In a recent blog post I highlighted material from our archive collection on the No M77 and Pollok Free State protests. I have since been in conversation with artists Hannah Brackston and Dan Sambo, currrent artists in residence in the ward of Pollok.

Here they describe how they have been drawing upon the story of Pollok Free State in workshops with young people, and I share some more clippings from our archive to help illustrate the activism of the young people involved in this piece of local history.

(If you are unfamiliar with the story of the protests and the camp you can read our previous posts here and here.)

Can you give us an overview of the workshops and activities you have been doing in Pollok? What do you think it is about the story of Pollok Free State that interests young people?

There are aspects of the Pollok Free State story that instantly capture the imagination of young people, in particular details of the camp itself, tree houses and living together in the woods. These echo many of the ideas of how they would like to use the woods themselves and make their own spaces within it today.

In 2018 we had the opportunity to be part of Scotland’s contribution to the Venice Biennale of Architecture. The curator Peter Mcaughey commissioned different Scottish artists to engage with young people to explore the Biennale theme of ‘Free space’.

We were introduced to some local stakeholders in Pollok and a synergy emerged between the history of Pollok Free State and a piece of woodland, Damshot Woods, which was being occupied by St. Paul’s High School as an outdoor classroom. This became the focus of our project taking workshops in this space with local young people.

We collaborated with teachers John Harper and Kirsty Webster to engage a group of pupils in a 3 day long workshop in the woods. Together we went on a journey that involved learning about the PFS directly from Gehan McLeod, a central figure in the camp and co-founder of charity GalGael, and creating temporary structures to occupy an outdoor classroom in the woods.

We wanted the kids to be inspired as we were by the Pollok Free State history. Did they know that the woods beside their school had this powerful story to tell? We found it interesting to engage young people with aspects of the PFS story; What is a peaceful occupation? What does it mean to create ‘free space’, where they feel safe, governed by their rules and their ideas and values? Making a flag; making a passport; making a shelter; marking the boundaries of something; discussing what is individual and what is collective while learning about nature by being immersed in it.

Following this project we went on to use these same woodlands with different groups of pupils at St. Pauls and local families through Phase one of the Glasgow Life Artists in Residence for the Creative Communities Project. These workshops included map-making and sign-making projects with the pupils – during which we took time as part of our workshop plan to discuss and inform the pupils about the important local history of the Pollok Free State.

We invited local families into the woods on another occasion to walk, explore and make a fire together. We brought photos and old maps to discuss the area’s heritage and several of the parents shared their memories of visiting the camp as children themselves.

Over the summer of 2021 as part of Glasgow Life’s Phase 2 of the Artist in Residency Programme we ran a series of events for families in Damshot Woods – ‘weekends in the woods’. These were Sunday afternoons where we brought local people and their kids together to do creative activities and learn about specific aspects of the woodlands nature and heritage.

Each week we made small interventions that were aimed at improving accessibility and habitats, from bespoke bird box to making trails and signage. The culmination of this was bringing these families together to explore ideas for their own self-organisation and continued occupation of the woods. We hope this work may be able to continue in the spring.

During August and November in 2021 together with Sarah Diver-Lang (SGHET Board member) and with support from the Wheatley Foundation, we developed a project called ‘If Tree’s Could Talk’. Working directly with two groups of young people, The Village Storytelling Centre, and Turf Youth Project we delivered a series of workshops for the groups that explored the stories of Pollok’s significant trees and why they matter. We shared the story of the PFS as one of the starting points and watched parts of the BBC documentary ‘Bird Man of Pollok’ with the groups. We went on to use this as inspiration for making large textile banners for COP26.

The banners were made and designed by the young people – from dying and printing the fabric with natural pigments to cutting out closing words and slogans that reflected their responses. The banners were kindly displayed at GalGael in Govan during part of COP26 alongside their Govan Free State Programme. This project will continue January – March 2022 – working alongside tree planting initiatives in Greater Pollok as part of COP26 legacy in Glasgow.

How do you think people’s relationship with green spaces has changed in the last few years? What is the relationship like with Pollok Park and its local communities, and how have things changed now compared to the time of Pollok Free State?

There is an increasing amount of local activity taking place (COVID aside) by groups and schools to engage people more in their green spaces in Greater Pollok. Most of the schools are running lots more outdoor learning programmes, the area has seen new community gardens developed by local people in the last years and walking groups set up to meet local health and wellbeing needs.

Locally in Greater Pollok, among those who were involved in PFS at the time, there is a great deal of collective pride given in sharing memories. The area has changed dramatically since the occupation, with the construction of both the M77 and Silverburn shopping centre. Partly for this reason it feels as important as ever to hold onto that piece of local history and the strength that resounded around it.

Not so many young people have heard about it – so there is potential for finding new ways to creatively retell the story – especially today when many of the same social and environmental issues raised by people through the PFS camp feel as relevant as ever.

We would love to do some further work with local people to develop a plan for how this story could be commemorated through a permanent piece of public art, an installation or even through some form of strategic planting/event in the ward itself.

Thank you to Hannah Brackston and Dan Sambo for sharing their exciting work with us. In the story of Pollok Free State, it is inspiring to see that the space created, the activities that were undertaken there, and the makeshift schools of learning that so resonated with the local school children in the 90s, can continue to do so today.

It is also powerful to see how the act of remembering this piece of local heritage and the motivations behind the gathering of these communities in that public space, still resonates in new generations and can be used to help open up conversations to better construct our environment and our relationship with it.

