251 St Vincent Street, Glasgow

[doddsie4]

       Just by the way, there was a place called the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow at 232 - 242 St Vincent Street at that time.      It still exists.       It is in the Glasgow telephone book.
Perhaps a few blocks of buildings, either side were connected with it.    In the old days, in Manchester, an ancestor of mine was a Doctor and Surgeon, and he delivered babies.      Just a thought.

[ldrn]

Hello Roman
That's interesting information. Do you know how I could find out more information, especially pre-1940? Happy New Year.
Jean

My mum was born there in 1930. I'd love to find more information as well.

[mclachlan]

'The Scotsman' dated 10th January 1931 (and various other dates throughout 1927) has an advertisement stating:

'Nurse Mulgrew (certificated) has private rooms for confinements. 251 St Vincent Street, Glasgow.'

This confirms the same name for this address from hume24's post of 2008.

Regards,
Andrea

[tidybooks]

On the Valuation Records on  https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, 1920 VR of 251 St Vincent Street shows a Catherine Mulgrew, as one of 8 tenants at this address. In 1925 and 1930 it shows a Mrs Catherine Johnston, a Catherine Mulgrew married a Neil Johnston in 1921 in Milton. I suspect she kept her maiden name for nurse, due to certification. She is not in the 1935 VR at this address.

Tom Buchanan

[Rosinish]

No-one has included which area (in Glasgow) 251 Vincent St. was?

Not sure if this is relevant for anyone's research but...

I looked at a map & the area which came up looks to be Anderston?

However...

Death for Catherine Mildrew or Johnston

JOHNSTON CATHERINE 71
1956
644/6 11 Blythswood

Blythswood seems very close to Anderston (2 mins by car)

Annie

[tidybooks]

Hi Rosinish,

That is the correct death certificate, she was a widow, Neil Johnston, a printers assistant, had died earlier. She was found dead in 9, Minerva Street, not too far from St Vincent Street, although registered in Blythswood. Her son, Anthony Johnston registered her death.

Tom

[Esspee]

I am also researching a family member born in 1931 at 251 St. Vincent Street.  The mother came from Govan and was unmarried so the suggestion from Roman that this was a home for unmarried mothers seems likely.  I too would appreciate the source of Roman’s information.
My understanding is that legal adoptions were introduced in 1930, before that it was a more casual arrangement.
I was surprised to see from the birth certificate of my relative that the birth mother had registered the child with the name he was always known as once adopted, followed by her surname.  This was at odds with my belief that the birth mother registered the child with a name she had chosen followed by her surname and a later birth certificate was issued to the adoptive parents with the name they had chosen and their surname.  In my relative’s case the adoptive father had a brother who died.  The child was given his very distinctive three part name followed by the birth mother’s surname.
Can anyone throw more light on the institution at 251 St Vincent Street or the usual registration of babies to be legally adopted?

[ShaunJ]

The information already provided about Nurse Mulgrew and her private rooms for confinements seems fairly conclusive and explains why many children were born at 251 St Vincent Street.

[Esspee]

As the birth mother I am researching is most unlikely to have been able to afford a nursing home birth it would be of interest to discover whether all or most of the births registered to that address were illegitimate suggesting a charitable organisation was involved.
Presumably if adoptions were indeed legalised in 1930 there must be a record in the Scottish Archives relating to the address.