Haddington

 I had a rather lazy morning, which I must admit, isn't difficult on the farm. Passing through the gates, one certainly senses that life is certainly much slower here. 

I headed back into Haddington, starting with a pub lunch at the Victoria Inn. What a treat. The food was amazing. 

From there, I walked through the town to St Mary's Church. Of course once a family historian enters a cemetery, all sense of time is lost. 

Certainly not a sight often seen in a cemetery!

The Tyne River runs through town and provides a lovely backdrop to the old buildings. 

I was interested in learning more about the John Gray Centre and was able to meet with Local History Officer, Dr Hanita Ritchie. The Centre hosts the archival collections (poor law, lair & cemetery, Council & Burgh, photographs), maps and local newspapers. As well, the Centre has documents to help with house history research, family research and local history research. 

The Centre's collections cover the whole of East Lothian, not just Haddington. The full listing is here: https://www.johngraycentre.org/collections/local-history-centre/

During lockdown, Dr Ritchie started a series of podcasts and those can be found here: https://www.johngraycentre.org/collections/local-history-centre/podcast-haddingtonshire-histories/

The Centre is happy to take enquiries for anyone researching their East Lothian roots. You can email them directly. The contact information is also on their website, here: https://www.johngraycentre.org/visit/

There is a museum that has very interactive displays. Experiential learning is just so important and I was thrilled to see that incorporated into the various displays.

Turnip sower sifted dirt from the turnips which were crucial for feeding cattle

This strong box held important documents for the Ancient Fraternity of Free Gardeners of East Lothian

A very old curling rock 

This door is from a cottage at Papple Estate and is inscribed by some of the farm workers

 

Haddington is a town with a deep and rich history. And it has a great deal of charm. 

 

East Lothian Poor Records Project

Monday night we had the opportunity to attend the meeting of the Scottish Genealogy Society. The speaker was Fran Woodrow, archivist at the John Gray Centre in East Lothian. Fran spoke about East Lothian's Poor.

Jim McQueen, president Abbotsford Genealogical Society, 
Fran Woodrow, Archivist, John Gray Centre,
Gregory Lauder-Frost, Chairman SGS

The purpose of poor relief was to suppress the nuisance of idle beggars in the parishes. Pre-1845 poor relief was the responsibility of the Kirk and the Heritors. There were different types of relief. These could include:

• Coal
• Food
• Money
• Clothing
• Medicine
• Poor House

The monies used for poor relief were raised through the Heritors, Endowments, Legacies, Fines and Fees, Mort Cloth Rentals

Post 1845, the responsibility for the poor was transferred to the Burghs and Councils through the passing of the Poor Law Act. The Act established parochial boards in the parishes and towns, and ensured a central Board o Supervision (based in Edinburgh) which had the ability to raise taxes in order to cover the poor relief payments.

From a genealogical perspective, information can be found in a variety of sources, such as:

• Parochial Board Minutes
• Poor Relief Rolls 
• Reports of Inspectors of the Poor -- list of paupers, soup kitchen rolls
• Burgh Accounts
• Friendly Societies
• Newspapers
• Kirk Session Records

East Lothian is in the process of digitizing their Poor Law Records. They have a bank of 20 very dedicated volunteers. The rolls are being digitized for viewing onsite in the John Gray Centre. They are also being transcribed for offsite research inquiries and there is an in-house team that are indexing the minute books.

If you have ancestors from East Lothian and are wondering if they might have been involved with a poor law application, you can contact Fran.

The staff at the John Gray Centre, can do a free 15 minute search to let you know whether there are records relating to your ancestor which might be worth accessing. Any further research will be at a rate of £25.25 per hour.

Best of luck with your East Lothian genealogy research!