For almost 150 years until the late 20th century French Onion Johnnies - or Ingan Johnnies, as they were usually known north of the border - were a familiar group of seasonal immigrant workers in cities and towns throughout Scotland and indeed Britain. At the beginning of the 21st century only one, so far as is known, is still at work in Scotland. He is Yves Rolland, based in Leith, and he and the only other eight known surviving Johnnies (or seven and one Onion Jenny, Madame Anna Gourlet) who worked in Scotland at one time ...
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For almost 150 years until the late 20th century French Onion Johnnies - or Ingan Johnnies, as they were usually known north of the border - were a familiar group of seasonal immigrant workers in cities and towns throughout Scotland and indeed Britain. At the beginning of the 21st century only one, so far as is known, is still at work in Scotland. He is Yves Rolland, based in Leith, and he and the only other eight known surviving Johnnies (or seven and one Onion Jenny, Madame Anna Gourlet) who worked in Scotland at one time or another between the 1920s and the 1970s present in these pages their spoken recollections of their working lives.
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