Scottish Poor Law Records
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
