Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Mosspark: Homes Fit for Heroes?
- 3 Hamiltonhill: A Pioneering Slum-Clearance Scheme
- 4 West Drumoyne: Blue-Collarland
- 5 Blackhill: Out of the Slums
- 6 Craigbank: Amateur Dramatics?
- 7 South Pollok: ‘The Bundy’
- 8 Alarums and Excursions
- Appendix 1 Balloting for a Council House
- Appendix 2 Methodological Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Appendix 1 - Balloting for a Council House
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2019
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Mosspark: Homes Fit for Heroes?
- 3 Hamiltonhill: A Pioneering Slum-Clearance Scheme
- 4 West Drumoyne: Blue-Collarland
- 5 Blackhill: Out of the Slums
- 6 Craigbank: Amateur Dramatics?
- 7 South Pollok: ‘The Bundy’
- 8 Alarums and Excursions
- Appendix 1 Balloting for a Council House
- Appendix 2 Methodological Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This Appendix describes the details of the actual process whereby a Glasgow council house was allocated to a specific tenant within our time period. It is an extract from an extended interview with a retired, 91-year-old City Improvements Department official who joined it as a Junior Clerk in 1928, eventually became Head of Lettings, and finally Administrative Officer for the whole Department. His name is a pseudonym.
JL: The Clerk in charge of the letter, the selector, as he or she was known, had his cards marked to indicate whether they [the tenants] were, if they were wanting the West End, or if they had exercised a strong preference for Knightswood or Scotstoun or Kelvindale.
SD: Right. How did it work manually, James, did the selector have a bunch of cards?
JL: Yes, there was a cabinet full of drawers.
SD: Right.
JL: And the cards were in eighteen drawers.
SD: Right. And the top drawer of whatever would have the applicants with the highest number of points? Is that right?
JL: For the size of a house.
SD: Right.
JL: They were graded into three-, four- and five-apartment houses basically.
SD: Right. Let me see if I can reconstruct this. The selector is told – but, first of all – who told your Department that houses were ready?
JL: The Housing Department, as it was then known.
SD: Right, which was still separate from yours?
JL: Yes.
SD: You got a note that there was a –
JL: – number of two-, three-, four- or five-apartment houses in a certain area.
SD: In Barmulloch Drive?
JL: Yes.
SD: Right. So your selector looks at No. 100 Barmulloch Drive, and up the close there are four three-apartment houses.
JL: Yes.
SD: He goes to the drawer for three-apartment houses in his area, and he looks for the first tenants with the highest number of points suited for a three-apartment house. Somebody therefore had to keep these cards up to date.
JL: Yes. The selector.
SD: So the selector was responsible for rank-ordering the cards, and the actual selecting?
JL: Yes.
SD: Some job.
JL: He knew his area, or she knew her area. I've known selectors that went out and paid a visit to an area that was developing so that they would become familiar with it.
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- Information
- SchemingA Social History of Glasgow Council Housing, 1919-1956, pp. 167 - 171Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2017