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Barefoot Children in Scotland


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I went to primary school in the 70s with a family who came to school one day with no shoes , ..the school bought them shoes.

A family at mine had wellies in winter. The cut the legs off them to look a bit like shoes in summer. The oldest brother had very few clothes, so the school gave him old costumes from the shows. He cut about as Gilbert and Sullivan sailor and then a fireman for a couple of years.

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Did they try to stick the legs back on again when the weather started to get colder in the autumn? Have heard stories of children (including my mother when she was visiting her grandparents) going barefoot in the summer in Shetland after WWII back before they got electricity and were still using water from wells, but that's Scotland's answer to Appalachia. In places like Leith if it was still hapenning in 1910 when and why would it have stopped before the Welfare State kicked off under Labour in 1945?

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...and the children went unshod.

Callaghan is obviously to blame.

Proof of unshod children in the 80's . Oh dear there's none. Feel free to avoid the death of socialism.

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Did they try to stick the legs back on again when the weather started to get colder in the autumn? Have heard stories of children (including my mother when she was visiting her grandparents) going barefoot in the summer in Shetland after WWII back before they got electricity and were still using water from wells, but that's Scotland's answer to Appalachia. In places like Leith if it was still hapenning in 1910 when and why would it have stopped before the Welfare State kicked off under Labour in 1945?

Really, there were no benefits for the unemployed before 1945? Oh Dear.

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Oddball topic this but I was trying to find out when an old photo of Leith had been taken and noticed that although the photo didn't seem to be mid-Victorian some of the boys, even the bigger ones, were barefoot.

P1_Queen_St_Cropped.jpg

I've tried to find out how long this practice lasted in Scotland before it was phased out but can't find any articles on it.

This photo from Dumbiedykes in Edinburgh was taken in 1895 and the whole class is barefoot.

0_groups_and_outings_milton_street_schoo

I found a link to an article which indicates that children were still barefoot in Edinburgh in 1908.

Does any social historian on here know any more on the subject and does any expert on photography have a good idea when that first photo would have been taken?

Is that bottom photo not Leigh Griffith's kids?

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Oddball topic this but I was trying to find out when an old photo of Leith had been taken and noticed that although the photo didn't seem to be mid-Victorian some of the boys, even the bigger ones, were barefoot.

I've tried to find out how long this practice lasted in Scotland before it was phased out but can't find any articles on it.

This photo from Dumbiedykes in Edinburgh was taken in 1895 and the whole class is barefoot.

0_groups_and_outings_milton_street_schoo

I found a link to an article which indicates that children were still barefoot in Edinburgh in 1908.

Does any social historian on here know any more on the subject and does any expert on photography have a good idea when that first photo would have been taken?

I wonder if any of these young scamps were at Hampden to see the Dees lift the cup.

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I wonder if any of these young scamps were at Hampden to see the Dees lift the cup.

Dundee lifted the Scottish Cup after 3 games at Ibrox. :rolleyes:

I hope we complained about playing there. :)

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  • 3 months later...

This photograph was taken in 1924 just prior to a phase of social improvement in Leith. It was taken in Queen Street, Leith now named Shore Place. You may wish to check copyright and consider whether you wish to remove it as it is protected under copyright law - crown copyright I think (they are really rigerous about copyright infringement). Hope that answers the question.

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This photograph was taken in 1924 just prior to a phase of social improvement in Leith. It was taken in Queen Street, Leith now named Shore Place. You may wish to check copyright and consider whether you wish to remove it as it is protected under copyright law - crown copyright I think (they are really rigerous about copyright infringement). Hope that answers the question.

As long as they are not rigorous we should be ok.

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