Glasgow (11 page)

Several other families in the neighbourhood suffered severely, being forced to leave their houses; and the horses in some stables had to be removed to another resting-place for the night. The scene about half past ten was indeed pitiful and alarming. Right and left might be seen poor families labouring away with bucket and broom, doing all they could to bale out the water from their houses. The man stationed at Maryhill to take charge of the works was immediately on the spot to turn off the water. The Water Company's local engineer was prompt in his attendance. An hour, however, elapsed before the water subsided, and when it did so it left a large hole in the centre of the street where the disruption had taken place. A great many people were, of course, walking about the spot, eager to see what damage had been done; and the rest were some females. One who was walking carelessly along went right into the hole, up to the neck in water; and had it not been for the timeous assistance of some gentlemen, it is quite possible that the poor girl might have been drowned, as the hole was about five feet deep, with an insecure bottom; at all events, she could not have had much relish for her cold bath on such an evening.

THE FIRST FOOTBALL MATCH, 1868
Robert Gardner

Scots, as the American academic Arthur Herman has pointed out, invented the modern world. But one thing he neglected to mention was football. This letter, from Robert Gardner, Secretary of the Thistle football club to Queen's Park, offers cast-iron proof that the first proper match of the beautiful game was played in Glasgow on 1 August 1868
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Dear Sir,

I duly received your letter dated 25th inst. on Monday Afternoon, but as we had a Committee Meeting called for this evening at which time it was submitted, I could not reply to it earlier. I have now been requested by the Committee, on behalf of our Club, to accept the Challenge you kindly sent, for which we have to thank you, to play us a friendly Match at Football on our Ground, Queen's Park, at the hour you mentioned, on Saturday, first proximo, with Twenty players on each side. We consider, however, that Two-hours is quite long enough to play in weather such as the present, and hope this will be quite
satisfactory to you. We would also suggest that if no Goals be got by either side within the first hour, that Goals be then exchanged, the ball, of course, to be kicked off from the centre of the field by the side who had the original Kick-off, so that both parties may have the same chance of wind and ground, this we think very fair and can be arranged on the field before beginning the Match. Would you also be good enough to bring your ball with you in case of any break down, and thus prevent interruption. Hoping the weather will favour the Thistle and Queen's.

I remain,

Yours very truly,

(Sgs.) Robt. Gardner

Secy.

A PENNYWORTH O' LIVER, 1869
Anonymous

It is hard now to imagine just how desperate and degrading living conditions were in the Victorian era for poor people. Compounding all of this was the rapaciousness of landlords who took great pains to ensure that their tenants kept up with their rent
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Hovels with earthen floors earned rents of six shillings a month. In Oaklands Street there were tenanted cellars that never engaged daylight. At St Andrews Lane there were no conveniences, and the human excreta was thrown over the windows, so that the window sills, the walls and the bottom of the court were ‘covered with human ordure'. At Creilly's Crescent the children were ‘quite dwarfed and attenuated to mere skeletons, their crooked limbs and wasted bodies and little claw-like hands all combine to give them a weird appearance'. The proprietor of Creillys' desirable mansions was a Sauchiehall Street banker who personally called for the rents, and was ‘very civil to those who pay promptly, but sharper than a serpent's tooth to unfortunates who may not be able at the moment to pay up'. In 102 Main Street, Gorbals, were 46 houses, the tenants of which were all apparently liable to pay poor's rate, for we read of reports by Sheriff's officers for the poor's rate ‘with expenses added'. In one house the sole article of furniture, a chest valued at 4s. 10d is seized; in another case a woman complained that ‘they cam' an' took my pot aff the fire wi a pennyworth o' liver in't for poor's rate'.

