Edinburgh
 

The Statistical Account of Scotland 1793

57 Edinburgh - pp 559-628

p 567 Canongate Parish
There has never been any poor rate in the Parish of Canongate.
The charity workhouse, which was built by subscription in the year 1761, is maintained from the following funds :-
1st - the collections at the church door, amounting on an
average of 8 years past to £192 p.a.
2nd - A benefit play, granted annually by the manager of the 
Edinburgh Theatre.
3rd - Dues on mortcloths and private baptisms
4th - Dues on funerals, passing to other places, when the remains of the dead are lodged in an aisle of the church, appropriated for that purpose.
5th - Private and occasional benefactions.
The number in the House, in November last, was 38 aged persons, and 35 children, besides 23 out-pensioners. Total 96.

Charity Workhouse
p 619 in 1783 the funds of the Charity Workhouse were insufficient to maintain the poor of the community entitled by law to public charity. The courts of law, however, and all who call themselves members of those courts, pay no poor's money, nor lamp or guard money; although the most opulent part of the community; whilst they send at the same time, a very great proportion of managers to dispose of funds, to which they do not contribute; and crowd the house with their poor, to whose support they do not pay. This privilege is pleaded on old Acts of Parliament, at a period when the courts were ambulatory. But now they have been stationary for near two centuries, it is full time it were given up.There is no such privilege existing any where else in Britain.

p 612 - In 1763 the fines collected by the kirk treasurer for bastard children amounted to £154 and upon an average for ten succeeding years were £190. In 1783 the fines for bastard children amounted to £600 and have since greatly increased.

In 1748 the first correction house for disorderly females was built and it cost £198-0-4d . This is the only one Edinburgh yet has.

In 1791 - Manners had been for some years so loose, and crimes so frequent, that the foundations of a large new House of Correction or Bridewell, was laid on the 30th of November, which, on the lowest calculation, will cost £12,000, and this plan is on a reduced scale of what was at first thought absolutely necessary.

In 1763 - That is from June 1763 to June 1764 the expense of the Correction House amounted to £27-16s-1.5d.

In 1791 and some years previous to it- the expense of the Correction House had risen to near £300, and their is not room for containing half of those that ought to be confined to hard labour.

In 1763 there were 5 or 6 brothels, or houses of bad fame, and a very few of the lowest and most ignorant order of females sculked about the streets at night.

A person might have gone from the Castle to Holyrood House, the then length of the city, at any hour of the night, without being accosted by a single street-walker. Street robbery and pocket  picking were unknown.

In 1783 the number of brothels had increased 20 fold, and the women of the town more than a hundred fold. Every quarter of the city and suburbs was infested with multitudes of females  abandoned to vice, and a great many at a very early period of life, before passion could mislead, or reason teach them right from wrong. Street-robbers, pick-pockets and thieves have much increased. 
Notes - A late calculator estimates 40,000 prostitutes in London. That is 40,000 wretched human beings in one city, not only lost to themselves and to society, but the cause of extending  destruction to others. Is it not worthy of enquiry, how this astonishing change of manners should have arisen, and the probable consequences of its increase to the State.
Vice soon spreads its influence from individuals to families, from families to cities, from cities to the Empire, and an empire corrupted is an empire lost. 
In high life, the change of manners is equally astonishing, and alarming to the State, - witness the almost daily trials for crim con. It is believed that one great source of the evil pointed out will be found in the licentiousness of the press, in the present day; and another in the neglect of religious education. A tax on novels would be a salutary measure in government. 

Source: The Statistical Account of Scotland 1793
Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes - By Sir John Sinclair Bt.
In 21 Volumes.
Submitted by Alan Longbottom

Edinburgh works in progress and in prospect 1868
New poor-houses are in preparation for the West Church and City parishes. The latter is being erected on the estate of Craiglockhart, within three miles of the city, which was purchased by the Board. It is to embrace all that modern science has discovered in the construction of such establishments. The former occupies a commanding site to the north-west of the city, and architectural effect has been sought after by the adoption of louvre roofs
Source: The Builder 1868 Vol XXVI 057 pp. 25th January 1868
Submitted by Alan Longbottom

A new experiment for the Poor Edinburgh Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 

During the course of the last year, while writing on the nature of the risks to which human life is subjected, we promised to discuss on a future occasion the principles of a new society which had then but recently started in Edinburgh for the purpose of improving the condition of the poorer classes.... 

