalists, Voices from War and Voices from the Hunger Marches.

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