The Scotts’ moved in to 7 Earlspark Avenue in April 1910. That was just over 114 years ago. In 1987 I moved into 7 Earlspark Avenue with my wife and son. That was 37 years ago. The Scotts’ lived here for 45 years. We moved in 32 years later.
I have a fascination with the life of this house and its inhabitants. The periods of time that people spent living here and what happened to them. Where had they come from and where did they go to. What led them to this house and why did they leave. Their lives were no different to mine and my family. Relocating for varied reasons. A bigger house for a growing family. A better house to improve their standard of life. Perhaps even moving from rented accommodation to buy their first property. There was a railway station across the road which made commuting much easier if you lived in a street with transport on the doorstep.
Public records such as the Census are only availably up until 1921. However, there are other excellent records available such as the local Valuation Records that lists every property and their owners for Council Rates and Tax purposes. In the case of No. 7 these records are kept in the Family History Room at Mitchell Library in Glasgow. They can be viewed on request in the library. The Electoral Register offers a lot of detail also. These are on the shelves of the Family History Room.
So, to begin with I am listing all the owners of No. 7 since Miss Agnes Scott made the first purchase.
A grid of the title owners of No.7
| Owner | Year Purchased | Value |
| Agnes Scott | 1910 | £600 |
| George Scott | Title transfer 1946 | |
| James Hepburn | 1955 | £1,550 |
| George Wallace | 1961 | £2,750 |
| John Robertson | 1964 | £3,600 |
| Stanley Andrew | 1966 | £4,500 |
| Annabella Andrew | Title transfer 1973 | £8,000 |
| John Meechan | 1979 | £27,750 |
| The Carver’s | 1987 | £46,000 |
I have previously described the Scott family and how they came to Earlspark Avenue. Having moved to Cromarty Avenue in Cathcart from Dennistoun, to enjoy his retirement with his family, and two years before Agnes Scott, his daughter purchased No.7, Hugh Scott died of a heart attack on the platform at Cathcart Railway Station. Agnes, her mother – also Agnes – and her brother all moved into No.7 in April 1910.
The house was designed to provide two floors, one for public reception and the other, upstairs for privacy. The front room was designed to receive visitors, the back room was for dining and cooking. Upstairs there were two bedrooms and a large sitting room. The bathroom was on the half landing.
I am assuming that Mrs Scott had the larger bedroom and either Miss Scott or her brother had the smaller one. Either way, someone was sleeping downstairs in the back room where there was a box bed. This arrangement was unique to Scottish tenement and house design at this time. The box bed was exactly as it describes. A large wooden box with a mattress on top and storage beneath. It was built into the rear room, usually the dining room/kitchen and it was curtained off.
From the 1911 Census return, The Scott family had been well provided for by their late father it seems. Mrs Scott was aged 75 and living by independent means as also was her daughter Agnes, aged 38. Only George, aged 34, is working for a living and he is a Clerk with a firm of Laboratory Furnishers. I am wondering if Agnes is needing to care for her mother instead of pursuing her previous career as a Saleswoman in the Corporation Gas Company.
In 1910, Agnes Scott (junior) paid £600 for No. 7. At today’s value this would have been around £88,000. If Agnes and her mother were living by independent means, I assume that Hugh Scott had left his family with sufficient funds to purchase this property and to live on the inheritance.
However, 29 years later, the income from the inheritance and from George’s income, must have been dwindling. In 1939 Agnes took out a loan against the house. The bond was for £350. This would have been worth over £50.000 in today’s money.
Security on No 7 for £350
Agnes Scott (junior) died in 1944 at the age of 72. The death registration was quite detailed. She had been last seen alive by her brother at 11pm at night but found dead in her bed at 7.45 the next morning. A postmortem was required, and it was confirmed that she had died of a degenerative heart problem.
In 1931 Agnes had prepared her will. On one piece of paper she had written, “I Agnes Scott, 7 Earlspark Avenue, Newlands, bequeath all my possessions to George Robb Scott my brother, at my death. Agnes Scott 14 November 1931.”
This created some legal work for George because such wills need to be confirmed in law. When Agnes died in 1944, George had to prove that No.7 was now his property. He was also burdened with the security that the Standard Property Investment Company had on the house.
The holograph of Agnes Scott’s will, registered in 1945.
Subsequently he had to go to the Sheriff Court in Glasgow to prove that the will that Agnes had written was legal and that it was a holograph of her signature. For back up he had a sworn statement from the resident of No.15 Earlspark Avenue, Mrs. Samson who, with hand on the Bible, swore that the signature on the paper was Agnes Scott’s. The will was accepted, the property now belonged to George, and he could take on responsibility for the loan on the property. That responsibility was discharged by the lenders in December 1949 when the £350 was paid back. A ten-year security on the house, it still puzzles me why it was taken out.
All of this is meticulously recorded in legal documents that were important in the conveyancing process of No.7 during the 20th Century because of the legal implications about who owned the title of the property.
George, in 1946, finally became the title holder of No.7 and he remained there until he sold the house and moved to live the rest of his life on the Isle of Arran.
George had arrived as one of the first residents in my house in 1910 and left in 1955. A total of 45 years. The longest living resident out of all the people who have lived here.