your archives / your history / your stories Discover the fascinating stories of and its people. Discover vital clues about your family’s history history family’s your about clues vital Discover Poor Law: Law: Poor lives. daily their about details reveal and glasgow’s archives . . Rail Station Charing Cross th St ba Sauchiehall St

st. george’s rd. Newton St.

M8 M8

. t S h rt no . t S h rt no 9am-5pm 9am-8pm By prior arrangement 2pm-4pm 9am-1pm, 2pm-7pm 9am-1pm, . . Library The Mitchell

Sauchiehall St kent rd. berkley St

. t S anville gr Archives and Special Collections The Mitchell Library North Street Glasgow G3 7DN 0141-287 2910 T: F: 0141-226 8452 E: [email protected] www.glasgowlife.org.uk/archives Searchroom Opening Hours Opening Searchroom Thu / Fri / / Wed Mon Tue Sat Productions Document Fri / Thu/ Mon / Wed Tue Tuesday evening about Please check to confirm productions. How to find us:

The public searchroom has a large number of finding aids, including databases for the family historian, as well as paper catalogues and servicesindexes of most of our holdings.You can also access summaries of many of our catalogues online at www.scan.org.uk. The duty archivist is happy to help and will point you towards records which will assist with your enquiry. Those undertaking a research project may wish to make an appointment with an archivist to discuss possible sources. Some records may be closed for 30 to 100 years in line with Data Protection. We can supply photocopies of documents and plans, as well as laser and other photographic services.

Talks and workshops: We are happy to talk to groups, either in The Mitchell or elsewhere. preservation of historical documents The Archives exist to preserve and give access to the historical records of Glasgow. We are always keen to accept further gifts and deposits (on long-term loan) of records of historical significance, which will help us understand the ordinary and extraordinary people and events, which helped shape the . The City’s Archives most eligible for relief, which could Where gaps exist, other records child; foundlings or separated theimportant source for the family be indoorarchives in a poor house, or may assist, e.g. minute books children; and many Irish and historian are the records of the outdoor, either monetary or in (useful in rural parishes); printed other migrants. poor law authorities. These kind. annual rolls; poor house registers. began in 1845, and ended with The wide-range of biographical the introduction of social security Records Who do you think they are? information about so many of in 1948. Many of the applicants To establish needs and eligibility, Difficult personal circumstance the poorer members of society for poor relief were born pre-civil Inspectors of Poor recorded may mean that any of our whose lives are rarely recorded registration and a number as large amounts of personal ancestors may be among elsewhere in such detail, makes early as the 18th century. data in prescribed ‘registers applicants for poor relief. these records one of the most of applications’ or ‘general Prevalent are the aged, sick and important sources for family Background registers’. There have been disabled. They include many of history in . The large The system was controlled by a some notable losses in these the unskilled workforce, unable to number of Irish applicants, with central body in Edinburgh and records throughout Scotland. work because of illness, and their details of their place of birth in organised locally by Parochial However, they largely survive dependents. Also common are: Ireland, means they are also vital Boards, later Parish Councils. for the Glasgow area, with more married women with children, for those with Irish ancestors. Each parish was responsible than 1million applications still in widowed or claiming desertion, for maintaining its own poor, existence up to 1948. We also or women with an illegitimate namely those who had settlement have large numbers for other by birth, marriage, or length of areas in the west of Scotland. residence. The sick and disabled (not the unemployed) were

the poor law applications and general registers include: •  name, including maiden name of women •  age, sometimes with actual birth date applications or •  birthplace, including county of birth (made compulsory in 1865) general registers for: •  religion (from 1865) Glasgow: 1851-1948 •  dependents, including children’s names, ages, place of birth •  marital history Barony: 1861-1898 •  names of applicant’s parents and parents-in-law, confirming where born and if still alive (from 1899, is part of Glasgow) • previous addresses. Govan: 1876-1930 (from 1931, is part of Glasgow) The Glasgow applications sometimes add more detail: living conditions; character comments (usually unflattering); press-cuttings; certificates, letters, and an occasional photograph. Bute, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire: often dating from 1845