SCOTTISH POOR LAW RECORDS
What information is contained in Scottish poor law records? What use can researchers expect to make of them? What is available online? Alison Spring explains
Professional genealogist Alison Spring demonstrates how to put these records to use in your own family histories
In this article I cite case studies from Glasgow’s poor law application records as these provide the most extensive examples of ‘substitute records’ in Scottish poor relief documents. I also list several areas which are starting to share their holdings online – so even those who can’t travel to a Scottish archive, for instance due to the on-going pandemic, will be able to access some of these rich resources remotely.
Case study: Highland migrants
Niel Lamont had been the landlord of the Carinish Inn on the Hebridean island of North Uist for several years when, in early 1866, tragedy struck with the death of his wife Flora. He was left with six children to bring up and remarried several months later, to Effy Macquien, but in 1875 Niel decided to leave the island of his birth and sailed east to the Isle of Skye with his family. After seven months there, they made the sea voyage to Glasgow during which Effy gave birth to Niel’s twelfth and her sixth child, Neil. They arrived in the city the next day and found lodgings in the Clydeside neighbourhood of Anderston.
After five days in Glasgow, the former publican applied for poor relief for his large family, having been unable to find work using his skills as a ship’s carpenter. All were admitted to the poorhouse at once, with Niel’s condition described as ‘dropsy & privation’. The rest of the family were not in much better health, and their time in the poorhouse didn’t appear to help. The paperwork documenting the relief they received notes that by the time they voluntarily left the poorhouse, their infant daughter Euphemia was dead. Records show that newborn Neil had also succumbed before the couple had been able to register his birth. Effy died the following year due to heart disease, lung congestion, and measles, and other sources indicate that Niel took the younger half of the family with him to Australia, surely in hope of a better (and healthier) life for himself and his children.
The Lamonts’ poor relief documents furnished most of this information, adding a depth and poignancy not found in civil registration certificates. It makes Niel’s decision to emigrate entirely understandable.
WHAT’S IN THE RECORDS FOR YOUR FAMILY?
The records explained
In 1845, The Poor Law (Scotland) Amendment Act transferred responsibility for the identification, assessment, and support of impoverished citizens from the established Church of Scotland to the state, under the auspices of the central Board of Supervision. Authority was then devolved to local parochial boards (and subsequently parish councils) for the practical daily
administration of poor relief, handled by inspectors appointed in each parish.
Currently (Covid restrictions permitting), the records of Glasgow applicants for poor relief from 1851 to 1948 can be viewed at the City’s Archives, housed in the Mitchell Library. Here are held an estimated one million poor relief applications for the Glasgow parishes of Barony, City, and Govan (together covering much of the city) in approximately 5,000 ledgers. This is the largest extant collection of poor law applications in Scotland. An on-site database has been created which can be searched by surname, and the results scanned for additional criteria such as age or birthplace, making identifying relatives much easier. Once you’ve identified potential family members in the database, you request the original ledgers, which are brought to the search room.
The application forms kept in Glasgow are remarkably well-detailed and extensive in comparison to other industrial parishes in Lanarkshire. A general closure rule is in place, due to data protection legislation, restricting access to adults’ application records until 75 years after their creation, and 100 years for children’s. However, if you are seeking the record of a close family member, you may obtain access with proof of your relationship. Archive staff will be able to advise you about this. The Archives’ website has details of their poor law holdings, which cover other areas besides Glasgow: http://familytr.ee/ glasgowpoor
Each parish was responsible for the support of its natives wherever they went in Scotland. The natal parish’s
duty to the poor was superseded only by the residency rights afforded paupers who had lived for five years or more in any given place. For this reason, the inspectors of the poor who interviewed applicants had to make sure they took note of where and when each claimant had been born – whether in Scotland or elsewhere.
The system got off to a bit of a shaky start in Glasgow, with only scant details being gathered from paupers. Some applications consist of barely half a page in a plain blank ledger (foolscap size). However this soon moved to pre-printed forms which served as a level playing field for all applicants. Compared with those used in some other areas of Scotland, Glasgow’s forms provide space for a great deal more detail about applicants.
What the records contain
The majority of these forms as filled in by the city’s poor inspectors are of tremendous value to family historians. However, the date and place of birth were not the only things that interested the authorities. To complete the application form, they would also need to find out: • each address at which the
applicant had lived, for as far back as they could recall, and for how long
• their occupation, earnings and rent paid
• names of parents, spouse, siblings, children, in-laws, and grandchildren, their addresses and income
• the reason for the application
• religious denomination
• date and place of marriage
• state of health
• details of any family problems that had led to their present circumstances, such as abandonment or bereavement.
The Act set inspectors a 24-hour time limit after their initial interview with the applicant, at the end of which they were required to render their decision. If the claim was approved, a careful record was made of all support that was offered. This could be in the form of money, clothing, the poorhouse, or, in some rare cases, education for children. Every iota of detail gleaned about the pauper was entered, including such events as removal to an asylum or the death of a child, and if support was continued over a period of time, each contact with the claimant was recorded. It’s not uncommon to find a record ending with the date of death of the person in question.
Case study: Building a family tree
In some records, family information dates back into the 18th century. For instance, when 76-year-old Allan Wilkie applied for poor relief in 1868, he gave his birthplace as Skipness, Argyllshire. He named his father as Duncan Wilkie, deceased, and his mother as Mary Wilson, still alive.
