Poor Relief

[OzScot]

I have become interested in tracing my paternal ancestry in Scotland and have done a fair amount of detective work (via the internet), online forums, corresponding with Glasgow City Archives and obtaining records from the General Register Office for Scotland.

My great grandfather (1866-1916) was apparently not a healthy man and his wife applied for Poor Relief on several occasions when he was hospitalised in both Govan Poorhouse and Busby Poorhouse. However, there is one piece of information shown on a summary form (that seems to relate to Poor Relief history) and is entitled Change in Circumstances and Subsequent Proceedings. The date is difficult to make out, but it looks like 12th July 1904 and the comment is as follows: "Liability admitted by Lochwinnoch 8.6.04 Off Roll Husband Home". Although he lived the majority of his life in Glasgow, he lived in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire around 1898 to 1903 and I understand he was a railway porter at that time.

Out of curiosity, I would be interested to know what the town of Lochwinnoch admitted responsibility for. It would appear that it involved something that was detrimental to his health. Would anybody on this forum know how I could find out this information?

Regards

Ken Maxwell
(Sydney, Australia)

[AndrewP]

Hi Ken,

I would read that to mean that Lochwinnoch Parish had admitted financial liability for the poor relief of your great-grandfather.

All the best,

AndrewP

[OzScot]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your rapid response, which is a sound interpretation.

Regards,

Ken

[Elwyn 1]

I can’t recall the exact rules but if you moved from one parish to another, the previous parish was liable for any Poor Law maintenance costs for something like 5 years after you moved. Naturally each Poor Law Union was keen to avoid paying if they could and so this would explain why they got in touch with Lochwinnoch and asked them to accept the financial responsibility. (In some cases it could mean the applicant having to return to that PLU. Many Poor Law applicants in Scotland who had come from Ireland were shipped back to Ireland for that reason).

[OzScot]

Thank you Elwyn 1 for this information. This may explain why my great grandfather (although residing in Glasgow in 1904) was apparently sent to Busby Poorhouse (in Renfrewshire, I understand) very soon after Lochwinnoch accepted responsibility.

Regards,

Ken

[AndrewP]

Hi Ken,

For some more info, see:
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Busby

and
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Renfrewshire

All the best,

AndrewP

[OzScot]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for those two links.

I've become very interested in finding out information about these Poor Houses. They were certainly grim places.

Kind regards,

Ken

[Elwyn 1]

They were deliberately intended to be grim so that people would only regard them as a last resort. There’s a fair bit published about them, and in Northern Ireland anyway, the minute books and admission books have all survived so it’s possible to get a feel for what life was like.

Most poor houses had infirmaries attached. Prior to 1947 when the National Health Service was created this was more or less the only free health care in the country and so if you needed medical treatment and couldn’t pay, you went to the Workhouse infirmary. After workhouses were abolished, the infirmaries often kept going and became the first NHS hospitals. Some of the buildings still stand today (usually heavily modified). They were all built to much the same design and are fairly obvious when you see them.

Elwyn

[OzScot]

Hi Elwyn,

Thank you for adding to my understanding of these places.

You're certainly right that there is a fair amount of information about them, and it is clear they would be places you would be keen to avoid.

Best wishes,

Ken

[Currie]

Not so bad really, much better than being put in the slammer till you run out of money, and then having your ears nailed to a tree and cut off.

You can read all about Scottish Poor Law on pages 120-133 of this 1922 publication.
http://archive.org/stream/socialadminis ... 0/mode/2up

Alan