A NOBLE PARK, 1872
John Tweed

Does Glasgow have more green space than elsewhere in these islands? Who would argue otherwise? For this we have to thank City Fathers who, in the nineteenth century, had such enthusiasm for setting up parks that they could eventually claim to have created more public open spaces per head of population than any other UK city. Glasgow Green was Glasgow's first public park and its most variously used, as the publisher and local historian John Tweed describes. Comprising some 136 acres, it has been used for golf, bagpiping, bowling, hockey, tennis and goodness knows what else. It is here, too, that Glasgow Rangers have their roots
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This noble park, which we enter at its east end below Rutherglen Bridge, is the largest and, in spite of the attention lavished on its new-born rivals, is in some respects perhaps the finest of which Glasgow can boast. It lacks the undulating and wooded beauty of the West-end Park, and the blooming parterres of the Queen's; but it can boast of noble elms, its well-kept footpaths, its three-mile drive, and its incomparable fields for many sports, and then, gentle reader, it serves also the purposes of a bleaching field! But that is not all; the Clyde washes its banks from Rutherglen Bridge to Jail Square; and here on summer evenings, skimming over the broad river's bosom, are crowds of skiffs, punts and jolly-boats, pulled by the rising aquatics of the east end. No part of Glasgow can boast of one-tenth of the interest of the Green on a Saturday afternoon, when its fields are dotted with cricketers, when the footballs describe their parabolic curves in the air, and when the flashing oars gleam in the sunlight as a hundred boats dart hither and thither on the river.

MARYHILL BARRACKS, 1876
Groome's Gazetteer

Before there was a reliable police force, unrest could only be calmed by the use of military force. In this respect Glasgow was no different from other places. Thus through the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries army units were stationed in the city. The first barracks was built in the Gallowate in 1795 and could accommodate 1,000 men. But by the middle of the next century it had fallen into neglect and a new
barracks was built at Maryhill. It was completed in 1872. Until the end of the nineteenth century it was the garrison for several regiments and after the First World War it was the permanent depot of the Highland Light Infantry. It is now a housing scheme
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The infantry barracks are to the SE, and consist of three blocks two storeys in height for the married men, and four three-storey blocks for single soldiers, accommodation being provided for 824 men – about 90 married and 734 unmarried – and 38 officers in the officers' quarters. The infantry parade is in front to the N. The cavalry and artillery barracks are to the W of the infantry parade ground and consist of seven blocks – two for married men and five for the single men and for stables. There is accommodation for altogether 302 men – 32 married – and 12 officers; cavalry, 148 men and six officers; royal artillery, 154 men and 6 officers. The stables have room for 104 horses and 10 officers' horses belonging to the cavalry, and for 96 horses and 9 officers' horses belonging to the artillery, while a separate building accommodates 14 sick horses, and provides cover for 8 field guns. The cavalry and artillery parade ground lies to the N of their barracks.

SCHOOL FOR COOKERY, 1876
The Baillie

The Glasgow School of Cookery opened its doors in Bath Street to the public in 1876. Early prospectuses advertised demonstration lessons and practice lessons. The scope of these lessons were class-related, with superior cookery (becoming high-class cookery), plain cookery (becoming plain household cookery) and cookery for the working-classes. The driving force behind the School was Grace Paterson (1843–1925), who was born in Glasgow in an upper-middle class family. She appears to have been a forceful personality who was described as a feminist and suffragette. As the following extract from a satirical journal demonstrates, not everyone took the new venture seriously
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Superior Cookery – Tickets, 25s per doz. – Potage Ecossais

This superior soup is prepared as follows: Choose a few pounds of beef – thick, juicy, nutritious. Next procure a selection of esculent roots, bulbous and otherwise, together with herbaceous plants as may be in season. Now boil several pints of condensed vapour, placing the beef in
the pot while the water is cold, in order to prevent the formation of an albuminous envelope. About an hour before serving throw in the vegetables, previously reduced to atoms by the operation of a mincing knife. Serve hot, in Wedgewood ware, with a ladle argent. When the temperature is below zero this will be found a most excellent and comfortable dish.

Plain Cookery – Tickets, 21s per doz. – Scotch Soup

Take some pounds of beef, fat rather than lean. Buy some carrots, turnips and onions, together with some parsley, if you can get it. Now boil the beef, and throw in the vegetables, nicely minced, an hour before serving. For cold weather no better dish could be prepared.