The Edinburgh Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor - belongs to the category of private benevolent associations. In fact, it is one of those modern experiments in sociology, of which the success will exclusively depend upon the manner in which it is carried out. It appears to be an attempt to eradicate poverty and extinguish crime on the principle of voluntary association. But, although the Scotch are unquestionably the best voluntaries under the sun, the idea does not seem to have germinated in the northern capital. Either Paris or New York is entitled to the honour of being regarded as the birth-place of the present highly popular theory of amalgamating existing charities, or at least of opposing a united and articulated organization to the inroads of poverty, disease and crime. Since, however, Edinburgh has been all along abreast of the movement, and more particularly has supplied us with the most voluminous reports on every phase of the subject, we cannot do better than give some account of its progress as developed and at present exhibited in that ancient city. 

It is first of all necessary to explain that for some years past much attention has been directed to the deplorable condition of the industrious poor of Edinburgh. The late Dr. Chalmers, made strenuous efforts to arouse the attention of his backsliding congregation to the utterly abandoned state of the Cowgate and West Port; Dr. Guthrie's eloquent denunciations of the sins and sorrows of the city fell upon the astonished ears of his fashionable congregation like a thunderbolt; and Dr. Beggg's able and more practical efforts at amelioration are well known to our readers. At the same time the ecclesiastical reformers were ably seconded in their efforts by the more scientific and better regulated researches of the medical men. The late Professor Alison's discoveries on the origin and causes of contagious diseases were chiefly made in the dismal cellars of the Cowgate and Cannongate; and these discoveries were tolerably well applied some years later by one of his quondam pupils Dr. W.T.Gairdner. Dr Foulis, a philanthropic physician, actually purchased an old close, and after repairing it, renovating it, and supplying it with water and other necessaries, succeeded in demonstrating that the existing evils, bad as they were, could be diminished, if not entirely prevented. 

This school of medical reformers at length brought to light Dr.Littlejohn's admirable report on the sanitary condition of Edinburgh, from which report we believe have sprung the subsequent city improvements inaugurated so ably under the auspices of the Lord Provost (Mr.William Chambers) Of course it is unnecessary to state that all this time the press was not idle. The Scotsman, The Edinburgh News, The Scottish Press, The Evening Courant, and even the poor old and now defunct Caledonian Mercury, made important special inquiries, and published long articles on the condition of the poor. Many private citizens such as Mr. Charles Cowan and Mr. Thomas Knox, published pamphlets, and otherwise threw themselves with great earnestness and zeal into the practical questions of reform. 

At length about 3 or 4 years ago, The Scotsman - undertook to expound at great length and, as we remember, with much ability the subject of the constitution and operation of the "Charities of Edinburgh" which had long been in an unsatisfactory condition. Irrespective altogether of the Poor Law Boards, it was found there were no less than 36 different charitable associations in Edinburgh, all engaged in the same common cause, and mostly supported by the same class of benevolent individuals. The sensible conclusion to which the writer came was this :- that those various charities, from their isolated character, lost much of their usefulness; that their cost of management and administration was wasteful and extravagant; that, after all they failed to meet their intended purpose; and that some method of combining them and organising them was urgently needed. It happened very opportunely, about the same time, that public attention and curiosity were excited by an American gentleman, who was at that time residing in Edinburgh, and who pointed to certain well-organized charitable measures which had been employed with remarkable success in different Continental and American cities. By means of several private lectures he gave, and by the publication of a pamphlet on the subject, (in which he was ably assisted by a lady who is interested in the scheme) public interest was deepened and extended. 

Upwards of one hundred influential citizens of Edinburgh, ministers and laymen, together with all the leading newspapers, cordially concurred in lending their names and commending the charitable measures and intentions displayed in the pamphlet. Title :- How to Relieve the Poor of Edinburgh, and other great Cities, without increasing Pauperism : a Tried, Economical, and Successful Plan. Published Edinburgh by Edmondson and Douglas. 1867. 

To sum up the author's conclusions, the plan is based on three great principles :- 

1 - Thorough systematic investigation of the actual conditions and wants of all the poor in a city. 