We look forward to Hannah and Dan’s future workshops and can’t wait to see how people continue to engage with this piece of local heritage.

You can have a look through other elements of our Pollok Free State collection in the SGHET Archive here:  Pollok Free State: Archive Selections and Reflections

By Romy Galloway

Published: 24th March 2022

The post The Pollok Free State Story Connecting with Young People Decades On appeared first on SGHET.

Bruce Downie immerses himself in some of the oldest known references to Polmadie, and explores the history of the ancient hospital. Get lost in a world of medieval references and travel through Polmadie’s history via kings, popes, pigs and recycling.

In the 19^th century, Polmadie, just east of what we now know as Govanhill, was one of the busiest industrial areas of Glasgow. Notable businesses located there included Dübs and Company – later called the North British Locomotive Company who made steam trains that were sent all over the world – and Alley and McLellan, engineers who built steamships and the renowned Sentinel steam waggon, spelled with two g’s.

There has long been debate about the meaning of the name Polmadie’. The most commonly accepted interpretation is provided in Colonel James Robertson’s ‘Gaelic Topography of Scotland’ (1869) that Polmadie is derived from two Gaelic words, ‘Pol’ for pool and ‘maddah’ for wolf, translating as ‘the wolf’s pool’ or ‘the pool haunted by wolves’.

Today, Polmadie is still largely an industrial area of Glasgow, home to the Alstom train depot, one of the largest train depots in Scotland, where Virgin Trains and other operators stable and repair their carriages. It is also home to the Viridor Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre, previously the Polmadie Refuse Works (which opened in 1958).

However, Polmadie and in particular the site of the Viridor Recycling Centre, on Polmadie Road near the junction with Calder Street, was the likely location of the Ancient Hospital of Saint John the Apostle, or the Hospitti Sanct Johannis de Polmadde in Cliddesdale as it would have been known in official documents. Built in the thirteenth century or possibly even earlier, this hospital was for the relief of pensioners, poor men and women, and possibly as a place of rest for pilgrims and travellers.

Establishing exactly when the hospital was created is impossible. Some historians have speculated that it was built in the twelfth century, during the reign of David I (1124-1153) because of the interest he took in the area, giving the Lands of Govan to the Church of Glasgow and granting Rutherglen the status of a royal burgh but a connection to the hospital cannot be proven.  According to the ‘Origines Parochiales Scotia’, published in 1851, the hospital was known to be in existence during the reign of Alexander III (1249 to 1286) because of a charter granted to the hospital by Robert the First in 1316. In that charter, the ‘Registerum Episcopatus Glasguenis’

‘Be it known that we confirm to the Master, brothers and sisters of the hospital of Polmadie, near Ruglen, all the rights and privileges they were accustomed to have in the time of my predecessor, King Alexander, and we have forbid that anyone should presume to oppress or annoy the said Master, brothers or sister against this our confirmation.’

The Mastership or ‘de custodia’ of the hospital was a coveted position but perhaps not as influential as some hoped. The remote location may have suited the residents but may also have been frustrating to men of ambitious temperament, eager to advance their careers.

“Oot o’ the world and into Polmadie”

An old phrase ‘oot o’ the world and into Polmadie’ may indicate just how far the hospital was from court or civic life but Polmadie has always been an outlier of sorts, a kind of no man’s land because it has always been divided by the boundary between Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire and between the parishes of Govan and Cathcart.

In fact, in the 19^th century, when modern municipal burghs were being established and new boundary lines were being drawn part of the area could not be easily classified, and was thus known for a while, at least informally, as No Man’s Land.

Despite being defeated at Bannockburn just a few years earlier, in 1319 Edward II still harboured ambitions of conquering Scotland, much like his father before him. From the relative safety of York, he ineffectually nominated several English priests to Glasgow prebends, including Guliemus de Houk as Master of the Hospital in Polmadie, but Guliemus was unlikely to have ever served in that position.

That same year, Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow, a friend of King Robert, constituted Patrick Floker as ‘Master and Guardian of the Home’ with the power of ‘restraining the excesses and correcting the faults of the brothers and sisters therein or of removing them for their delinquency’.

In order to attend to his duties in Polmadie he was given dispensation for non-residence at his church on his lands in Kilbryde, provided that he took care that it was not left ‘destitute of the due celebration of divine duties.’

A sixteenth century link between Polmadie and Crosshill or earlier?

Floker would have been able to rely on revenues from the Lands of Polmadie which, tradition suggests, included what we know today as Crosshill. Proof that Polmadie and Crosshill were indeed linked only comes to light two hundred years later during the Reformation when land was secularised.

In 1564, the land was feued to Sir John Stuart of Minto, Knight, a Provost of Glasgow, by Robert, Bishop of Caithness, Provost of the Collegiate Church of Dumbarton, with the consent of Mathew, Earl of Lennox, the patron. The feu charter reads ‘All and singulars the five merk land of Polmadie and Crosshill’, a clear indication that the two places had been linked for some time, leading many historians to suggest and believe that Crosshill had been part of the outfield lands of the hospital.

The name of Crosshill probably comes from a cross that stood at the top of the hill, probably marking the southern boundary of the hospital’s lands. According to the Statistical Accounts of Scotland from 1845, – ‘the cross erected at the top of Crosshill was made of hard stone, ten feet high and three and a half feet broad, ornamented with various figures. The most remarkable has that of our saviour riding upon an ass. This religious monument fell, the sacrifice to the fury of a mob during the civil wars’, that is, during the seventeenth century.

