Up to 40,000 people lived in the notorious Glasgow slum of the Gorbals in the late 1940s. They live four, six, eight to a room, often 30 to a lavatory, 40 to a tap.
At first sight, of an early morning, the Gorbals looks like any other poor area. Its flat, wide streets are lined with flat-faced tenements. There is a pub on every corner and an undertaker’s (open day and night) in almost every other block.
It is not until you get inside the tenements that you realise the Gorbals is no ordinary poor place. It is, in fact, an area that provides a very special version of the slum problem. The tenement blocks in the Gorbals sprung up in the 1840s as people flocked to Glasgow to work in the city’s factories.
Unable to keep up with the demand for housing, the tenements were built quickly and cheaply and were designed to pack as many people in as possible. But appalling conditions came with it and it was not unusual for houses to have no water facilities and for sewage to run through the streets.
In its beginnings, the problem was one of immigration. A century ago, thousands of poor labourers began to arrive in Glasgow. They came to work on the new-fangled railways and the docks of the Clyde. They came for higher wages, for fuller plates, for what they conceived to be a better way of life than was possible in starving Erin and the wasted Scottish Highlands.
Two children play with their doll as they pose for the cameraTwo boys walking along a street in the run-down GorbalsChild eat their breakfast in one of the overcrowded tenement flats, that would sometimes see up to 30 people have to share one toiletWithout many toys to play with, two young lads decide to play a game on a heap of rubbishChildren entertain themselves by playing in dirty puddle water in the slumsTwo little boys in shorts and long socks play in the streetA woman carrying her shopping basket stands at the bottom of a destroyed flight of stairsTwo young boys link arms as they walk down the street in the GorbalsA group of young children on a street in the Gorbals.A street scene in the run-down GorbalsA Glaswegian woman peers out of the window as she pets her catWithout proper balls, children had to use whatever they could to enjoy a game of footballYoungsters play with toy guns around the streets of the huge neighbourhood of tenementsA woman peers out of the window of her tenementA young boy sits on a stone and attempts to blow up his balloon in the GorbalsOne of the main nightspots in the Gorbals was the Diamond Dancing HallTwo young boys walk their dogs around the streets of the GorbalsA West Indian family pack into their tiny dining room in the GorbalsBarmen serve thirsty customers at one of the 174 pubs surrounding the Gorbals areaMen from the Gorbals meet in the local pub for a friendly smokeThe children of the Gorbals pack together to pose for the cameraBarmen work hard to serve all their customers at one of the 174 pubs near the Gorbals
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