2 - Suitable relief given in every case of need, in ways which tend least to abuse, or to degrade and pauperize the receiver. 

3 - Relief given as far as possible by methods which enable the poor to help themselves, the great object being to prevent cases of temporary destitution from becoming cases of permanent pauperism. 

The author proceeds to support this scheme by references to the systematic benevolent distribution in Paris and New York to Liverpool, to Elberfeld on the Rhine, to Calcutta, and to Bombay, as conducted under the auspices and supervision of Dr Duff.... The preliminary proceedings were conducted with great administrative skill. As a first step the Lord Provost issued numerous invitations to take part in a meeting to consider the "practicability and expediency of adopting measures to simplify, economise, and concentrate the action of the public charities of Edinburgh, as well as to improve the condition of the really deserving poor" The invitations were cordially responded to in every quarter; and a large number of ministers and doctors, as well as men of all parties and denominations, assembled in the Council Chamber. The Lord Provost presided, and in explaining the object of the meeting, drew attention in very emphatic terms, to the unsatisfactory organization and results of the present charitable institutions. 

Without for a moment inferring that those charities were badly or recklessly administered, and while giving their managers all honour and credit for their efforts to succour want and infirmity, he deplored the absence of all systematic action. He also pointed out how it was possible that, by insufficient and unsystematical arrangements, they might be absolutely nourishing the diseases which it was their intention to assuage; and that in consequence of the present desultory system it was to be feared that they encouraged imposture on the one hand, while, on the other, many of the really deserving and modest poor were left in obscure holes and corners to suffer the pangs of misery and neglect. He further illustrated the need of more united action and of well- organized and systematic measures, by explaining what serious evils result, not only to the poor, but to all classes of the community, from the deficiencies of our existing charitable arrangements; and he finally declared that the whole system now pursued was fraught with consequences alike painful and reproachful: and that it could not possibly fail, if its operations were continued, to damage the best interests of the city. 

The proceedings were brought to a conclusion by the establishment of a large committee, consisting of upwards of seventy clergymen and laymen, representing every shade of theological and political opinion. This meeting in the Council Chambers was held on the 15th April 1867, and the first practical result of the meeting was the production, ten months afterwards, (28th February 1868) of a voluminous report on the whole cognate subjects, written by Dr Alexander Wood. [Report on the Condition of the Poorer Classes of Edinburgh, and their Dwellings, Neighbours, and Families. Published Edinburgh by Edmonston and Douglas 1868] This gentleman it appears, is one of the medical school of reformers which we have already indicated. We will not criticise a report which is written gratuitously and for benevolent purposes. 

To those who have not studied too minutely the various phenomena and the innumerable circumstances of which it professes to treat, this report may be justly considered valuable. Certainly it contains a large store of facts, and a perfect labyrinth of statistics such as they are. Its practical conclusion may be expressed in three lines :- "The only one of these schemes which the committee would recommend to take up at present is the thorough and systematic house to house visitations of the poor. [Introduction page 15.] and also to this end "that a central office must be established in connexion with it" And accordingly a central office was established at 25 York Place; active operations immediately commenced; district visitors volunteered a manager was appointed, at a salary of £120 a year; and the Edinburgh Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, is at the moment in full working order. But, as the national poet Burns, has it "the best laid schemes of mice and men - gang aft agly" The apothogem would also appear to include the most benevolent schemes. For only last week, on applying to the Town Council for their reasonable share of the preliminary expenses, as they had though guaranteed by the Lord Provost, and magistrates, the association was bluntly told that they were doing more harm than good; that they were teaching the whole poor of Edinburgh to seek alms; that before they began dispensing money at such a wholesale rate, they should have paid their printer's bill; and finally that the members ought to be aware of the old proverb, that charity begins at home !. Well may the association report on the Town Council in the memorable lines of Tom Hood. 

"Oh for the rarity - Of Christian charity - Under the sun." 
Source: The Builder 1869 Vol XXVII 6th February 1869 p.099
Submitted by Alan Longbottom. 