Even so, these revenues were not quite sufficient for Floker to maintain divine services in Kilbryde and provide for the pensioners in Polmadie, so in 1320, the Bishop of Glasgow granted him part of the Lands of Little Govan, laying between the hospital and the western boundary of those lands, probably taking in some parts of present-day Govanhill.

Strains, strife & power struggles over the hospital in the medieval period

In 1333, the Earl of Lennox, granted the Master ‘a charter of exemption’, freedom from all kinds of services, burdens, and extractions both as regards their own house (the hospital) and the Church of Strathblane. In 1334, Adam, son of Alan, Burgess of Dumbarton lent the Hospital a sum of money ‘in their necessity’.

On the 18^th of May, 1347, Margaret, wife and Queen to David II, ‘by grant of her Lord the King, made on her behalf from the Bishop of Glasgow, William de Kirkintulloch, Master of the Hospital.’

On May 10^th, 1391, a precept from Bishop Glendoning of Glasgow directed the Master, brothers and sisters to receive Gillian de Vaux and ‘grant her all the rights due to a sister and portioner of their house during her lifetime.’

In 1403, the Earl of Lennox appointed William de Cunnyngham, Vicar of Dundonald as Master of the Hospital, but the Bishop of Glasgow opposed this appointment, claiming that Cunnyngham ‘had intruded himself into the administration of the Poor’s House of Polmadie’. The bishop laid claim to ‘the right of presentation’ and threatened Cunnyngham with excommunication if he dared to take up the post.

This tension between the Church and the Lennoxes continued until a summit in 1424, held in the west chapel of Edinburgh Castle where Duncan, Earl of Lennox, surrendered to Bishop William Lauder, any and all supposed rights he and his progenitors had to the hospital.

The beginning of the end for Hospital of St John the Apostle in Polmadie

In 1427, Bishop Cameron, with the consent of the chapter, erected the Hospital and the Church of Strathblane into a prebend of Glasgow Cathedral, basically ensuring that the Bishop retained the patronage. This was confirmed by a Papal Bull, signed by Pope Martin V, two years later, in 1429.

The Bishop then appointed a clerk ‘cantu bene et notabiliter instructus’ to manage Polmadie and Strathblane. The clerk was instructed or ordained to raise the money to pay a vicar in the Church in Strathblane and to teach and instruct four chorister boys in singing, giving them 16 merks annually for sustenance.

This arrangement was almost certainly the beginning of the end for the Hospital at Polmadie. The final blow came around 1453, when the Lands of Polmadie, including Crosshill, (those parts of Crosshill in Govan parish anyway) and the Church of Strathblane were without any apparent objection from Bishop Muirhead of Glasgow, disjoined from the hospital and handed over the Collegiate Church of Saint Mary in Dumbarton, which had recently been founded by Isabella, Countess of Lennox.

Nothing now remained to the Ancient Hospital of its original endowments, and we can only conjecture that without sufficient financial support it fell into decline and eventually closed. That decline may have been accelerated by the building of a new hospital in 1470, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, established with similar aims, of which only one part remains, known today as the Provand’s Lordship, near Glasgow Cathedral.

Nothing remains of the hospital at Polmadie, but the best evidence for its location comes from a number of sources. Joan Blaeu’s map of 1654, shows a house near a place called Pomadi, which may have been the original hospital building, long fallen into disuse, but could equally have been a small settlement because other villages are indicated in the same way.

More conclusive proof comes from a well-documented and tragic incident which took place in 1685, in the village of Old Polmadie, believed to have been built around the ruins of the hospital, in which three Covenantors were apprehended and executed for their beliefs. The Covenantors were buried in the churchyard of Old Cathcart Parish Church and are known to this day as The Polmadie Martyrs.

In 1755, the Roy Military Survey, the first systematic map of Scotland, shows a number of buildings in Polmadie, a clear indication that there had been a village in that location for a number of years.

In 1793, according to The Statistical Account of Scotland, there were ‘vestiges of religious houses’ in the grounds of the farm-house in the village, much older than the farm itself, which were assumed to be part of the ancient hospital or of its outbuildings.

According to the census, in 1851, there were fifty miner’s families living in Polmadie and over two-thirds of them were Irish. There were two main streets in the village one called Young’s Row and the other called Paterson’s Row.

The ‘vestiges of religious houses’ and the village itself had been built over by the late nineteenth century and replaced by tenements, schools, churches and shops, part of a much larger thriving area, but the farmhouse itself remained in place until around 1914, downgraded to a piggery, surrounded and eventually overwhelmed by industry.

Thankfully, its appearance on modern maps, on the site currently occupied by the Viridor Recycling Centre, provides us with the most likely location of the ancient hospital.

By Bruce Downie

Published: 19th August 2021

Image sources:

1. The Viridor Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre, Polmadie Road (photo by Bruce Downie)

2. Polmadi in ‘Praefectura Renfroana, vulgo, dicta Baronia. The Baronie of Renfrow’ From Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654; reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

3. Polmadie in The Roy Military Survey, 1747-1755; accessed via National Library of Scotland maps online; reproduced by kind permission of the British Library

4. Polmadie area in Ordnance Survey, 1858; reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

5. Polmadie in Ordnance Survey, 1910; reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

6. The Viridor Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre, Polmadie Road (photo by Bruce Downie)

The post Polmadie and the Ancient Hospital of St John the Apostle appeared first on SGHET.

