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.