Mid North Coast Pioneers - Newcastle to Lismore and beyond

Spent 3 days in hospital.

Craig Fullerton notes on his web site: "She died in the Barnhill Poorhouse. The informant was the Assistant Governor, John Cameron. Unlike another person on the same page of the Death Register she did not have an alternative residential address recorded. This might suggest that she was an inmate of the Poorhouse, and not just a patient at the hospital."

Carig Fullerton on his web site writes about the Barnhill Poorhouse:

Barnhill Poorhouse

Barnhill Poorhouse was officially opened on May 1850. On admission inmates were fed, washed and their belongings de-loused. Life was harsh and the inmates were unpaid. The Poorhouse existed on free labour. In the early years the standard of food given to the inmates was extremely poor.

Some of the medical officers complained about the bad conditions. However, the Board of Supervision were constantly urging the Poorhouse authorities to make conditions even grimmer.

By 1898 Barony merged with the city of Glasgow and Barnhill became the largest Poorhouse in Scotland. Barnhill Poorhouse later became Foresthall Home until demolished during the 1980's.. There is a section on its history and records at http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/gghb/collects/hb29.html "BARNHILL gave its name to the poorhouse which was built there in 1853. In the year 1810 a mental asylum had been built in Parliament Road and in 1843 was transferred to its present site at Gartnavel. The vacated building in Parliament Road was, in the same year, taken over as the city poorhouse, which in turn was transferred and amalgamated with Barnhill Poorhouse in 1905.

Strict discipline was observed in Barnhill. Able bodied inmates were required to make up 350 bundles of firewood per day and stonebreakers were expected to break 5cwt. of whin metal per day. Any inmate not producing the stated amount was put on a bread and water diet in solitary confinement for 12 hours. Disorderly conduct such as swearing or breaking of rules, resulted in being put on a diet, excluding milk and buttermilk, for a period of three days."

In 1945 Barnhill was renamed Foresthall House and Hospital, and the place can be aptly described as a village within a city. It occupies 33 1/3 acres of great natural beauty. Wide, well attended lawns add a fine setting to the rowan, laburnum, hawthorn and sorbus trees and their blossoms in season, mingled with snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils, add an intricate pattern of colour against the green background of the lawns. The grey lines of the buildings speak of an age of Victorian grandeur although they have a slightly military appearance. The gardens are maintained by a staff of nine employed by the Parks Department. Near the paint shop is a well, covered by a manhole, which is sixty feet deep and served the poorhouse with water in days gone by.

Foresthall has undergone many improvements within recent years and a plaque on the wall in the sitting room indicates this fact. It has been suggested that Foresthall be abandoned and the site used for industrial development. It would be more in keeping with the traditions of Springburn if this tastefully landscaped area was kept if only as an illustration of the improvements which can be made, by the efforts of the Springburn people, in transforming a Poorhouse into a beautifully designed hospital." Source: Glaswegiana - A collection of stories of Glasgow past and present, by William W, Barr, ISBN 0 904002 71 3 :