My great aunt Mary died when I was a baby. I don’t recall meeting her. She was my father’s maternal aunt. My mother told me when I was older that she was a nurse during World War One and showed me a family album with her photo in nurse’s uniform.

When my parents died, I inherited the album. I went to look at it in 2015, as I knew there was a photo of Mary’s brother, Thomas, who was killed 100 years ago at the battle of Loos, and I wrote about him.

Sometime later, I was looking at the National Archives website and saw that nurses’ records had now been digitised. I ordered a copy of the records not knowing what I would receive. It turned out to be forty plus pages. These were not in any order and took me some time to sort. Although there are some missing, they still give a remarkably clear idea of her work as a nurse from when she enrolled in the Territorial Forces Nursing Service in 1909 until she finally retired from it (renamed Territorial Army Nursing Service in 1921) in 1933.

I had noticed in her records that although most correspondence was sent to the family home in Queen Mary Avenue, Crosshill, the occasional item was sent to the Headquarters of an organisation called the Glasgow and West of Scotland Co-Operation of Trained Nurses in Sardinia Terrace. Sardinia Terrace, I found, is not far from here, it is the  top end of Cecil Street. I later attended Hillhead Primary School, and for seven years must have – unbeknownst to me – have been very close to where my great-aunt was located.

As part of the Hidden Histories team, I made a visit to the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre. In addition to the suffrage material we had asked to see, various other material relating to women’s work had been put aside for us. One of these was the 1933 Annual Report of the Nurses’ organisation-and it showed by great-aunt’s name on it! Since then I have been trying to find out more, both about where my great-aunt served and about the organisations she belonged to.

This is a timeline of her life. It includes archival details, such as the list of equipment required for overseas nurses, and her arrival at the hospital when it was a few “partially constructed buildings in a sea of mud:”

25^th December 1877             

Born 3 Nellfield Place Old Machar, Aberdeenshire, and registered in 1878.

1891 CENSUS                       

Still with parents in Old Machar.

1901 CENSUS

With parents at 37 Finlay Drive  Dennistoun, Glasgow.

1902-1906

Trained at Western Infirmary.

July 1906

Mary became a member of the Co-operation of Trained Nurses in Sardinia Terrace. This is the first time her name appears in the list of nurses in the Society. Mrs Elder, Govan philanthropist, was previously president of the co-operation.

12^th March 1909       

Enrolled in Territorial Force Nursing Service (TFNS) as Staff Nurse. The TFNS was established by R. B. Haldane (March 1908) following the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act (1907). It was to provide nursing staff for the twenty-three territorial force general hospitals planned for the United Kingdom in the event of war. Hospitals were allocated a staff of ninety-one trained nurses and included two matrons, sisters, and staff nurses, supervised by a Principal Matron.

November 1909

A bazaar raises over £4000 for the Co-Operation.

1911 CENSUS

Location unknown.

21^st December 1914  

Mobilised. Stationed at Scottish Military Hospital No 3 (Stobhill)

26^th September 1915

Mary’s brother is missed presumed killed at the Battle of Loos.

21^st December 1915  

Still at Stobhill. Report on Mary by Matron Jean Chapman:

“Miss Mary M Geddes was mobilized on the 21^st December 1914 and has served under me for twelve months. Her ward work has been very satisfactory. She has taken an interest in instructing and training the orderlies and has got good work from them. She is capable, punctual and her influence generally is very good. I think she is well suited for the position she holds at present.”

Captain John Gracie (Medical Officer at Stobhill) writes that she is “fit for active service.” Report is signed also by Principal Matron Helen Gregory Smith.

21^st December 1916  

Still at Stobhill. Report on Mary by Matron Alicia Hope Kerr (originally from Leith):

“She is a good nurse, punctual, energetic, capable in her work and kind to her patients. Miss Geddes has acted Sister with satisfaction.”

4^th April 1917

Mary signs Army Form W 3548 agreeing to serve overseas.

12^st December 1917  

Still at Stobhill Report on Mary by Matron Alicia Hope Kerr:

“A good surgical nurse and has had experience in eyes, nose and throats and skin wards. She is punctual, energetic, reliable, and very kind to her patients. Miss Geddes is considered suitable for foreign service.”

15^th December 1917 

Captain R Barclay Ness (RAMC) formally certifies that Mary is in “a fit state of health to undertake nursing duties in a military hospital abroad.”

NURSES’ OVERSEAS ACTIVE SERVICE EQUIPMENT

The following articles are to be provided by all members when proceeding on active service abroad.

Uniform only is to be taken; no plain clothes are required.

An allowance of £8. 5s. for active service equipment, and £7. 10s. for camp kit will be given to each member.

1 Trunk not to exceed 30 x 24 x 12 inches
1 Hold-all
1 Cushion with washing covers.
1 Rug
1 Pair gum boots
1 Small candle lantern
1 Small oil-stove and kettle
1 Flat-iron
1 Looking glass
1 Roll-up, containing knife, fork, dessert-spoon, and teaspoon
1 Cup and saucer
1 Tea-pot or infuser
1 Secure tent strap

Instruments
2 Pairs scissors
2 Pairs forceps
2 Clinical thermometers

Camp Kit
1 Portable camp bedstead
1 Bag for ditto
1 Pillow
1 Waterproof sheet, 7ft. by 4ft. 6in.
1 Tripod washstand with proofed basin, bag, and bath
1 Folding chair
1 Waterproof bucket
1 Valise or kit bag to hold the above-mentioned articles with owner’s name painted upon it.