The Edinburgh Poor-house
A new poorhouse for the city of Edinburgh has been erected at Craiglockhart.
The site is within a very short distance of the city, and yet the scene is as quiet and as thoroughly secluded as if it were miles away. The principal 
approach to the building is from the Morningside Road, about a quarter of a mile to the south of the Morningside toll-bar. The new poor house faces the south, and will ultimately consist of three groups of distinct buildings, viz., the main poor-house in the centre, the infirmary to 
the east, and the lunatic asylum to the west. At present only the poor-house and infirmary have been erected, though the site of the lunatic asylum has been partly excavated and levelled.
The style of the buildings is Scotch. The whole is treated in a plain and simple way, without expensive or ornamental details. The architectural effect is chiefly obtained from the mass and extent of the building, and by the arrangement of the plan in breaking it up into a number of separate blocks. At the centre of the main poor-house a corbelled tower, octagonal in form, rises to the height of 105 ft, and a picturesque and varied outline is given to the long fronts by numerous projections, crowned with crow-stepped gables.
The classes are entirely isolated from one another in separate blocks of buildings, each complete within itself, and every class has a spacious 
airing-court allotted to its own use. Those for the doubtful classes are surrounded by the poor-house buildings and offices, while the better behaved have airing-courts facing the south, tastefully laid out with walks and plots in which flowers and shrubs will be cultivated.
The separation of the building into a number of detached blocks, joined only at one point by a connecting corridor, is a peculiarity of the Craiglockhart Poor-house. The separate block system adopted gives facilities for ventilation 
and for obtaining sunlight and fresh air for the inmates. A second peculiarity of the building are the special facilities afforded for efficient administration, and for the smooth working of the establishment with a small staff of officials. 
The poor-house consists of an administrative block in the centre - two blocks in line with it to the west for the male paupers, and two blocks in line with it to the east for the female paupers. As the females are considerably more numerous than the males, a third block is provided for them to the north of the other two, and facing eastward.
The buildings are three stories in height, except the east wing block, which is only two stories high. The central corridor of communication, which connects the various blocks on each floor, is in one unbroken line from end to end, without 
any steps or difference of level; and from it the officials can, both by day and by night, keep a constant supervision over the various classes without requiring even to enter the wards. The corridor is 6ft 4 ins wide and is thoroughly well 
lighted and ventilated directly from the external air between each block. In the administrative block at the centre, and separating the male and female 
portions of the building, are the offices of the governor and matron, and the other official apartments. Immediately behind is the dining-hall, and beyond it the kitchen department and stores. The stores are concentrated in a two-story block immediately facing the back entrance, so that all goods on their delivery are at once carried into them. They are in the immediate neighbourhood of the kitchen, where so many of the articles are to be used, and have also separate serving rooms attached for males and females, where articles not used in the kitchen are distributed to the parties coming for them from the wards. The kitchen which stands between the stores and the dining-hall, has also serving-rooms attached to it communicating both with the dining-hall and the 
wards.
From the special arrangements adopted, none of the paupers, except those regularly employed in the kitchen and stores, can ever be there without 
immediate detection, and thus pilfering and many other evils are avoided.
From the concentration which has been effected, not only can the governor and matron keep a constant supervision over these important departments, but also a much smaller staff of paid officials will be able to do the work than could 
otherwise have accomplished it.
We come next to notice the sanitary arrangements. Each class is provided with separate water-closets, lavatories and baths, upon every floor, to which they have ready access both by night and by day. The closets are places in 
projections opposite the staircase at the centre of each block and are entirely cut off from the wards by doors and intermediate lobbies, having thorough cross ventilation. The two walls of the central corridor are built hollow, and a series of chambers about 3 ft 6 ins, are formed along the whole extent of the wall on both sides of the corridor. These chambers are made use of for 
extracting the foul air and supplying the fresh-heated air. In every block two hot chambers are provided, in which fresh cold air brought from the outside of the buildings is heated y powerful coils of steam pipes, and is covered by the 
