This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G. Phd, Mphil, Dclinpsychol) at the University of Edinburgh
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Dislocation and Domicide in Edinburgh, 1950-1975. “We never tried to push people out, unless it was for their own good.” DJ Johnston-Smith Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2019 Declaration I declare that this thesis has been composed solely by myself and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree. Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely my own. Signed: Date: 7 February 2019 2 Contents Page Abstract 4 Lay Summary 5 List of figures 6 List of abbreviations used in this work 8 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 10 Chapter 1: Slums, clearance and the lived experience of both - A review 23 of historic and contemporary approaches to their study in Scotland, Britain and beyond Chapter 2: Edinburgh’s Post-War Grand Plans - Modernising a “Political 53 and municipal museum piece” Chapter 3: Creating “a breathing space” – The politics of clearance in 87 1960s and early 1970s Edinburgh Chapter 4: “Ye’ve got tae make mistakes afore ye can learn.” – Putting 134 Clearance Procedures into Practice in Edinburgh 1950-75. Chapter 5: “Tapping the rich local idioms of vanished places” - 182 Recollections of Slum Clearance in Edinburgh, c.1950-1975 Chapter 6: Concluding reflections on clearance, domicide and civic 230 amnesia in Edinburgh Appendix 1: List of legislative statutes with passing or singular relevance 242 to housing in Scotland, enacted 1890-1975 Appendix 2: Table showing numbers of houses demolished or closed by 244 local authorities across Scotland from 1955-1975 Appendix 3: Table listing closed or demolished houses in the four 245 Scottish cities 1955-1975 Appendix 4: Details of Corporation sponsored clearance activities in 246 Edinburgh from 1923-1973 Appendix 5: Edinburgh house closures/demolitions, 1962-1972 251 Appendix 6: Personal Recollections and Testimony 252 Bibliography 255 3 Abstract Civic Edinburgh has an amnesia problem. Despite a healthy secondary literature recounting its colourful history and a thriving heritage industry, the town appears to have forgotten that it evicted significant numbers of its citizens from their homes in the third quarter of the 20th century before violently erasing from existence entire streets and neighbourhoods that had once housed vibrant communities. My research recovers this story. Through extensive use of surviving primary documentation alongside testimony gathered in a series of personal interviews with individuals who experienced, witnessed or participated in clearance activities it has been possible to challenge existing narratives that suggest Edinburgh experienced little or no post-war urban renewal trauma. Further analysis of the uncovered quantitative data places Edinburgh’s clearance activities within their wider Scottish context and reveals that a confirmed 35,237 individuals were compelled to leave their homes and 16,556 houses were either closed or demolished by Edinburgh Corporation between 1950 and 1973. A secondary, underlying narrative, that the majority of those cleared welcomed the opportunity of a new home, is brought into question by the discovery of an academic report from 1967 revealing that just 7.4% of the occupants of the most amenity deficient properties in the capital were on the waiting list for a new Corporation home. In researching the varied qualitative experiences of those who were subjected to statutory clearance an unexpected understory was identified of racial prejudice against ethnic minority households following their clearance notice being issued by the Corporation. Selected extracts from the interview transcripts from over two dozen individuals are offered, giving opinions on slum stigma, notions of “community,” the politics of clearance resistance and views on corruption in Edinburgh, as well as revealing the well- meant paternalism of some officials and the crass indifference of others along with aspects of the emotional and psychological legacy of clearance. Taken altogether it is a body of work that adds serious substance to a previously thinly researched episode in the capital’s history and will contribute significant new material to the disciplines of urban studies and oral history. 4 Lay Summary Civic Edinburgh has an amnesia problem. Despite a healthy number of books about the Capital’s colourful history and a thriving heritage industry, the town appears to have forgotten that it evicted significant numbers of its citizens from their homes in the third quarter of the 20th century before violently erasing from existence entire streets and neighbourhoods that had once housed vibrant communities. This PhD recovers this story through extensive archival research and personal interviews with individuals who experienced, witnessed or participated in clearance activities. Revealing, for the first time, accurate numbers for those forced to leave their homes, the problems faced by Edinburgh’s ethnic minority population and an extensive qualitative assessment of the clearance procedures in the words of those that experienced it, this research adds some welcome substance to a previously neglected episode in the Capital’s history and will contribute significant new material to the disciplines of urban studies and oral history. 5 List of figures Figure 1: Three of the images from the Getty Images collection photographed 14 by Haywood Magee to illustrate the accompanying article showcasing the “The Best, and the Worst, of Some British Cities” in The Picture Post, 30/01/1954 Figure 2: Modified OS map showing locations of many of the neighbourhoods 16 mentioned frequently in this study. Map reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland Figure 3: Plate XXVII from A Civic Survey and Plan for City and Royal Burgh of 60 Edinburgh (1949) Figure 4: Councillor Pat Rogan witnessing the destruction of the last remaining 89 tenement on Arthur Street, Evening Dispatch, 24 April 1962 Figure 5: Photo of final remaining prefab home in the “Greendykes 96 Redevelopment Area” and its resident family, Jessie McGovern and her children. Evening News, 13 February 1964. Figure 6: Press images of crowds gathered to greet Harold Wilson, Pat Rogan 101 and Magnus Williamson on their tour of Jamaica Street in March 1964. Scran Figure 7: Photograph of the large pull-out plan of proposed road proposals 130 provided by Buchanan & Partners and Freeman, Fox & Associates (1972) Figure 8: Houses closed or demolished in Scotland by statutory or voluntary 138 action, 1955-75. Scottish Development Department statistics Figure 9: Statutory closures and demolitions in the four Scottish cities, 1961- 140 1975. Scottish Development Department statistics - see Appendix 3 for full details Figure 10: Statutory closures and demolitions in the four Scottish cities, 1961- 140 1975, presented as a proportion of Scottish total. Scottish Development Department statistics - see Appendix 3 for full details Figure 11: Modified streetplan of Edinburgh showing the locations listed in the 142 Edinburgh Corporation Sanitary Department’s Annual Reports of statutory clearance activity in Edinburgh carried out as a consequence of procedures associated with either Housing or Planning Act legislative instruments between 1952 and 1953. Map reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland Figure 12: Houses closed or demolished and population displaced in Edinburgh 144 1952-1973 according to Edinburgh Corporation 6 Figure 13: Comparison of Scottish Development Department and Edinburgh 144 Corporation’s published statistics showing house closures or demolitions in Edinburgh 1962-1972 Figure 14: Letter from P. Szaskiewicz to Tam Dalyell MP and the Edinburgh City 163 Chamberlain venting his frustrations at his treatment during the clearance process – ECCA, HO/S244 Figure 15: Mrs Elizabeth Pandit and her four children photographed outside 172 their family home in Salisbury Street, Edinburgh from the Evening News and Dispatch, 21/09/1964 Figure 16: Photograph taken by Winifred Sillito of during demolition of the 233 houses on the south-east corner of George Square from a window in her home on the south side of the square, www.sillittopages.co.uk/geosqdown4.jpg 7 List of abbreviations used in this work Institutions NRS – National Registers of Scotland ECCA – Edinburgh Council City Archive NLS – National Library of Scotland Literature HCM – Minutes of the Housing Committee PCM – Minutes of the Planning Committee APHC – Annual Progress Report of the Housing Committee APSC – Annual Progress Report of the Sanitary Committee APSBC – Annual Progress Report of the Streets and Buildings Committee APPC – Annual Progress Report of the Planning