A Hundred Years of—Progress?
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6904201111 |
| Published date | 01 November 1969 |
| Author | W. A. Ratcliffe |
| Date | 01 November 1969 |
| Subject Matter | North of the Border |
W.
A.
RATCLIFFE
Assistant Chief Constable
of
Glasgow
A HUNDRED YEARS
OF-PROGRESS?
The estimated population of Glasgow today is 945,000. The popu-
lation in 1868 was probably 465,000, slightly less than half the
present figure. The acreage then was 5,063; today it is 39,725. My
interest in the past was aroused when in the course
of
some research
I came across the annual report by the chief constable for the year
1868, and thought acomparison with the report for 1968 might
reveal the progress
that
had been made in a century.
One piece of information for which no comparable figures are now
recorded was that,
of
the prisoners tried by the magistrates or re-
mitted to the Sheriff, 1,118 could neither read nor write, 566 could
read only and 1,509 could read and write.
It
is not stated what tests
were applied or the criteria used. During the year 10,653 persons, a
daily average
of
29, received protection in the various police offices.
This practice is now unknown, apart from the occasional hitch-
hiker who lands in the city too late to find other accommodation.
It
was,
of
course, quite common between the wars when many unem-
ployed men tramped the country seeking work and also during the
last war when servicemen often used the stations for overnight
lodgings.
Another entry
that
no longer appears in the Annual Report reads:
Sanitary. The Police have made 96,281 visits to small houses ticketed under
the Police Act, and 1,073 persons were summoned for overcrowding them.
Nineteen persons were summoned for letting, and the same number for
occupying, houses too small for human habitation. 3,031 closses, 5,554
lobbies, 3,596 staircases, and 1,063 outsides of tenements have been lime-
washed during the year, in consequence of notices sent to the factors or
landlords by the chief constable.
The chief constable also reported,
"Men
are now plenty, and the
resignations have decreased".
Acomparison
of
the crime figures then and now might be attacked
by some sociologists with the familiar cry
that
there have been
changes in methods
of
recording
that
invalidate any conclusions
that
may be drawn.
From
what I know of James Smart, who was the
chief constable in 1868, I imagine the figures he gave were every bit
as reliable as those recorded today. The figures from last century
should, of course, be doubled for comparison to align them with the
present population. In each instance the 1968 figure is shown in
brackets.
November 1969 506
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