STAFF NURSES’ TIMETABLE

6 a.m. Called
6. 30 a.m. Prayers
6. 35 a.m. Breakfast
7 a.m. Wards
9 a.m. Light lunch and dress
9. 30 a.m. Wards
12. 30 p.m. Lunch
1 p.m. Wards
4 or 5 p.m. Tea
4. 30 or 5. 30 p.m. Wards
8 p.m. Dinner
10. 30 p.m. Bedrooms
11 p.m. Lights out

Times off
Three hours every day, from
9. 30 to 12. 30 or
2 to 5
5 to 8
Half a day every week from 2 to 10
A whole day every month from 6 p.m. previous day to 10 p.m. following day.

Staff nurses on night duty
Hours from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.
A night off once a month
Two months consecutive duty

20^th January 1918    

Mary joins 73 General Hospital and starts her journey to Trouville at Talbot Road Railway Station (later Blackpool North) and then crosses the channel on the HMT Courtfield.

This was a “Base Hospital.” They were part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from the front line than the Casualty Clearing Stations. In France and Flanders, the British hospitals were generally located near the coast, often in pre-war buildings such as seaside hotels. They were close to a railway line, in order for casualties to arrive (some also came by canal barge); and were near a port where men could be evacuated for longer-term treatment in Britain.

24^th January 1918    

According to the hospital War Diary:

“After many delays and much discomfort, owing to overcrowding and shortage of rations, the Transport reached le Havre at 7am on 24^th January.”

After their journey from Blackpool to le Havre, the Units marched to a rest camp. On the 25^th, a paddle steamer took them to Trouville, where a band from the adjacent Convalescent Camp welcomed them. At that stage, the camp consisted of “partially constructed buildings in a sea of mud.” In addition “the nurses’ quarters were not nearly ready for occupation, none of the Ward Blocks were completed, there were no paths, and the site was littered with builders’ debris.” Everyone including officers had to help turn the site into the largest yet constructed, with 2,500 beds. Luckily, they were on a ridge above the sea with a “wonderful view of the valley.”

23^rd February 1918  

Twenty-two more nurses and nursing VADs arrive. A VAD was a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachments with some basic training in nursing. The VADs carried out a range of voluntary positions including nursing, transport duties, and the organization of rest stations, working parties and auxiliary hospitals. Women were taught first aid, home nursing and hygiene by approved medical practitioners. They also took classes in cookery. Men were trained in first aid in-the-field and stretcher bearing. Talented VADs could take specialist classes to become a masseuse or use an x-ray machine. Famous VADs include Vera Brittain and Agatha Christie.

Start March 1918     

Work on plumbing and improving “very backward” electric light is ongoing but proves difficult due to heavy snowstorms and frost.

7^th March 1918         

First convoy of 399 patients arrives: “mostly stretcher cases.” On a daily basis, recovering patients are sent to Convalescent Depot No 14. On 26^th March for example, 458 patients are discharged from No 73. The hospital War Diary notes that patients had to be clothed first. In the three weeks in March that the hospital was operational it treated 3805 patients.

3^rd April 1918

40 RAMC reinforcements arrive.

During April  1918

By the end of April, the hospital had 67 General Surgery VADS out of an establishment of 124.

28th May 1918

Report on Mary from Matron Kathleen A Smith, 73 General Hospital in Trouville notes that Mary performed special duties in the field of surgical nursing and that she had acted as Sister in charge of a ward. Smith writes:

“A very good practical nurse but rather slow.”

Spring 1918

German Army breakthrough causes serious concern in Trouville.

June 1918

Concerns about possible attacks by hostile aircraft. Two wards per block were sandbagged and protective trenches dug. Hospital has “population of 3000.”

June –July 1918                   

American Hospital train takes patients to and from Trouville.

August 1918

Large number of admissions to hospital “a full train averaging 425 every third day.” Post Office built “very badly needed.”

15^th September 1918

Ophthalmic centre opened. It was a converted Nissen hut with waiting room, test room with two dark rooms, operating room, and work area for the optician.

October 1918

Hospital “severely taxed.” Many patients coming direct from front line rather than through usual chain of command. Over 1400 in this category, including 91 dangerously ill (20 being penetrating chest wounds). Hospital received additional staffing of Canadian nurses & doctors. The influenza outbreak also hit the hospital. “The nursing was very heavy.” Of the 4998 patients admitted during October; 4957 are discharged.

10^th October 1918                 

123 staff working at 73 General Hospital.

23^rd November 1918 

73 General Hospital visited by Princess Mary. This is the first post-war visit to France by a member of the Royal Family. Princess Mary herself trained as a VAD. She visited the “Eye Department.” My great-aunt’s annual evaluation in January 1919  states “she is especially fitted for ophthalmic nursing” so it would be nice to think that she was working there at the time of the Princess’s visit.

January 1919

Patients gradually being sent back to UK, as hospital winds down. Recovered patients kept amused by daily visits to the cinema, whist drives, and concerts.

21^st January 1919

Mary still at 73 General Hospital. Matron Kathleen A. Smith says:

“Her general professional ability is good, and she is especially fitted for ophthalmic nursing, her administrative capacity is very fair. Her power of initiative and ability to instruct others is good. With the exception of a rather abrupt manner of speech her vocal communications are good. Miss Geddes acted in charge of the ophthalmic block for a short time and gave satisfaction. She is fitted for promotion to Ward Sister.”

