Mid Row, around the time of this court case
Here’s a story of a single woman who pursued money for the ‘upkeep’ of her illegitimate child at Blantyre Works, The Village in 1903.
On 13th June 1903 at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Annie Gilmour Dawson of Mid Row, Blantyre raised an action against the father of her newborn child. Annie was already designated as ‘poor’ through qualification of poor relief.
The man being pursued was Alfred Wilson, a miner from Waterloo Row, an opposing row of tied miner’s homes nearby.
Court Transcript
The child, a little girl had been born and lived at Mid Rows and her mother Annie successfully sought and won 2 pounds and 2 shillings for charges and 8 pounds per annum for 10 years, backdated to the birth and paid quarterly.
Eight pounds then is around £1,000 today. I found a female child in birth records named Jane Dawson, born in Blantyre in 1903 and suspect strongly it is the same child in this story.
Blantyre Works
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,
The child was my grampa’s niece.A family photo group of the family,includes her mother,Annie Gilmore Dawson.