Highland Archive Centre records offer a glimpse into women’s lives in centuries past
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When archivists look at the lives of individual women in the Highlands, as represented by the contents of the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness, that gaze is by its very nature a constricted one.
It focusses primarily on those women who were fortunate enough to have been born into a background which allowed them the privilege of access to writing materials, and leisure time to commit their words to paper.
The lives of the vast majority of women in the Highlands did not allow them that luxury.
Today’s article looks at the women living at the other end of the spectrum, in extreme poverty. If a person found themselves unable to provide for themselves and their children, their last option might be to enter the poorhouse or apply for poor relief.
The Poor Law Amendment (Scotland) Act of 1845 established parochial boards (later parish councils) in each parish to administer funds for the poor (gradually removing responsibility from the church).
Those who were unable to support themselves were eligible to apply for help; this included the elderly, the young and those with a mental or physical disability (including pregnancy).
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The dates that these records cover vary for each parish depending on what records (if any) have survived but where complete sets of records survive they can date from 1845-1930 (when the parish councils were abolished).
Due to the sensitive information contained within the Poor Law records they are closed for 100 years.
Many women spent their lives going in and out of the poorhouse, often with their children, some of whom were born “in the House”. When the Highland Archive Centre undertakes research for the public, this is an occasion when a spotlight is thrown on the individual names and stories of the destitute.
For this article, we are highlighting Rose Ross and her sister, Chirsty Ross, who were frequent inmates of the Easter Ross Poorhouse, situated to the south of Tain in the area known as Arthurville.
From an extract in the Easter Ross Poorhouse Register, we can see that Rose Ross was admitted on May 5, 1863, along with her children Robert, Betsy, John Matheson and Johan McIntosh. At the time, Rose was aged 27, and her children aged seven, six, four and two respectively.
In the column ‘Trade or Occupation’ it says ‘None’ for Rose. All are listed as being in ‘Good Health’. Further down the page we find her sister Chirsty/Christy Ross, who was admitted on April 2 of the same year aged 34, trade or occupation given as ‘Prostitute’.
Her daughter Hectorina Munro was born in the Poorhouse a couple of weeks later on May 16.
For the rest of Rose’s life, she had repeated stays in the Poorhouse, her occupation often given as ‘Prostitute’ or ‘Dissolute Female’.
From her late forties she is listed as a ‘Field Worker’, and sadly she spent her last years ‘Infirm’ in the Poorhouse, eventually dying there in 1908 at the age of 65.