20^th March 1919       

No 37 Casualty Clearing Station commences move from Busigny, Northern France, to Deutz-Koln, Germany.

3^rd April 1919

Along with seven others, Mary now “on strength” at the Station.

2^nd June 1919

Visit to Deutz Cologne by Matron in chief Maud McCarthy.

3^rd April 1919

Mary now temporarily attached to Queen Alexandra Imperial Army Nursing Service and posted to 37 Casualty Clearing Station, Deutz, Cologne.

21^st July 1919

Mary temporarily assigned to Hospital Train No.14 for 4 days.

22^nd August 1919      

Mary returns to UK (Folkestone).

3^rd September 1919  

Mary demobilised.

November 1919

Mary registers with the newly created General Nursing Council for Scotland.

31^st March 1920

Proforma letter of thanks and given permission to retain TFMS Badge.

1920   

Approximate date of Mary’s photo. The considered opinion of Health Board Archivist Alistair Tough.

4^th January 1923      

Promotion to Sister in TANS confirmed as of 6 November 1922 confirmed.

9^th January 1929

Mary writes to Matron in Chief asking for her medals.

31^st January 1933

Mary resigns from TANS on account of age (she is now 55 years of age).

1933

Mary is still a member of the Co-operation of trained nurses, now located in Belhaven Terrace, Hyndland.

27^th February 1959

Mary dies in family home, Queen Mary Avenue, Crosshill.

By Ian McCracken, Archivist at Govan High School

Sources

• British Base Hospitals in France.
• British Medical Journal (BMJ).
• General Nursing Council for Scotland Applications 1919.
• HB6/4/55
• Campbell, H.F. Woolfenden. “A Record of Gunshot Wounds of the Knee-Joint: Treatment in a Base Hospital.” The Lancet (Volume 190, Issue 4902) 11 August 1917, Pages 185-194.
• Lyn McDonald’s Roses of No Man’s Land.
• “Report of the Surgeon-General of the Army”
• Royal Army Nursing Corps.
• Scarlet Finders website.
• TFNS application forms can still be found in service records.
• VAD Red Cross: Auxiliary Hospitals.
• War Diary of No 73 General Hospital, National Archives.

[SGHET would like to thank Ian McCracken for also donating to us a copy of a presentation he was due to give in Glasgow in 2020 which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and other related video and audio oral history materials which are forthcoming. These have (and will be) placed in our Digital Archive. If you have any enquiries about these materials, or would like to access them, please get in touch with us. They will also be avaliable in our online archive once that is launched.]

This article is also part of a series of material we are publishing to coincide with the 150th Anniversary of the founding of Crosshill in 1871 as an independent police burgh before being annexed to the city of Glasgow in 1891. See #Crosshill150 on social media.

The post The True Story of a First World War Nurse from Crosshill appeared first on SGHET.

In August last year I posted an article on our blog attempting to give an overview of the story of the Pollok Free State. It spoke about the protest camp and the campaigns in the 1980s and early 1990s against the M77 motorway extension through southside communities. Since the article we have received some incredible donations to the SGHET Archive to help document and illustrate this story and piece of local heritage.

Donations of newspaper clippings, grassroots zines, posters and publications give some great details and insight into the story. Media clippings show the varying ways the media portrayed the protestors and the camp and items from the camp itself, like the PFS University enrolment form, give insight into the driving forces behind the movement. The collection also shows the work involved in organising the campaign of protest and how to inform and engage individuals and communities.

Thanks to these generous donations there is a lot to be found within the archive. The selection here speaks to the legacy of the protests and the camp, and  is punctuated throughout with memories and reflections on Pollok Free State from individuals who spent time in the camp.

Protests in the Media

A double-page spread in the Evening Times, October 1994, showing a photograph of the road construction cutting through large green fields with houses in the distance. A graphic on the left charts the route of the motorway through different communities amidst opposition, and includes an image of Arden bridge with the words “No death M-way. We don’t need” spray painted in red.

“The planned concrete will swallow up 95,000 square yards of rural land – some of it in Pollok estate. The land is recognised by Glasgow City Council as an important site of interest to nature conservation. The region can do nothing about this.”

The hotline listed also reported 68% of callers as being opposed to the road but also reported some individuals flooding the phone lines and voting repeatedly.

This poster was created as part of the S.T.A.R.R (Stop The Ayr Road Route) campaign to inform and engage Glasgow’s southside communities in opposition of the motorway extension. Designed to be hung in windows as a show of support, one side shows an image of trees in Pollok Estate and the words NO M77 overlaid. On the other, a timeline traces the proposals for and protests against, the motorway. It starts with the gifting of the Pollok Estate to the people of Glasgow and ends with the formation of the Pollok Free State camp.

The poster also details the aims of the S.T.A.R.R group, the organisations that form it, what people could do to get involved, and upcoming events of note. The events include a family day, a big shared meal at the camp, and a public meeting in City Halls. Notably, it also declares August 20^th as Pollok Free State Independence Day (by complete coincidence we were only 4 days off sharing our original blog post).

This 1994 photograph from The Scotsman shows protestors sitting with the NO M77 posters outside a council meeting. The story below reports on protestors breaking into the meeting.

The Scottish Daily Mail (March 1995) has a front-page banner dedicated to the “dramatic report and pictures.”

