Crabalocker Fishwife

What is a crabalocker fishwife? Gawd knows, but I mention it because probably the most well known occurrence of the phrase fish wife in popular culture is in the Beatles’ song ‘I am the Walrus’. I’ve read various interpretations of what crabalocker actually means, none of which has entirely convinced me. I believe that the song was mostly written by John Lennon, and he loved playing with words, and making them up. He was a fan of Lewis Carroll, who was similarly inventive with made up words in ‘Jabberwocky’ for example.

A fish wife, however, I do know about. Nowadays it’s a perjorative term, meaning a woman who is loud, coarse and crass. It’s very sexist. Trust me, women by no means have the monopoly on these qualities. Go back over 100 years, though, and it meant a woman who sold fish, usually those caught by her father or husband. ‘Wife’ actually derives from the old English word ‘wif’ which originally meant woman. Here’s the latest painting.

It's another direct watercolour. It’s based on a black and white photo from the late Victorian/Edwardian era taken in Whitby in Yorkshire. Whiby is known for many things, not the least of which is that it was where the fictional character of Dracula first arrived in England. At the time the photograph was taken though it was a busy fishing port. I don’t have any personal connection with Whitby, but some of my ancestors were from a coastal village outside Dundee which had a fishing community. My 3x great grandfather, James Clark, was a fisherman who drowned, leaving Margaret, my 3x great grandmother, who presumably sold fish like the woman in the picture, to bring up their 3 children. It can’t have been an easy life.