I begin to see some light.
In 1905 MacNeil Hall was let by to multiple tenants by Louis Gumley, a house agent who had offices at 84 Leith Walk. Nos 78 - 90 were owned by George Cruickshanks, a master cabinet maker and upholsterer.
By 1915, MacNeil Hall had became social housing, run by the Edinburgh Social Union, a philanthropic society. Mrs Helen Kerr's name appeared on the Valuation Roll of 1915, alongside the Edinburgh Social Union. The building seems to have occupied an area near the workshop, stable and yard of George Cruickshanks. These premises also had the address of 78 Leith Walk. Helen Kerr had a formidable reputation as a leading social worker of the day!
This link:
https://www.evoc.org.uk/blog/the-women-who-shaped-edinburghs-social-welfare/gives some background information about her.
You can read about the beginnings of the Edinburgh Social Union on this site:
https://hodgers.com/mike/patrickgeddes/feature_six.htmlScroll down about half-way.
By this time (1889) the scale and activities of the ESU had arguably moved from Geddes's high-minded idealism of transforming place through beauty to a pragmatic property management company, operating within the discourse of late nineteenth century philanthropic capitalism. This arguably embraced many middle class assumptions regarding the poor and place and raises questions of whether social control or social reform had become the main driving force. The composition of the ESU by this time embraced ministers of religion, schoolteachers and professors with the rent collectors consisting primarily of young, unmarried women. There is little doubt that despite benevolent intimations the relationship between rent collector and tenant was conducted on strict business principles and in accordance with views of how the tenants should behave. Families who 'lowered the tone of a stair' were requested to leave and as one rent collector says: 'there seems no doubt that the tone of a stair does rise under our management. There was also a clear hierarchy by which tenants were deemed suitable for elevation to higher quality properties only if they had obeyed the rules: 'it still seems a dubious experiment to move a tenant to a superior type of house until he has learned to appreciate its authority.' However, as O'Day makes the point the social control argument cannot be stretched too far. Families voluntarily applied for the Society's houses and demand was greater than supply. The families who did live in ESU managed properties, largely chose to abide by the rules and it is interesting to note that rent defaults were minimal. There is also evidence that when tenants became unemployed, the rent collectors helped them in their search for work. Some families did move on to better accommodation: 'we find it an advantage to have properties of different grades and occasionally we have the great satisfaction of passing a family on from a lower to a higher-grade tenement. It is pleasant to find that our tenants as a rule prefer to move on to another of our properties and still be 'under the ladies'.
I also found this newspaper article :
The Scotsman 26 September 1901
extract from article entitled 'Cheap Dwellings Conference in Glasgow'
Mrs Helen Kerr stated that she was present as a member of the Edinburgh Social Union, and explained a system of managing cheap dwelling-houses that was in operation in Edinburgh. They collected the rents every Monday morning and were responsible to the Town Council in edinburgh for the management of the property, for the carrying out of repairs, keeping order, and seeing that the properties under their charge were kept clean, orderly and in decent occupation. Their great difficulty was with the class of tenants whom they should choose. .....The article goes on to talk about the rents charged and how the Union wanted to provide more rented homes for different levels of affordability.
Returning to the 1895 Valuation Roll, James Gillespie, a labourer rented 11 MacNiel Hall, Christina Gillespie, a widow, can be found at No 13. Christina is still there at No 13 in 1905.
It would seem that MacNeil Hall had been one of the derelict buildings that Patrick Geddes, a notable botanist and town-planner, alongside the Edinburgh Social Union, had worked to rescue and turned into a liveable space.
Now it makes me wonder who MacNeil was.
Nell
