POORHOUSE OF SCOTLAND
(Note — workhouses in Scotland were more usually termed 'poorhouses'.)
In 1579, an act of the Scottish Parliament "For Punischment of Strang and Idle Beggars, and Reliefe of the Pure and Impotent" laid the basis of the system of poor relief in Scotland that was to continue for the next three centuries. Amongst its provisions were for each parish to make a list of its own poor (those who had been born there or who had lived there for seven years or more), "that the aged, impotent, and pure people, suld have ludgeing and abiding places", and to enable "heritors" or land-owners to take the children of beggars into unpaid service until they were eighteen, in the case of girls, or twenty-four, for boys.
A further act in 1597 shifted the administration of poor relief to the church authorities in each parish, the Kirk Session. Money for its operation was raised in a number of ways. In Aberdeen, for example, they included:
The Edinburgh Charity Workhouse in Port Bristo opened in 1743 and was financed by voluntary subscriptions. Funds for its operation were raised by a variety of means such as a tax on the valued rents of the city, collections at church doors, charitable donations and other contributions including an annual benefit play at one of the city's theatres. It was a substantial building that, in 1777-8, could accommodate 484 adults and 180 children.
In Glasgow, a workhouse known as the Town's Hospital, was founded in 1731. The Hospital was managed by the Lord Provost and a group of 48 directors: 12 elected by the town council, 12 by the General Session (representing the church in each parish), 12 by the Merchants' House (the merchants' guild), and 12 by the Incorporated Trades (the producers' guild).
The 1845 Scottish Poor Law Act
The Commission's report, delivered on 2nd of May 1844, noted that poor relief in Scotland was generally confined to the old, infirm, disabled, mentally ill and so on, and that relief to the able-bodied was rare. They therefore proposed to broadly keep relief organized at the parish level. Their main recommendations were:
The Scottish Act was therefore significantly different from the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which applied in England and Wales and subsequently extended to Ireland. In Scotland, the able-bodied were exempt from receiving relief. Relief was not to be confined to the workhouse, and the operation of workhouses was voluntary.
After the 1845 Act, there was a steady movement away from voluntary fund raising towards the assessment system. In 1845, only 230 of Scotland's 880 parishes were using the assessment system, but by 1853 this had risen to 680.
Although the 1845 Act allowed parishes to operate poorhouses, it did not require them to do so as was the case in England and Wales after 1834, and in Ireland after 1838. Adjacent Scottish parishes could also join together to form "Combinations" and operate Combination poorhouses. Approval for such arrangements had to be given by the Board of Supervision. In 1847, the Board published model plans for rural and town poorhouses.
A further act in 1597 shifted the administration of poor relief to the church authorities in each parish, the Kirk Session. Money for its operation was raised in a number of ways. In Aberdeen, for example, they included:
The Edinburgh Charity Workhouse in Port Bristo opened in 1743 and was financed by voluntary subscriptions. Funds for its operation were raised by a variety of means such as a tax on the valued rents of the city, collections at church doors, charitable donations and other contributions including an annual benefit play at one of the city's theatres. It was a substantial building that, in 1777-8, could accommodate 484 adults and 180 children.
In Glasgow, a workhouse known as the Town's Hospital, was founded in 1731. The Hospital was managed by the Lord Provost and a group of 48 directors: 12 elected by the town council, 12 by the General Session (representing the church in each parish), 12 by the Merchants' House (the merchants' guild), and 12 by the Incorporated Trades (the producers' guild).
The 1845 Scottish Poor Law Act
The Commission's report, delivered on 2nd of May 1844, noted that poor relief in Scotland was generally confined to the old, infirm, disabled, mentally ill and so on, and that relief to the able-bodied was rare. They therefore proposed to broadly keep relief organized at the parish level. Their main recommendations were:
The Scottish Act was therefore significantly different from the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which applied in England and Wales and subsequently extended to Ireland. In Scotland, the able-bodied were exempt from receiving relief. Relief was not to be confined to the workhouse, and the operation of workhouses was voluntary.
After the 1845 Act, there was a steady movement away from voluntary fund raising towards the assessment system. In 1845, only 230 of Scotland's 880 parishes were using the assessment system, but by 1853 this had risen to 680.
Although the 1845 Act allowed parishes to operate poorhouses, it did not require them to do so as was the case in England and Wales after 1834, and in Ireland after 1838. Adjacent Scottish parishes could also join together to form "Combinations" and operate Combination poorhouses. Approval for such arrangements had to be given by the Board of Supervision. In 1847, the Board published model plans for rural and town poorhouses.
Church door collections
Donations to the church by private individuals
Hiring out a hearse
Interest on monies lent
Income from rents
Fees from baptisms, marriages, and burials
A central Board of Supervision would regulate the operation of the new system.
The Board's membership comprised the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, The Solicitor General of Scotland, the Sheriffs Depute of the counties of Perth, Renfrew, Ross and Cromarty, and three other persons appointed by the Crown.
Each of the country's 880 parishes was to have its own Parochial Board of managers, locally appointed each year.
The parochial board would decide whether to raise poor relief funds voluntarily, or to impose a poor rate "according to any established usage" — generally based on assessment of property ownership.
Poor relief could be given in the form of cash or in kind, or a poorhouse could be set up to shelter the sick or destitute, but not to the able-bodied.
Parishes, particularly in urban areas, could be united for settlement and poor-relief purposes, including the establishment of joint poorhouses.
An Inspector of the Poor in each parish would examine all applications for relief.
St Nicholas site, 1890s
ABERDEEN