Researcher Dr Wallace McNeish on the legacies of Pollok Free State:

“While the anti-M77 alliance was ultimately unsuccessful in achieving its aims of stopping this particular motorway from being built, it was nevertheless part of a successful UK-wide protest movement against the then Tory government’s £23bn Roads for Prosperity programme. At its height in the mid-1990s, this movement included over 300 local opposition groups, with high-profile direct-action protests taking place at Twyford Down, Wanstead, Batheaston, Newbury and Fairmile as well as the south-side of Glasgow. What protests like those centred on the Pollok Free State showed was that very different constituencies of people can be together in dialogue and united action around a common cause. In the run-up to the 1997 General Election the government was under such political pressure that it slashed its unpopular road-building programme by more than two-thirds to £6bn and abandoned the most contentious of its remaining plans.”

Photograph showing women wearing face masks and holding a hand-painted banner that reads “for our children NO M77” with the lower half of the banner obscured. The article states that the protest was part of International Women’s Day and notes that the Pollok area is above average for asthma rates in children.

Women’s Environmental Network flyer with overleaf giving information on air pollution and offering advice on how to protest and take action against air pollution.

An image in the Daily Record (1994) shows a pair of protestors passing the time with some music at the offices of a construction firm Tarmac on Nithsdale Road.

Wallace McNeish:

“Sometimes environmentalism is painted as a middle-class type of politics that is cut off from the lives of so called ‘ordinary people.’  What the Pollok protests showed was that this is far from always the case. The residents of the Free State were often locals themselves – including its founder Colin MacLeod – and it simply could not have been developed over approximately two years without support from the adjacent working-class estates. Indeed, a key legacy of the Free State is the Gal-Gael Trust which grew out of Colin and Gehan Macleod’s commitment to providing training for the unemployed in Glasgow’s south-side communities.”

“It is notable that the eco-activism of the mid-1990s around the roads issue did not tend to frame the issue in terms of climate change – instead the issues of sustainability, pollution and amenity were to the forefront. It is also the case that new non-violent direct-action tactics were pioneered by Free State activists and other anti-road protesters, and have become part and parcel of the tactical repertoire of subsequent generations of eco-activists protesting unsustainable development, like the Extinction Rebellion movement.”

Inside the Camp

The Pollok Free State Passport above shows the symbol of PFS with figures in a circular emblem and details of foliage, animals, plants, and tools. In August 1994, when PFS declared independence these passports were handed out to over 1000 “citizens.”

The passport has sections inside to fill out details of passport number, Pollok name, adopted tree, and folds out into the Declaration of Independence, featuring a quote from Robert Burns’ “The Tree of Liberty.” The declaration references the history of land ownership in Scotland and outlines the need for connection to place and land for health and wellbeing.

Local protestor Helen Melone on her memories of a Free State:

“When I first visited Pollok as part of the protests, my favourite area was a patch of trees which were all cut down at the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. I’d adopted one of those trees as my own friendly tree and climbed it every time I went, even though there were a few rotten branches at the top. I’d put a rope round the trunk to help me climb it more easily.”

Above is a 3D scan of a stone carving by Colin Macleod from Pollok Free State. You can view the model in ‘matcap’ through the model inspector to see the skill of the stonework and the detail of the design. The design features Pollok Free State symbols, Earth First logos, elements referencing Native American and Aboriginal land rights, and Celtic stone carving akin to the medieval Govan school of design featuring interlace and hunter figures.

Feature on Pollok Free State campsite in the Spectrum section of Scotland on Sunday (1995). Images show a treehouse in Pollok Free State, with windows and a tarpaulin roof, and a banner hanging from the tree reading ‘RESPECT’, and view of the camp with a fire in the centre, seats, ladders, sculptures and sun coming through the trees. The journalist recalls spending time in the camp and speaking to those involved, giving a feel of the atmosphere:

“The gain outweighs the sacrifice. It’s a community, with warmth, companionship, shared meals around the fire, the healthy tiredness of the fresh air at the end of the day, the self-esteem of doing something worthwhile […] for every set of dreadlocks, every Visigoth t-shirt or willie winkie knitted hat, there is a campaigner in a Gore-tex anorak with newsreader hair. The startling thing is how wide a cross-section – of nationality, class, subculture – the campaigners represent.”

Wallace McNeish:

“During 1995 and 1996 I was a young Glasgow University PhD student who spent considerable time researching the protests against the M77 extension as part of a wider sociology project on the then burgeoning anti-roads protest movement in the UK. The Pollok Free State was the epicentre hub that facilitated and sustained a vital alliance between young radical eco-activists and community activists from the surrounding estates of Pollok and Corkerhill. I observed as the Free State morphed from a few tents around a campfire into a fortified encampment with outposts along the M77 route during its protest-action phase, to eventually become a colourful education oriented eco-hamlet with a wood-workshop, large central tree-house, public artworks, gardens, paths, and even a compost-toilet. My daughter Catriona was only a toddler at the time, and I remember her joy at the totem poles, walkways, and colourful spectacle of this ‘dear green place’ in the woods. Most of all though I remember the warmth and helpfulness of the people involved.”

Pollok Free State University enrolment form. Describes some of the activities at the camp that would have involved workshops and talks. The curriculum includes social history, living skills and creativity.

Postcard references the Criminal Justice Bill. Overleaf is handwritten note that reads “Hi Bigs, Got your call, hope to see you soon. I am going to Pollok this weekend. Tell Robo I miss him very much!!! Lots of love and peace, your big pal Big Ben”. The protests at Pollok Free State were also tied into protesting the Criminal Justice Act as it was passed in part to quell public gatherings and could be used to disband and remove the camp.