By the time they voluntarily left the poorhouse, their infant daughter Euphemia was dead... newborn Neil had also succumbed
Allan had been married twice, the first time 51 years earlier, and more recently in 1863. He had a married son called Duncan, born in Glasgow, who was working as a cabinetmaker, living with his wife Mary Mcarthur and their six children in Paisley. Thus, four generations of this family are identified and the line extended back well into the 1700s, clearly demonstrating the way in which a pedigree may be developed using just one of these documents.
Case study: The Scottish Diaspora
The applications can be unique sources of information about Scottish emigrants. George Farquhar was a boat builder originally from Wick, and the report on his family records that four of his five adult children had not only left home, but left the country: George junior had emigrated to Australia, Margaret and her husband Thomas were in America, sailor Daniel was on a sea voyage, and David was in the Army in India. Only the youngest, John, had stayed in Scotland, and it was with him and his family that George lived.
Research tip!
Sometimes only a passing reference in even the briefest of records can set you on the trail of a missing relative. Although her 1880 application for relief covers less than half a foolscap page, Joan Granger’s delinquent husband Archibald is described as being ‘now in America’. With only that scrap of information, I was able to track him down using immigration records, census returns, and marriage certificates. He ended up in Chicago, remarrying – despite Joan still being alive – and having a second family, with no mention of the people he had left behind in Scotland.
Case study: Family conflict
The applications are a unique source of family interactions, as exemplified by the case of Isabella Mcphail. She was an 84-year-old widow from rural Argyllshire, and a widow of 20 years. In 1879 she was living with her son John and his wife Catherine in the Tradeston area of Glasgow, but unfortunately this domestic arrangement did not suit everybody. The inspector’s notes on her application tell us that Isabella
left her son’s house 2 weeks ago after having quarreled [sic] with his wife. John Mcphail states that he is willing to receive applicant back to his house. His wife and applicant ‘had a few words’ and she left of her own accord.
Isabella moved into lodgings, and because a letter from him is also included in her case notes, we know that the minister of Govan Gaelic Church, the Reverend Connell, wrote to the inspector urging him to ‘enquire’ if the lady in question was ‘needy’. This could suggest that the minister himself had instigated the application for parish funding, having become aware of Isabella’s plight. She was subsequently granted relief by Govan parish due to her being ‘wholly’ disabled by old age, but sadly, she died just over a year later. However, it would appear that there had been at least an attempt at a family reconciliation, as the address at which Isabella died was her son’s home, according to the electoral register.
Deserving v. undeserving poor
The idea of the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor was a notion prevalent in society long before the overhaul of the Scottish poor law. Judgement was routinely passed on paupers because of the lives they led, and support was withheld if, for instance, they ‘took a drink’ or gave birth to illegitimate children.
Applicants, as well as their extended family, were expected to do everything within their power to be self-supporting. As a result, inspectors’
comments such as ‘Mother has no lodgers’ imply that relatives should be making greater efforts to earn a living and assist financially. When there were external sources of income, such as payments from an insurance policy or friendly society, these were also taken into account when assessing an application.
Case study: Deserving women
Agnes Campbell, a 73-year-old washerwoman, was no longer able to carry on with her usual job. Her application shows that she could only knit stockings, which was noted as earning her ‘a perfect trifle’. This work was considered proof of her industriousness and independence, and the inspector noted that she ‘appears a most respectable & deserving woman.’ Comments on 45-year-old widow Agnes Bain’s record underlined her perceived respectability – her house is assessed as ‘clean’ and her ‘neighbours speak favourably of her’.
The Inspectors of the Poor
The inspectors’ comments on application forms often betrayed their inherent prejudices and suspicion of anyone claiming to have fallen on hard times. One Glasgow official observed, when the children of a Hebridean applicant were unable to answer his questions, that they were ‘like all these country folks very stupid’. The likelihood is that the children spoke little or no English, being native Gaelic speakers, but this wasn’t considered in the application.
Remarks about different individuals I’ve come across include: ‘The man is either unwilling or unable to give any account of himself’; ‘Deal with him as rigorous as you can’; ‘He is going from parish to parish imposing on inspectors’. From these you get a feeling of enmity, of ‘us and them’, aimed at the paupers, stemming from the zealousness of officials who were keen to reject unworthy claims upon parish coffers.
One typically descriptive passage from an 1856 application pulls no punches:
Hugh Mcgowan a weaver of most drunken and depraved habits ... is not worth looking [for] as he would not keep his child an hour till he would desert or ill treat her. Full half or more of his time is usually spent in prison for riotous conduct when drunk. His wife ... died in the Poorhouse of a lingering disease caused no doubt by ill treatment.
Inspectors did not stop at the family when they wanted to know more about an applicant. Employers, local shopkeepers, and others with whom the pauper had dealings might also be approached for information in the course of a claim. This essentially hearsay evidence seems to have been accepted at face value by the inspectors, with no corroboration recorded. This meant that anyone with a grudge against claimants could potentially cause trouble by giving false statements about them.
The Scottish poor law records are an often neglected and underused source of family history information, but hopefully after learning more about them, you’ll be keen to get hold of some!
About the author
Alison Spring is a professional genealogist and passionate economiser in all things genealogical and you can keep up with her weekly suggestions for family history money-saving tactics at https:// scotsancestors.blogspot.com/ Alison may also be booked for online genealogy presentations.
Agnes, a 73-year-old washerwoman... could only knit stockings, which was noted as earning her ‘a perfect trifle’