hollow chambers to the various floors. For ventilation a central foul-air trunk is provided in the roof of every block, and each ward has several of the chambers in the hollow walls, acting as extracting flues, and leading the foul air up to the central trunk. At the middle of each block a hot chamber is formed, where the foul air is rarified by the heat from a hot water cistern, and a current being thus produced, the foul air escapes through a large ventilator into the open atmosphere. 
Each ward is also provided with Sheringham's patent ventilators in the external walls for the supply of fresh cold air, so that a constant circulation is maintained during the night, and at other times, when the windows are all closed. The day-rooms and dormitories for the various classes of paupers are all large and spacious apartments. They are 35 ft long by 18 ft wide, and have 12 
foot ceilings, giving in the dormitories a cubic air space on the average of nearly 500 ft per bed. 
The wards are heated at each end by large open fireplaces, with an iron grate and mantel-piece of new design, projecting boldly out into the apartment, and having fire-brick back and sides, so as to radiate the heat in all directions. 
The fireplace openings have circular heads, and the spandrels on each side are ornamented with foliage, having the poor-house monogram and the date in low relief. The walls of the wards and passages have been all lined to the height of 
4 ft. 6 ins from the floor. The plaster work of all the bathrooms, lavatories, and water-closets is painted in oil, and the woodwork varnished.
The dining hall is 74 ft by 48 ft. with accommodation for dining 600 paupers. It 
is divided by iron columns into a centre and two side compartments, and the ceiling is panelled in squares, with ornamental main couples, brackets, and pendants. There is a platform at one end, suitable for addresses, concerts etc; 
and as the dining-hall is at present to be used as the church for the poor-house, the pulpit will be in the meantime placed here. The seating is all 
open, supported on iron standards, so arranged that the seats can be folded up for cleaning out the hall daily.
The kitchen is 30 ft square by 19 ft high, and is thoroughly lighted and cross ventilated by large clearstory windows on each side, going right up to the ceiling, so that all steam or vitiated air can be swept away. The kitchen and the scullery adjoining are fitted up with a most powerful steam cooking 
apparatus. In the kitchen there are 6 steam-cooking vessels several of them 5 ft 
in diameter; and in the scullery there are two large steamers for vegetables, which are prepared by steam in open wire trays much quicker and better than they could be boiled in water. At the back of the internal female airing-courts is 
situated the washing department, and the enclosed drying and bleaching greens. 
At the back of the internal male courts are the workshops for the smiths, carpenters, plumbers, tin-smiths, painters, tailors, shoe-makers, bookbinders, etc, and adjoining these are extensive farm offices. 
The infirmary is designed on the pavilion system, now universally adopted in all new hospitals. There are 4 pavilions arranged in pairs for ordinary cases, and a fifth pavilion at the back, entirely detached, to be used exclusively as a fever 
hospital. At the centre of the corridor which connects the pavilions is placed the administrative block, which contains the officials apartments, the 
dispensary, store-rooms, and kitchen accommodation. The pavilions are two stories in height, and contain one ward on each floor. The governor of the poor-house is accommodated in a detached villa erected on the ground to the west 
of the main building, and the other officials have apartments within the house. As the Edinburgh Water Company's Act did not embrace the poor-house within the area of supply, it became necessary to obtain a Bill to extend the area so as to include the poor-house. This was passed during the last session of Parliament, but the necessary works authorised in connexion with the Bill have not begun yet.
The total number of pauper inmates for whom accommodation is at present provides is 1,000 - viz. 740 in the main poor-house, and 260 in the Infirmary. The lunatic asylum, which, as we have said is not yet begun, will accommodate 160 
additional. The contracts for the poor-house, infirmary and governor's house at present 
erected amount to about £45,000, exclusive of roads; and we understand that there is every prospect that the whole expenditure will not exceed the sum originally contemplated, - viz. £50,000. 
Messrs George Beattie & Son of Grove Street are the architects of the building. The contractors are Mr. Robert Hutchison for the mason work; Messrs Kemp. Murray & Nicholson for the joiner work ; Mr. William M'Calman for the plumber work ; Mr. William Anderson for the slater work; Messrs Ross and M'Lean for the plaster work; Messrs J Young and Co for the ironwork; Mr Andrew Cunningham for the glazier work; Mr. John Meiklejohn for the heating; Messrs John Bryden & Sons for the bells; Messrs Andrew Muirhead and G.H. Potts for the painting; and Mr. John Mellon for the roads, The clock and bell have been supplied by Messrs Robert Bryson & Son; and the iron cistern and tanks by Messrs John Whitelaw & Son of Dunfermline. Mr Andrew Wood is the clerk of works.
Source: The Builder 1869 Vol XXVII 9th October 1869 p.805
Submitted by Alan Longbottom.



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