Old Man's Asylum, Blackfriars, Glasgow.....

Asylums, Poor Houses and the like.

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clare
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Location: Stirlingshire
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Old Man's Asylum, Blackfriars, Glasgow.....

Post by clare » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:05 pm

Hi there,

Does anyone have any information about the 'Old Man's Asylum' in Blackfriars District of Glasgow? I have a death certificate with this given as place of death in 1898 (assuming usual place of residence as no other address given), but have no more information about it. I have tried googling it, but all I find are a couple of sites with relatives having died there - no info on the place itself.

The rest of the man's family lived at 82 George Street at this time. I am trying to work out why he wasn't with them. And also why his death certificate shows him as single when his wife was alive and well, and that the death was notified by a niece from England... I am hoping that working out more about his place of death will help me start to unravel the mystery.

Cheers,
Clare
Searching for:
ELLIOT, CROZIER, HAY, COWAN - Roxburghshire
CHAMBERS, WESTMACOTT - Glasgow
BETT - Kinrosshire
And many, many more...

JimM
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Location: Scotland

Post by JimM » Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:19 am

Hi Clare
Sorry that no-one has been able to give you a definitive answer to this one.. :(
I've never heard of "old mans asylum" in Blackfriars :-k ...... I wonder if it could have something to do with Barnhill poorhouse?
It is possible that he was estranged from his family when he died, and his niece did not know the correct protocol when she registered the death.
Have you tried the Mitchell library? your man may have applied for poor relief at some time. Post his name - birth date and place, we'll have a look if you can't make it through yourself.

Jim
researching
McIntyre, Menzies, Cowley, Pearson, Copland, McCammond, Forbes, Edgar etc. in Scotland
Skinner in Northumberland

clare
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Location: Stirlingshire
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Post by clare » Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:36 pm

Hi Jim,

Through a different contact, it looks as if this may have been a private institution. There seems to be someone buried in the Southern Necropolis who was the founder of it - but no more information than that at the moment.

It is looking like a trip to the Mitchell may be in order to try and track down further info. Thanks for the offer of the lookup, but I am only in Falkirk and I have loads more to research there anyway, so I really should make the effort to spend a day there! :)

Cheers,
Clare
Searching for:
ELLIOT, CROZIER, HAY, COWAN - Roxburghshire
CHAMBERS, WESTMACOTT - Glasgow
BETT - Kinrosshire
And many, many more...

Cathy
Posts: 473
Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 12:43 pm

Post by Cathy » Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:17 pm

Hi Clare,
I've just found someone here 1901 census. 644/05 044/05 006
The header page:
81, Rottenrow, Glasgow.
Old Man's Asylum & Old Woman's Home.
I have no further info at this point.
Cathy

Lorna Allison
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Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:02 pm
Location: Perthshire

Post by Lorna Allison » Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:34 am

Hello Clare

I have definitely been "away" too long. Here, at last, comes along a request that I actually know something about and - I miss it - until now.

Cathy is absolutely right about the Old Man's Asylum and Old Woman's Home being in Rottenrow, near to the High Street. My mother did her nurse training at Edinburgh Royal and at that time one of the youngest Sister's ever was a Lilian B Cameron. When my mother married and moved to Glasgow in 1935 she got in touch with her again as she had had - it was believed - an unhappy romantic episode and she gave up her career in Edinburgh and took over as Matron of said Old Man's Asylum in Rottenrow. This was run by a committee I believe with voluntary contributions. It must have been very well endowed because they had a place out in the (then) country which had large grounds and supplied the home with fruit, flowers and vegetables.

I know that for a long time it had been the only such establishment in Glasgow apart from the Poorhouse.

When my "Aunt" Lily went there, there were great big dormitories and I believe hundreds of old folk. With the increase of church homes for the elderly etc. she oversaw the metamorphosis of the institution into "Balmanno House". Fewer residents, smaller rooms. The country part was sold off. Finally the Rottenrow premises of the Home were bought over by Strathclyde University and she supervised the removal and establishment of Balmanno House in Great Western Road, where it still is today, at the corner of Cleveden Road. A really lovely home although of course very much smaller.

She was in her late 60s (early 1970s) when she finally retired to Perthshire but lived into her 90s. Always gently spoken, elegantly dressed and a real "lady", I believe she was much loved by staff and residents alike. There must have been a certain air about her though because when she visited my mother, my sister and I just knew to be on our best behaviour!

Gosh, that is another excursion for me down memory lane tonight! Thanks for that.

Lorna
Researching:

PAUL: Lanarkshire;
TORRANCE: Lanarkshire
CROSGROVE: Ayrshire, Glasgow
ALLISON: Glasgow
PRICE: Monmouthshire
CURZON: Staffs, Monmouthshire
TAIT, HUME, MIDDLEMAS,: Roxburghshire
PRINGLE: Glasgow, Central Belt, Edinburgh

kitkat27
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Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 12:03 am

Re: Old Man's Asylum, Blackfriars, Glasgow.....

Post by kitkat27 » Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:02 pm

Thought that I might be able to add a small note of interest to this post for future or past readers.

Currently helping to Transcribe the Burial records for the Glasgow Necropolis and one of the entries Lists
Oldman's Asylum
as the address.
The Record is from 1857 so it looks like this establishment has been around for quite a while.
However it seems to me a bit odd that all you can really find out online is this thread...

Hope someone finds this little nugget either useful, interesting or both.

Falkyrn
Posts: 295
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:04 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Old Man's Asylum, Blackfriars, Glasgow.....

Post by Falkyrn » Tue Oct 06, 2020 6:34 pm

It was technically not an Asylum in the hospital sense of the word but a "Home" for those of decent character who had fallen on hard times
Glasgow Old Man’s Friend Society records are held at the Mitchell in Glasgow. Reference: TD1429

The Hospital for Old Men at 41 Rottenrow is mentioned at https://historic-hospitals.com/gazetteer/glasgow/ just after the article about the VD Hospital.

The 1913/14 Valuation Rolls the tenants are described as the trustees of the Old Mans Friends Society.
~RJ Paton~

Currie
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Re: Old Man's Asylum, Blackfriars, Glasgow.....

Post by Currie » Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:18 am

Glasgow Herald, Tuesday, June 3, 1890
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l ... %2C5985029

The following companies have been registered at the Joint-Stock Companies’ Office, Edinburgh, since 21st May:—

No. 2015.—Incorporated Glasgow Old Man's Friend Society and Old Woman's Home, formed for the purpose of absorbing the society which has existed in Glasgow since 1814 under the name of “The Old Man's Friend Society,” and the society which has existed since 1877 as an accessory to the above, under the name of “The Glasgow Aged Woman’s Home.”


Glasgow Herald, Tuesday, February 27, 1894
Statistics, admissions, deaths, staffing, etc.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Y ... %2C5032150


Glasgow Herald, Tuesday,  November 6, 1877
Opening of Aged Women’s Home.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N ... %2C3971184

Much more scattered about.

Alan

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