The Administration of Urban Society in Scotland 1800-50, with reference to the Growth of Civic Government in Glasgow and its Suburbs. Sheila Cameron Oliver, MA, University of Glasgow A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). University of Glasgow, September 1995. ProQuest Number: 13834036 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 13834036 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 / / fijL\' f lout C s > i> y GLASGOW u n iv e rs ity l ib r a r y Declaration. This thesis has been composed by me. It has not been accepted in any previous application for a degree, and the work of which it is a record has been done by me. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks, and the sources of information specifically acknowledged. Sheila Cameron Oliver September 1995. Abstract. The early nineteenth century was a period of great change in Scotland, as industrialisation and urbanisation presented many challenges to the existing administrative structures. Within Glasgow, and across the country, the lack of Government intervention meant that Local Acts had to be obtained from Parliament to allow them to develop their role within the community. Conflicts arose over many aspects of the Acts, but concerns over finance remained prominent. Inhabitants wanted to gain the benefits of the new Police Establishments without contributing financially. An examination of the Glasgow, Anderston, Calton and Gorbals Police Commissioners show how local solutions were adopted for problems which were widespread across the country at this time. While the effect of this legislation and the men who implemented it have provided the main focus of this thesis, consideration has also been given to the background and ideas behind these new developments. In particular, the influence of the Enlightenment and Evangelicalism has been explored to show where the concept of Civic duty came from and how it was effectively exploited. Perceptions of rising crime have also been examined to show how the authorities reacted to meet the concerns of the population. In order to ensure a more balanced view of Glasgow's achievements, comparisons have been made with the contemporary situation in England and Wales, as well as a more in-depth examination of developments in Edinburgh. Acknowledgements. I would like to thank the following people for their assistance whilst I have researched this thesis. The staff at Strathclyde Regional Archives, Edinburgh City Archives and the Scottish Record Office for helping me to access the primary material available. I would also like to thank the staff at Glasgow University Library for allowing me to hunt out the Parliamentary Acts which I required and providing me with an environment in which I could read them. Further I would like to express my gratitude to Dr JF McCaffrey and Dr I Maver for all their advice and encouragement. A special mention must also be made to Fraser Oliver and Lynne Ross for proof reading my thesis, and providing many useful comments. A special thanks must also go to my parents for their continuing support throughout my studies. Finally, I would like to thank Allan, not only for producing the maps and charts, but for providing me with a welcome distraction from all things historical. Table of Contents. List of Abbreviations vi Chapter One - The background to Scottish Burgh Reform in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. 1 Chapter Two - The Local Police Acts of Glasgow, Anderston, Calton and Gorbals, 1800-46; the theory and the practice. 19 Chapter Three - General and private legislation in Scotland compared to England and Wales. 59 Chapter Four - Private legislation in operation: the experience of Glasgow, Anderston, Calton and Gorbals, 1800-46. 92 Chapter Five - Police and crime: changing attitudes and developing ideas. 118 Chapter Six - Sanitation and health: the response of the Police Commissioners. 155 Chapter Seven - Edinburgh: the anxieties of a capital city. A comparison with Glasgow, 1805-56. 170 Chapter Eight - Conclusion. The legacy and effectiveness of Glasgow's Police Acts. 207 Appendix 1 - Map of the 24 Scottish Burghs which adopted a Local Police Act prior to the General Police Act of 1833. 219 Appendix 2 - Map of Glasgow and its surrounding burghs, 1832. 220 Appendix 3 - A list of burghs which adopted the provisions of the 1833 and 1850 General Police Acts. 221 Appendix 4 - The form of books used in the elections to adopt the 1833 and 1850 General Police Acts. 225 Appendix 5 - List of the 178 English Boroughs which were made subject to the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835. 226 Appendix 6 - Map of the Edinburgh Police Boundary, 1832. 228 Bibliography 229 List of Abbreviations. ECA = Edinburgh City Archives. EHR = English Historical Review. GUL = Glasgow University Library. GUL Mu = Glasgow University Library, David Murray Collection. NRA(Scot) = National Register of Archives (Scotland). NSA = New Statistical Account. OSA = Old Statistical Account. SHR = Scottish Historical Review. SRA = Strathclyde Regional Archives. SRO = Scottish Record Office. Chapter One - The background to Scottish burgh reform, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The nineteenth century saw many reforms occur within Scotland's burghs: self-electing town councils were swept away, and replaced by directly elected ones in 1833;1 separate police establishments were set up in many areas to regulate the watching, cleansing and lighting of burghs; and by mid-century this system of dual administration was being altered to provide more efficient single-tier authorities 2 All of this will be discussed in future chapters, but first the background to these changes must be understood. Why was reform forthcoming in the early nineteenth century? It is noticeable that many of the earliest initiatives came at local rather than central level. Individual burghs would apply to Parliament to obtain a Local and Personal Act, which would then entitle the town to implement certain services and powers, such as the levying of an assessment, provision of a watch force and street lighting, amongst others. The decision to apply for this type of legislation had to come from within the burghs, which meant many areas did not acquire these powers, either because they lacked the alternative leadership required to challenge the existing town councils, or there was no groundswell of support from the inhabitants. The latter was probably the most decisive factor, since the citizens financed the police commissioners through the levying of an assessment. The prospect of paying for an alternative local administration was not always popular and many burghs continued to resist this trend throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Burgh elections and Town Councils were reformed in 1833. However, an accompanying Act which would have allowed burghs to reform themselves even further, and make themselves more efficient was not mandatory.3 Presumably this was because it was felt the public were not ready for such a step. What one historian has called the "...corrupt oligarchies, based on obsolete associations of craftsmen in power in the towns'^ may have been swept away, but further reforms, which were crucial in order to meet the challenges of the new world, were still left to the discretion of individual authorities. By the early nineteenth century, three types of burgh existed within 2 Scotland, Royal, Regality, and Parliamentary, and these were joined by a fourth type after 1833, the Police burgh. Royal burghs were set up by a charter from the Crown, whereas burghs of Regality (or Barony) held their rights from a feudal superior, or in some cases from the Church (pre­ reformation), whilst Parliamentary burghs gained their charters from Parliament.5 Police burghs came into existence after the 1833 general Police Act, and these consisted of communities which met set requirements, namely to have at least seven L.10 householders wishing to adopt the police regulations in places with less than 3000 inhabitants, or 21 householders if the population exceeded this figure.6 Under the 1833 Police Act, legislation was put in place to allow towns to adopt statutes which would enable them to better meet the challenges of growing urbanisation. Society was changing, and not just externally; attitudes, behaviour, and manners also underwent considerable alteration. The Scotsman, and indeed Briton, of the early nineteenth century stood in sharp contrast to his counterpart of the early eighteenth century. As Smout noted, "The life of a Scottish gentleman at the beginning of the eighteenth century seemed almost unbearably uncouth in the recollection of his successors at the end."7 Attitudes had developed throughout the eighteenth century, prompted, in many respects, by the Enlightenment. The heavy drinking practices of the previous age were no longer acceptable in genteel company by the nineteenth century, although these habits had filtered through