Health and Welfare Department: Welfare Section

• Reference:GB 243 D-HEW
• Dates of Creation:1741 - 1980
• Language of Material:English
• Physical Description:
  TBC

• Scope and Content

  Formerly Public Assistance Department 1929 - 1941 and Welfare Department 1941 - 1950 to Social Work Department 1969.

  Included here are notes on each parish or body.

  Barony Parish

  The only surviving general registers of poor or applications for relief are those contained in D-HEW13-15. For indices see D-HEW23; the registers of application are not internally indexed except D-HEW15. In 1898 Barony Parish was merged with City Parish to form Glasgow Parish Council.

  Glasgow (formerly Glasgow City) Parish

  Registers of applications (known as "Historical Registers") were maintained in series as follows:-

  1851-1898 (D-HEW10). By districts, in separate series numbered 1-6. For maps showing the six districts in 1846 and c1865 respectively see the Admin. Atlas, Portfolio 2 (searchroom). This series is internally indexed; see also D-HEW23. For other parish claims see D-HEW11.

  1898-1905 (D-HEW16/1-12). By districts numbered 1-12, and from 1903, 1-13. The reorganisation was due to amalgamation with Barony Parish. All the district sub-series cease in 1905 except for D-HEW16/12, which continues to 1930. These series are internally indexed; see also D-HEW23.

  1905-1925 'A' Series (D-HEW16/13). Not by districts and not internally indexed. See D-HEW23.

  1925-1930 'B' Series (D-HEW16/14). Not by districts and not internally indexed. See D-HEW23. In 1930 Glasgow Parish Council ceased to exist under the Local Government (S.) Act 1929. Its functions passed to the Public Assistance Department of Glasgow Corporation.

  Glasgow Corporation Public Assistance Department

  1930 - c1940 (D-HEW18). By divisions; not internally indexed; see D-HEW23. This series ends at slightly different dates in each division and is succeeded by:

  c1940 - 1948 'C' Series (D-HEW19). By divisions; not indexed. In 1948 the local authority ceased to be responsible for public assistance.

  Govan Combination Parish

  Formed in 1873 by the Board of Supervision, which united Govan and the much smaller parish of Gorbals. The combination parish was extremely large, and included the burghs of Partick and Hillhead, and Dowanhill, Kelvinside and Whiteinch north of the river; and the burghs of Govan, Kinning Park, Crosshill, Govanhill, and East and West Pollokshields, and Plantation, Ibrox, Hutchesontown, Gorbals and Tradeston to the south. It ceased to exist in 1930; its functions passed to Glasgow Corporation Public Assistance Department.

  Applications for relief are in two numbered series, nos. 41,967-100,000 and 1-355,208, covering 1876 - 1930, the changeover occurring in 1891 (see D-HEW17/355). Not internally indexed; see D-HEW23.

  Public Assistance Department 1930-1948

  The geographical areas covered by the five divisions in this period were as follows:-

  Division 1 Wards 8-13, 17-21

  Provan, Cowlairs, Springburn, Townhead, Exchange, Blythswood, Cowcaddens, Woodside, Ruchill, North Kelvin, Maryhill

  Division 2 Wards 1-7

  Shettleston & Tollcross, Parkhead, Dalmarnock, Calton, Mile-End, Whitevale, Dennistoun

  Division 3 Wards 26, 27, 32-37

  Hutchesontown, Gorbals, Pollokshields, Camphill, Pollokshaws, Govanhill, Langside, Cathcart

  Division 4 Wards 28-31

  Kingston, Kinning Park, Govan, Fairfield

  Division 5 Wards 14-16, 22-25, 38

  Anderston, Sandyford, Park, Kelvinside, Partick East, Partick West, Whiteinch, Yoker & Knightswood

  Contents

  10. City Parish: Districts 1-6, 1851-1898.

  11. City Parish: Letter Series 'L' 1857-1898.

  12. Miscellaneous series, 1854-1898.

  13. Barony Parish: General Registers, 1868-1884.

  14. Barony Parish: Applications, 1861-1874.

  15. Barony Parish: Applications, Districts 1-7, 1885-1898.

  16. Glasgow Parish: Applications, 1898-1930.

  17. Govan Combination Parish: Applications, 1876-1930.

  18. Glasgow Corporation Public Assistance Dept.: Applications, 1930-c1940.

  19. Glasgow Corporation Public Assistance Dept.: Applications, c1940-1948.

  20. Renewals and Reapplications, 1917-1921, 1937, 1940.

  21. Other applications and related records, 1921-1965.

  22. Pay Rolls, 1944-1947.

  23. Indices to Applications. Children

  24. Barony Parish (later Glasgow Parish): Lists of children boarded out, 1871-1949.

  25. Govan: Register under Infant Life Protection Act 1897, 1898-1910.

  26. Govan: Registers of Guardians under Children Act 1908, [1904] - 1930.

  27. Govan: Registers of Guardians Advertising and Prospective Guardians, and related records, 1910-1930.

  28. Glasgow: Registers of Guardians and related records, [1898] - 1958.

  29. Registers under the Adoption of Children (S.) Act 1930, 1930-1937. Desertion and Failure to Maintain Dependants

  30. Warrant Books for Apprehension for Failure to Maintain Dependants, 1906-1948.

  31. Registers of Apprehensions and Prosecutions for Desertion, 1932-1949.

  32. Colonial Deserters Books, 1931-1948.

  33. Criminal Officer: Reports: Desertion, 1910-1947.

  34. Related Records (including material on prosecutions under the Children Acts, or for fraud, as well as desertion), 1925-1948. Mental Health

