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Helen Yuille

As far as can be ascertained, Helen Yuille was born in the first quarter of the 19^th Century in Glasgow. At this period in history, there were some rapid changes in Scotland. The end of the Napoleonic war brought the usual post war depression. Political changes and changes to the law left the poverty stricken even worse.

In 1799 the Napoleonic wars began. Miners were liberated….not from Napoleon but from their owners. Up until this point, miners were in slavery in perpetuity. Many building projects were begun, roads bridges and canals and many other changes to the way in which life would change, were carried on. However, by about 1812, the American war had damaged the cotton industry in Scotland very badly. Weavers caused disruption by trying to begin a trade union and unrest was brewing. In 1815 the Corn Laws pushed up the price of food which affected the already impoverished people.

In 1818 measles, typhus and whooping cough epidemics would further hit the poor. The cities would have been worst hit due to the ever increasing population. By 1822 the Kelp industry collapsed. This was a major trade around the coasts of Scotland. In 1825 a further blow to the coastal trades was the abolition of the salt duty. Scotland was not allowed to import salt and produced sea salt from the panning around the coast. The lifting of the duty meant that cheaper and better quality rock salt could be imported.

This was a major factor in the ‘Highland Clearances’ and the influx of people to the cities. Later in the century many other people migrated to the cities and with the increase in population, brought disease and poverty.

There was another side to balance this of course, with the new building works, the emerging steel ship building, chemical works and many others, brought new employment to the city of Glasgow but the down side to that was the ‘chemical soup’ which people had to breath day in, day out.

Into this life, Helen Yuille was born…………………………

It is not known who Helen’s parents were or if she had any siblings at this time. We do know that she married Robert Crawford in 1837 and had John in 1838 and Helen in 1840. Another two children were born but not baptised, Robert and William.

In 1840, Robert was a miner at Springbank Pit. Around that period, the Springbank Pit area would have been relative countryside. This would have been a far healthier area than the inner city. In 1831 Cholera had struck for the first time and continued to cause deaths in 1832. Perhaps Robert and Helen decided to get out of the city to bring their children up in a better environment. However, it did not prevent, what appears to have been, the early demise of Robert. In 1848 more cholera outbreaks occurred but whether it was a result of this or a mining accident which killed Robert, we might never know.

Whatever happened to Robert, Helen was left in an all too common predicament. No income or family old enough to work and probably made homeless by the mining company who would have owned their accommodation. Helen would have to move on.

I asked Mr Dick what it would have been like for Helen when her husband died. I had supposed that Helen and her family would have to move out when her husband died. He said she would be straight out of the house. There would be no money from the pit. I gather she would have buried her husband and then had to leave the house before he was even cold in his grave.

What became of Helen from here until 1851 can only be surmised. Perhaps she went back into the centre of Glasgow where she maybe had some family who could help her out until the children were old enough to be sent to work. What became of the children will be covered in the next chapter.

It has now been found, form another document, that Helen most probably stayed in Maryhill whilst her husband went to various pits to work. It was noted that her daughter Helen was born in Main Street, Maryhill. From more research into the historical back ground, the reason for Helen being in the centre of the city seems logical. At this time, the only occupations for women were that of domestic service or in the weaving mills. Helen could not go into the mills as she had four very small children. If she was living in Maryhill or even at Springbank, these were relatively rural areas, and the only place for work would be the inner city.

Being a washer woman would enable Helen to keep her children with her until they were able to go out to work. She may have done this work before her marriage or perhaps was a domestic servant. When the children were old enough they perhaps went to work in the mills then onto other jobs such as coal mining and domestic service.

Helen was found at 9 Dempster Street, Glasgow on the 1851 census. She was a washerwoman and the two youngest boys are with her. The census states that she was 37 and was born in Glasgow. Young Robert was 8 and William 4 both born in Glasgow. Both John and Helen were elsewhere on the 1851 census.

So it appears that Helen did make her way back into the city centre, had found herself a means of earning some money and somewhere to live and bring up her two younger children.  I took a look at some old maps to see where Dempster Street was. It wasn’t much more than a close or lane.

Map showing Dempster Street in 1892. In 1851 there were houses which are no longer here.

Dempster Street must have been a terrible place to live. With the night asylum which would be home for that night for the most down and out people, the station and the noise of the trains, and all other noise in a city centre. The 1851 census showed that there were quite a few widows there and most were washer women. There were also many paupers there as well. Hardly surprising given the economic state of the city as well as the deaths caused by the outbreaks of disease.

The question arises as to why Helen never re-married. This seemed to be common practise in the Clackmannanshire area so why not Glasgow? Times must have been too hard for everyone.

In 1861 Helen is a visitor at the home of a John Yuill. He was a licentiate of the University of Glasgow (not in practise) The University graduation books were consulted and it seems he was a graduate in medicine. It is not known if he was a relative but might be as Helen was a Yuille. He had been born in Glasgow and was 44 years old. He had his wife and two small children with him. Both children had been born in the East Indies, the youngest aged just four months. This means that they had just arrived back from the East Indies.

Although Helen was a visitor, her daughter Helen was also at this address and was a domestic servant. Helen herself was a domestic servant at this time so she had presumably got a better employment than washerwoman.

Helen has not yet been found on the 1871 census but it is known that she was not with her remaining children. John was at Maryhill and his brother William was with him. Helen was at Eglinton Street and Robert was dead.

It may be this Helen Crawford who was an inmate at the Model Lodging House for women on the Broomielaw again a washerwoman, in 1881.  No death record has been found for her. It must be that she remained in the centre of Glasgow and there she died.

 Notes

I have been trying to establish the parents of Helen Yuille and did consider Thomas Yuill and Janet Dobbie as possible candidates owing to them having a daughter Helen born in 1813. Janet Dobbie died 20 June 1864 at 121 Weaver Street, Glasgow and her daughter Helen Taylor registered the death. This meant that Helen Yuill married a Mr Taylor. The marriage was found in order to eliminate the possibility of Helen Crawford having a possible re-marriage.

The Helen Yuill, from Thomas and Janet Dobie,  married John Taylor in 1840 which eliminated the possibility of her being one in the same. 'Our' Helen Yuille was married to Robert Crawford at this very time. This does not help find out more about 'our' Helen Yuille but at least it does conclusively eliminate one possible family!

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Last modified: 01-Sep-2010  

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