Much of the menial work of shifting earth involved in the construction of the Halifax Citadel and other defence works in the region was carried out by British soldiers or common labourers, most often rural youths or recent immigrants. In addition, hundreds of skilled British craftsmen, especially stonemasons and carpenters, were brought out to work on the various defence complexes of the region. Many remained to set up their own businesses, serving local businessmen or entrepreneurs anxious to erect more permanent structures to house their activities.
In this photograph taken around 1874 we see a group of Scottish stonemasons constructing a gun pit at Fort Clarence near Halifax. Stonemasons were often united in ethnic and religious fellowship and fully imbued with British work traditions. They quickly constituted a "labour aristocracy" among Halifax's building trades. Their self-help organizations were central to elevation of the "honest workingman" to respectability. For instance, the Mechanics' Institutes, brought over with them from the old country, were among the earliest expressions of working-class aspirations.