  35. Lunatic Asylum Record Books, 1943-1962.

  36. Particulars of Cases visited in Regard to Lunacy Certificates, 1949-1962.

  37. Eastwood Cemetery: Financial records, etc., 1935-1947, and nd

  38. Miscellanea

  39. Town's Hospital, Barnhill and Foresthall

  40. Printed Books

  (Note on the Able-Bodied Unemployed

  From the early 19th century it had been an established rule that the able-bodied were not entitled to poor relief (R. Mitchison, 'The Creation of the Disablement Rule in the Scottish Poor Law', in The Search for Wealth and Stability', ed. T.C. Smout (1979), pp. 199-217.). In 1921 the government was forced to abandon this rule, and thereafter relief was paid. Part II of the Unemployment Act, 1934, set up an Unemployment Assistance Board, which was largely responsible for the able-bodied thereafter. (For the position in Glasgow in the 1930's see C. de B. Murray. 'How Scotland is Governed' (1938), pp. 138-143.) In consequence all able-bodied application forms which were then 'live' were transferred to the Board in 1935. These forms were similar to those in the main series, but contained less information. The remainder were retained by the Public Assistance Department until 1948, when they were destroyed (ex inf. Mr. T. Tinto, a retired Corporation employee, May 1982). No applications for the able-bodied survive in the Archives for either Govan or Glasgow parishes, or for Glasgow Corporation Public Assistance Department.)

• Administrative / Biographical History

  Parochial Boards of management were set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vic., c.83) to administer poor relief. They later acquired duties of registration, public health and sanitary inspection. The Local Government Act, 1894, substituted Parish Councils. In 1898 the City and Barony Parish Councils were amalgamated.

  In May 1930 Glasgow Corporation inherited the functions of the former parish councils and district boards of control (Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, 19 & 20 Geo.V, c.25). Before that date there had been nine parish councils within the municipal boundary, of which Glasgow and Govan were the largest. The health and welfare functions were split into separate Public Assistance and Public Health committees and departments. The Public Assistance Department thereafter was responsible for the granting of outdoor relief. It also administered Barnhill Institution (renamed Foresthall in 1944), the Southern General Hospital (for its poor law functions) and other smaller institutions, including a labour colony for unemployed men at Palacerigg, Cumbernauld. A substantial achievement by the department during these years was the adaptation and extension of the former Renfrewshire Combination Poorhouse at Crookston to form Crookston Home (1938). Crookston, a home for the ‘respectable aged poor’, was further developed with supervised cottages and re-opened in 1947. This began the process of removing the care of the elderly from the large-scale poor law institutions. The poor law was finally abolished by the National Assistance Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo.VI, c.29), but the Act left local authorities in charge of the provision of residential accommodation for aged persons and those in need of care and attention; the provision of emergency accommodation; and welfare services for the handicapped. The department was renamed Welfare Services in June 1948.

• Access Information

  Open

  Access restrictions may apply. Please contact the Archives for further information.

• Other Finding Aids

  Poor relief applications (D-HEW10 - 17) indexed by name; an electronic database is available in the archive searchroom. Please contact the Archives to arrange a search.

• Conditions Governing Use

  Application for reproduction should be made to the Archivist.

• Related Material

  Supplementary sources in the Library,

  'Annual Reports of the Local Government Board for Scotland' 1-6 (1895-1900), 8-20 (1902-1914).

  'The Sanitary Journal: A Journal of Hygiene and Public Health' Vol. XIII No. 157 - Vol. XV No. 191. Glasgow 1889 - 1892, Jun - Dec 1894.

  'Charity Organisation Review 1895-1914.' Vols. i, ii, I-XXXVIII. and Special Report on Care of Lunatics, 1877.

  'Digest of Decisions relating to the Poor Law of Scotland' J.A. Reid, 1880. D-TC14/3/88

  'Digest of Decisions relating to the Poor Law of Scotland' A.O. Deas, 1897. D-TC14/3/88

  'Glasgow Medical Journal' 1854-9. 6 vols. L863

  'Glasgow Royal Infirmary Annual Reports', 1841-80, 1895, 1898.

  D-TC14/2/50

  'Glasgow Royal Mental Hospital Reports, 1930-8'. L865

  'A Treatise on the Law of Scotland relative to the Poor' Alex. Dunlop. 1828. L498. LE.2/5

  A large quantity of additional printed material from Mr Sime's office received March 1975.

  For Health Department Library List see AGN 1223.