BEFORE we get too nostalgic about the good old days, we should linger over this photograph. It is the Cochrane family in Forbes Street, in Calton in Glasgow’s East End. The picture was taken in April 1949, and says it is for a feature on housing in The Bulletin newspaper, which is no longer with us.
I don’t have The Bulletin to hand, but I can imagine what was written, as after the war attention in Glasgow was focused on the dreadful housing conditions in the city, leading to the rush to build housing schemes on the city’s periphery.
This is the reason why. The Cochranes, with nine children, would have been squeezed into a tenement flat, probably with only two rooms. The furniture would be put in a skip if it was around today, the children’s clothes are torn hand-me-downs and dad is making tea at an open stove.
Mrs Cochrane simply looks knackered.
I find a newspaper feature from the previous year describing similar slum housing just across the Clyde from here in Gorbals. One young girl is quoted: “We’re eight in one room. We go to bed in relays. My elder brothers walk round the court while we girls undress. Then they come back and kip down on the floor beside us.
“The cat sleeps with us. If a rat runs over the blankets, he springs out and has it.”
The Cochranes’ tenement has now been swept away, and Forbes Street is now a row of neat housing. Life for the remaining Cochranes will surely have improved.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here