Tales from The Aberdeen Poor's Hospital

In the eighteenth century no state welfare system existed - those who were destitute relied on claiming poor relief. In 1579 the Scottish Parliament passed an act which stated that poor relief was the responsibility of local parishes rather than belonging to central government. The poor rate was financed by parish householders to help the destitute. The New Poor Law Act of 1845 determined a system of reform and unlike in England, the able-bodied poor had no automatic right to claim poor relief.

Inmates of the poorhouse were designated as paupers who were people “without any means of support, a destitute person who depends on aid from public welfare funds or charity”. Paupers came in different forms; some were individuals who trained in a trade but could not work, either due to medical reasons or their wages were too low to support a growing family, and some were orphaned children.

A Brief History of the Aberdeen Poor's Hospital

Aberdeen's Poor's Hospital was first established by the city's Magistrates and Town Council on the 17th February 1739 "to propagate industry and virtue": at that stage it was known as the 'Infirmary and Workhouse'. The Hospital opened on the 31st October 1741, to house idle and strolling vagrants; poor inhabitants with no way of earning their keep; the children of poor inhabitants and destitute orphans. Only those under 12 were supported, with older children expected to work and found apprenticeships and training. Payments were also made to out-pensioners remaining in the community, in addition to receiving inmates to the Hospital.

The Hospital was managed by the town's Magistrates and Council, and was initially funded by mortifications, bequests and the proceeds of selling textiles made by the inmates. It was originally located behind the Tolbooth on the north side of the Castlegate (it appears in Alexander Milne's 1789 map of Aberdeen), which was sold around 1790 when a new property in the Gallowgate was purchased. In 1768 the United Fund was formed by three public bodies - the kirk session of St Nicholas, the Poor's Hospital and St Paul's Episcopal Chapel - to benefit the poor. The Kirk Session were to contribute £241 annually, the Poor's Hospital £100 and St Paul's £30 and quarterly collections, which was supplemented by donations and bequests. This was "to be distributed among the poor, and applied to all the charitable purposes at present provided either by the session or by the directors of the Poor's Hospital". The Fund was managed by the representatives from the Kirk Session, Town Council and St Paul's. By 1836 a self-imposed assessment on heritors and tenants was agreed to boost the Fund, followed by a legal compulsory assessment of proprietors and occupants of houses, lands and fishing rights in 1838. A separate Boys' Hospital was founded in 1818 in a building on the Gallowgate, using a legacy given to the Poor's Hospital by Alexander Simpson of Collyhill.

The Poor’s Hospital opened 31^st October 1741 with one apartment prepared for “males of vicious or disorderly habits, idle strollers and vagabonds”. Another set of rooms was prepared for those “of like form [with] a kindred character”. Women were taught knitting and weaving, while men were instructed to rasp wood, dress hemp, flax, and pick oakum. A master, mistress and a clerk were to live in the house. The Master of the Hospital was paid 100 pounds Scots and the mistress and clerk were both to be paid the same salary of 100 merks.

Children were provided with a rudimentary education and were given lessons in reading and writing. It was noted by the managers of the Hospital that some of the younger boys were “taken to America by some of the merchants”. Subsequently, the committee issued a warning against people “enticing boys to go to them plantations without the previous consent of the directors and the boys’ parents”. The schoolhouse was separate from the poorhouse and as of 1743 it was decided by the committee that boys were to be taught a trade to become barbers, sailors, wrights, and bakers. Clothing was issued to the neediest and beggars were given leaden badges to wear on the streets. These badges signified that they were known to the Poor’s Hospital. However after a few years, begging was prohibited and the badges were taken away from those who had them. It was acknowledged that the poor of Aberdeen “are on a worse footing than those of any other town of the same rank in the kingdom” (Walker’s History of the Workhouse). 

Poor’s Hospital Sederunt Book 1795-1800 (PH/1/4/3)

This register provides the date and name of the applicant and their situation, the allowance and duration of relief and the names of those who recommended them for aid. The individuals who referred the applicants for relief were mostly people of social status such as priests, town councillors, provosts, and businessmen. On the 1^st December 1795 Mary Lee sought financial aid from the Poor’s Hospital, she was noted as being “a stranger and a native of America” and was given 1 shilling for “this month only”. Due to her social status as ‘a stranger’, Mary would not have been entitled to ongoing poor relief from the parish.

Massie Allan and her child first approached the Poor’s Hospital on 6^th September 1796. She was recorded as being “an old servant”. She had an illegitimate child and was allowed 1 shilling for this time, “her case to be particularly enquired into before next meeting”. Massie reapplied for assistance in October that year and she was allowed half a crown as a onetime payment “as the managers are resolved in future to admit no unmarried women with [illegitimate] children to the benefit of this charity and she is desired never to apply again in any instance whatsoever”. The new regulations established in October 1796 meant that further applications of single mothers with illegitimate children were dismissed with a onetime offer of charity and told not to come again. Margaret Gordon, an old servant along with her illegitimate child, applied for assistance on 4^th October 1796. She was given 1 shilling “for this time and dismissed in terms of the new aforementioned resolution”.

On 7th November 1797, Jane Forbes' application for poor relief was provided to the committee on her behalf by her doctor. Jane was described as "consumptive and bedrid" which means that she was suffering from tuberculosis and unable to ask for relief in person due to the debilitating nature of the disease. Victims of tuberculosis often suffered for years with symptoms that would come in waves followed by periods of supposed remission. Some symptoms of the disease are: night sweats, fatigue, a non-productive cough, weight loss and fever. Jane was allocated half a crown "for this month" by the committee. 

Other applicants to the city's poor relief funds included orphans like Patrick and Ann Skinner "whose mother is dead". They became orphans in 1795 after their father John was "banished to Botany Bay". John was likely convicted of a crime which merited a sentence of transportation. Essentially, this meant that he was sent to live on a penal colony and would likely not return to Aberdeen. His children appear in the sederunt book on 2nd June 1795 and were recommended to the committee by Provost Cruden. They were allocated 2 shillings each and put on the orphan list. In July 1795 another orphan child is put forward for relief. Helen Stuart aged 15 months was deserted by her mother Elspet Read and her father, a Woolcomber, was drafted into the Duke of Gordon's Fencibles as a soldier. Helen was allocated half a crown monthly and her name added to the orphan list. 

By Ashleigh Black, Archive Assistant 

[Records of the successor bodies (Boys' Hospital, Girls' Hospital and Boys' and Girls' Hospital) have been catalogued as part of the Aberdeen Endowments Trust collection (reference AET/BGH) which took over the Boys' and Girls' Hospital in 1888. This includes a bound copy of the act of the Burgh Council establishing the hospital in 1739 (AET/BGH/7/1).]