Award

As we move into the New Year, here at West Lothian archives, we are looking forward to busy and changing times for our archive service.

Last month we learned that we had been awarded a National Cataloguing Grant of £42,588 to catalogue our Livingston collections. The 18 month project entitled "Livingston New Town, From Plan to Community, 1962-2012" will be led by a project archivist and will involve the cataloguing of the records of Livingston Development Corporation as well as some of our smaller Livingston collections, the creation of an online catalogue, and the publication of a summary guide to the collections.The project coincides with the 50th anniversary of the new town of Livingston and will allow us to celebrate and permanently document the history of the local community.

Many people think of archives as being hundreds of years old, but this award recognises the importance of 20th century history to both our local communities and our wider cultural heritage.

The grant is a massive boost for our archive service and we are excited about enabling community access to these important collections.

The New Poor Inspector

First of all let us express our gratitude for the followers, mentions and re-tweets regarding our @PoorInspector Twitter feed. The “live” tweeting of Alexander Smith, the Poor Inspector for the Parish of West Calder in and around 1896, was our first foray into using social media to promote the work and material of West Lothian Council Archives and has met with welcome interest. But alas the old boy had to retire. Fear not though, as we will continue highlighting the work of a 19th Century Inspector via Twitter in another guise. We have decided to change location to Linlithgow and start a little earlier; 1851, and the feed will begin very shortly. It would however be most rude of us not to introduce you to the man in question, and share some personal information garnered by our Archive Manager Emma Peattie. Please be aware; there is a lot of George and James and James and George, it gets a bit confusing.

His name is George Hardie; born in Linlithgow in 1802 and in addition to being a Poor Inspector was also making his way up the trade as a shoemaker, perhaps inspired or encouraged by his grandfather (also named George) who was the deacon of Shoemakers no less. George Hardie was also a session clerk for the church so must have been pretty well respected in the community and was married to Elizabeth Lilly with whom he had two sons named George and James and a daughter, Janet. James went on to become a book keeper for a major Glasgow stockbroker and apparently did very well for himself.  George Hardie’s father (also James) however hit significant financial problems, possibly related to the collapse of a bank in Falkirk and needed to be bailed out by his father.

Our first perusal into the records of the new inspector show a  man seemingly less sympathetic than Alexander Smith. A report by the Inspector to the Parochial Board in 1851 illustrate his doubts about how deserving some of the recipients of poor relief actually were.

“I am sorry to say that whenever a slight illness occurs amongst the working class a great number of them have now become well acquainted with the Poor Law and apply immediately to the medical officer and you are all aware that if a certificate is granted by him, I am bound to Relieve.”

Our new inspector also does not shy away from moral judgements and in the same report comments,

“There is also expense incurred unprincipled husbands deserting their families, likewise assaults through drunkenness and other misdemeanours, which causes imprisonment. The families being left through those causes unprovided, the Parochial Board is at once applied to as their legal means of support. These…have greatly increased my duties and the expenditure of the Board”

We are looking forward to getting to know George Hardie and hope that you will join us on the journey to find out more about our new inspector and poor relief in Linlithgow in time shortly preceding the opening of the poor house. The twitter feed will appear on the normal @PoorInspector and we hope you enjoy and share them as much as you have in the past.

An apology & Craigshill Mural, Part 2

First of all and apology for the scarce number of blogs posted here over the last couple of months. We are but a small team, mere mortals and frail humans. Workload, in particular a heavy Records Management period has meant we've taken our eye off certain social media projects. Sad but true. I hope you have found calm patience within your hearts and now forgiveness. Thank you.

You may remember a post about a project involving young people attending a local arts-based youth project Offbeat and working with an experienced public artist to create designs based on life in Craigshill over a period of time. The designs were to be incorporated into a mural painted by artist Tom Ewing on the sides of Almondbank Library, which stands relatively centrally in Craigshill.

The mural was unveiled on the 30th September. Not long after I strolled up to have a look see and took some pictures:

The mural blends familiar house types, landmarks and features into an image that represents and embodies Craigshill to those who have lived there. 

As well as the glimpsing the  lives and activities of it's inhabitants; from the past, and as seen through the eyes of those youngsters who took part in the murals creation.

 

As a repository that holds most of Livingston's written and photographic history, we at the West Lothian Archives were more than happy to provide pictorial references to the project. As a resident of Craigshill for more than 40 years, I was particularly pleased and proud to have at least one of the photographs I sourced from our collection used as an element in the mural.

This image in particular struck me, especially at this time of year; on looking out my window on an early winter morning across the fields towards the River Almond in the south of Craigshill. The misty silhouettes of trees, the cold peaceful silence, and the warmth of home.

Almondbank Library and the Mural can be found at:

The Mall, Craigshill, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 5EJ

Testimony for Alexander Smith; Poor Inspector

This is the full transcript of the testimony entered into the Minutes on the retirement as Chairman of the Parish Council of Alexander Smith, Poor Law Inspector of West Calder Parish in 1896. Please visit the Twitter feed http://twitter.com/#!/PoorInspector for the full story.

"On the motion of Councillor Brown it was unanimously agreed to enter in the minutes our highest appreciation of the long and valued services Councillor Alexander Smith has with unremitting zeal devoted to Parochial business. As chairman for the last twenty years, he has never been absent from presiding at every regular meeting of the Parochial Board. By cautious tact, talent and ability combined by a general and judicious knowledge of Poor Law the meetings have been of the most pleasant, agreeable and harmonious nature; exercising at all times a wise, kindly sympathy for the poor and by his guidance the Parish has been kept clear of unnecessary litigation with other Parishes in the amicable settlement of cases where difficult, knotty points of law were involved."  

From the minutes of the statutory meeting of the Parish Council, Tuesday the 8th of December 1896.