Helen Melone :

“I did spend a few overnights in tree houses and I’ve never been so cold in my life. My own flat in the West End was pretty poverty-stricken as well (no hot water and only a gas heater to stay warm) but it was better than staying in the camp. I remember having good conversations with Walter Morrison and he was the one who explained it best – how whole communities, like Corkerhill, were going to be cut off from each other by a huge, big road and cut off from their green spaces too. It was hard to imagine this, as plans and drawings didn’t quite convey the enormity of it all.”

Photo in Scotland on Sunday (February 1995), of carhenge stunt, showing upended and burnt out car, spray painted with NO M77, dug into the construction landscape for the motorway. The article details attempts by campaigners to drum up support, and quotes a conversation with a local woman and her children protesting in the camp.

Helen Melone:

“I remember there being a good balance of people from the local area at various points. I would meet interesting women who had different experiences of activism than me – I made some friends I’m still in touch with today many years later! The poverty-stricken flat I shared with my pal Iain hosted a load of people from Manchester Earth First, who came along to show their support and offered to help out – this was also the same night where a few of us stayed up all night making banners out of hospital sheets (saying No M77) with the intent of hanging them from the Finnieston crane the next day. All the people I met, whether fun, interesting or dangerous were worth getting to know, and all brought something different to my life.”

Earth First! “Busted in defence of mother earth?” leaflet giving advice on what to do if arrested during a protest. Offers contacts for legal support, and gives advice on rights if stopped, detained, or arrested.

The collection also holds a selection of documents from the Earth First offices (not pictured) that give great insight into the practicalities of organising the campaign of opposition to the M77, such as a booklet on how to liaise with the media, so how to contact news desks and journalists, and the importance of making sure your version of events reaches audiences. It also included different iterations of “the phone tree”’ a handwritten document with a changing series of numbers to call when security arrived at the camp, so that they could get people down to the camp to oppose eviction attempts or tree cuttings.

Helen Melone :

“I remember the day of 14th February (Valentine’s Day Massacre) where they activated the phone tree early – might have been as early as 5am, saying the diggers were coming into the camp. I don’t remember exactly how I got there from the West End, bus maybe – but I remember running through the back woods trying to get there faster, amid the awful sound of trees groaning as they were cut down (I still remember that to this day – a horrible groaning noise that could be heard from far away). When I got to the camp, all the trees on the other side of the wood (including my friendly tree) were all down and it was a mess over there – looked like a wasteland.”

Image in Scotland on Sunday (1995) of construction workers with chainsaws. Caption reads: “Chainsaw massacre…In the face of mounting protests the company is considering bypassing the gathering of tree houses, teepees and totem poles known as the Pollok Free State.”

Legacy and Changing Relationships with Green Space

This photograph of a protestor dressed as death holding sign that says M77 pollution kills, is featured in an article in The Evening Times (March 1995) written by the Secretary at the north Pollok community council. They write about the adverse effects on the low health of the disadvantaged areas involved and about media attempts to smear the camp as outsiders and rent-a-mob.

Helen Melone :

“I think perhaps people took their outdoor space for granted, until recently with COVID-19 and lots of lockdowns, people are really discovering their local areas and valuing them much more. I think Pollok Park is different from many other parks in Glasgow because it’s a country park and it really does feel that you are away from the city and the traffic when you’re in it.

I remember one night at the camp, there was a party on, and I walked along the pre-road surface right to the river Cart and I sat down at the edge of the bank for hours. It felt like a different planet.

Now, my favourite part of the park is Rhododendron Walk and the continuation Lime Avenue over the hill down towards Pollok House. If you go in May, the rhododendrons are flowering and they’re so beautiful and colourful. So my first connection with Pollok Park was a feeling of having something wild, feeling like it belongs to me and the second time it gave me the feeling of being away from the city.

While we didn’t stop the road, it showed what we can do when we work together. It also shows what power the press has (which we were speaking to as much as we could) so there’s many skills I have from that campaign – working with people who could be really difficult to engage with, and it was really difficult to get consensus and agreement on things. It felt like one of those forming experiences you have in your life – it might not be pleasant, there’s good and there’s bad but you come away from it and know that something has fundamentally changed in you.”

This photograph shows protestors on the Finnieston crane and the title accompanying it reads “I’ll go back to the peace camps!” – Stewart’s promise after an incident where the councillor brandished an axe at protestors in the camp. (Unknown paper or date).

Conclusion

We would like to extend a massive thank you for the generous donations from the people from the Earth First Glasgow offices and Helen Melone, for holding on to such a fascinating treasure trove of documents and cuttings over the years. And to Wallace McNeish for sharing documents and experiences from his research at the time. The protests and campaigns from Pollok Free State continue to have a legacy of community and commitment to your local environment and its people.

Keep an eye out for the next post in this series with Pollok Artists in Residence Hannah Brackston and Dan Sambo, who will share how they are drawing upon this piece of local heritage in workshops with young people in Pollok.

We are working to digitise aspects of our archive and create an online platform to browse the SGHET collections. In the meantime, if you would like to view any of the collection, for research or personal interests, or if you would like to donate anything, please do get in touch.

If this has brought up any memories of the time for you, we would love to hear from you, get in touch at info@sghet.com or via Facebook or Twitter.

By Romy Galloway

SGHET Board Member

Read the previous article: Pollok Free State and its Legacy

The post Pollok Free State: Archive Selections and Reflections appeared first on SGHET.