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Stirling Town Council Minutes 11847-64
 

 
  Town Council Minutes of the Royal Burgh of Stirling 1847-1864
Stirling Council Archives (SB1/1/1)

 

Stirling: Meeting the challenges of the mid-19th century.

The mid-19th century in Stirling was one that looked both backwards towards the 18th (and even 17th centuries) and forwards towards the 20th. In 1847, much of the burgh and its people’s way of life would have been familiar to inhabitants of previous centuries. Water for drinking and washing was still drawn from wells, refuse was still deposited on the streets, weavers still worked their handlooms in their own homes, goods were still transported by horse and cart, and the town officers dressed in bright scarlet coats and equipped with halberds still patrolled the burgh. By the end of the period covered by these extracts from the Town Council minutes, a clean water supply was being piped into the burgh and mains drainage was well advanced, handloom weaving had virtually disappeared, the railways were carrying goods expeditiously and cheaply to and from the town, and a burgh police force had been established.

The modernisation of the burgh was illustrated in other ways too. A new High School to the highest contemporary standards was built to replace the old Grammar School, and a free library established, by private philanthropy, to cater for what we now call “lifelong learning”.  The first public lavatories were provided for a burgh increasingly aware of the need for the best standards of public health provision and acutely conscious of the dreadful consequences that followed from any failings in that regard. The growing population and wealth of the burgh was reflected in some unexpected ways; for example, by the creation of a new cemetery to supplement the space available in the Holy Rude churchyard, and by the decision to number the houses of the inhabitants. In politics too, the Council could lead the way; petitioning Parliament for the repeal of legal disabilities against Jews, and for the abolition of tolls on public roads.

Indeed, what is striking about so many of the developments pioneered at this time in Stirling is that they were the result of Council and community initiative rather than either direction or goading from central Government.

Mid-19th century Britain was the world’s leading power, with an Empire that stretched across the globe, and interests that led it into conflict with other powers. It was during this period that Britain, in alliance with France and Turkey, went to war with Russia, and defeated an insurrection that threatened its possessions in India. Stirling was no parochial backwater interested solely in local concerns; it clearly saw itself as being involved in and concerned with the struggles and sacrifices of Empire. Monies were collected to relieve the sufferings of those caught up in what was then termed the “Indian Mutiny”, a memorial was erected to the officers and men of the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment who had lost their lives during the insurrection in India, and Russian artillery pieces captured during the Crimean War were brought to Stirling for public display as trophies of war.

Yet, alongside its involvement in the concerns of Empire, Stirling was also concerned with the question of Scottish national identity and the alleged injustices heaped upon Scotland at that time. The Burgh joined the Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights in 1853 in an attempt to secure relief from those perceived injustices, and, only a few years later, took a prominent role in promoting the cult of William Wallace.

Contents

100 pages from a total of over 600 have been selected from the original volume of these town council minutes. These 100 pages cover selected themes which are outlined below.
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ROYAL BURGH OF STIRLING, 1847 –1863

1.       IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE

1.1    The menace of fever and cholera

1.1.1       The Fever Hospital, 5 July 1847 (page 6).
1.1.2       Proposed mass graveyard for future cholera victims, 13 January 1849 (page 90).
1.1.3       Cholera, 27 September 1852 (page 226).

1.2    Improving the burgh’s water supply.
Clean water to be piped in from the Touch Hills.
8 June 1847 (page 3); 5 October 1847 (pages 12-13); 14 February 1848 (page 38); 19 March 1849 (page 97).

1.3    Street cleaning: the Old and the New

1.3.1  The dung cart and the sale of town dung, 5 October 1847 (page 13); 26 December 1848 (page 88); 21 April 1856 (page 388).
1.3.2   Mains drainage and sewerage, 16 October 1848 (page 81-82); 19 March 1849 (page 96); 23 February 1850 (pages 127-128).

1.4   Public lavatories, 17 October 1854 (page 316).
1.5    Food Hygiene and Inspection, 4 July 1848(pages 67-68).
1.6    The New Cemetery: 9 February 1856 (page 375); 15 February 1856 (pages 376-377); 21 April 1856 (pages 388-389).
1.7   Dangerous Buildings: the Council is asked to intervene.
15 December 1851 (page 194); 18 April 1853 (page 255, bottom).
1.8    Numbering houses.
19 February 1855(page 335); 15 October 1855 (page 359).

2. COMMERCE: REGULATING THE MARKET
15 May 1854 (page 301); 24 December 1861 (page 721)

3. THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY
20 November 1847 (page 23); 21 February 1848 (pages 39-40); 15 October 1849 (page 115); 1 July 1850 (page 139).

4.      IMPROVING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
4.1    The new High School, 4 November 1852 (page 235); 28 November 1852 (page 239); 19 December 1853 (pages 279–280); 11 July 1854 (page 306).
4.2    Sale of the old Grammar School, 21 January 1852 (page 373).
4.3    McFarlane’s Free Library, 23 January 1860 (page 605); 20 February 1860 (page 608).

5.      CASUALTIES OF CHANGE & THE PUBLIC RESPONSE
5.1    The Stirling weavers, 18 December 1854 (page 329); 18 December 1857 (page 487).
5.2    Relief for “distressed” Lancashire operatives, 17 November 1862 (page 799).

6.      WILLIAM WALLACE AND SCOTTISH RIGHTS
6.1    Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights,
15 August 1853 (page 265).
6.2    The Wallace Monument, 18 June 1861 (page 679)
6.3    The Wallace Statue at the Athenaeum, 20 September 1858 (page 515).

7.      QUEEN VICTORIA VISITS STIRLING
13 August 1849(page 110); 24 September 1849 (page 113)

8.      THE WORLD OUTSIDE: THE INDIAN EMPIRE AND WAR AGAINST RUSSIA
8.1    Relieving sufferers from the Indian “Mutiny”, 21 September 1857 (pages 467-468).
8.2    Memorial to the officers and men of the 75th Regiment who lost their lives in the Indian “Mutiny”, 16 November 1863 (page 906).
8.3    Captured Russian artillery guns brought as trophies of war to Stirling, 16 February 1857 (page 434); 20 April 1857 (pages 441-442); 22 May 1857 (pages 445-446).

9.      POLICING THE BURGH & ADMINISTERING JUSTICE
9.1    The Town Officers, 19 December 1853 (page 281).
9.2    The Town Drummer 17 December 1860 (page 650); 18 May 1863 (page 864); 15 June 1863 (page 871).
9.3    The Establishment of the Burgh Police Force, 19 October 1857 (page 471).
9.4    Schoolboy footballers break church windows, 21 May 1860 (page 616).
9.5    The new Sheriff Court House, 4 April 1861 (pages 667-668); 19 January 1863 (page 829); 15 June 1863 (pages 870-871).

10 A MODERNISING AGENDA?
10.1 Tackling religious discrimination: petitioning Parliament for the repeal of legal disabilities against Jews, 31 January 1848 (pages 32 & 34).
10.2  Attempting to improve trade and communications: petitioning Parliament against tolls on public roads, 31 January 1848 (pages 32, & 35-36).

11THE CARE OF OUR HISTORICAL RECORDS
21 May 1855 (page 350); 21 April 1862 (page 757).

12.  CIVIL REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, & DEATHS
4 November 1854 (page 318).

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