Marginal maternity: The Church of Scotland and unmarried mothers 1900-48 (360G-Wellcome-095576_Z_11_Z)

£3,081

This project aims to highlight the importance of the Church of Scotland as a provider of maternal healthcare for unwed mothers during the first half of the twentieth century, a period when Scotland had the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the United Kingdom. Maternal health was a particular concern in Glasgow due to the large numbers of women living in both poverty and poor housing. A core part of the Kirk's new social mission was 'rescue and preventive work' for young women in urban areas, including hostels and rescue homes. And, in 1915, they opened a maternity home for unwed mothers in Glasgow. While historians have considered the broader importance of maternal healthcare to early twentieth century social reform efforts and highlighted the importance of unwed mothers within this mission, as well as efforts of the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army in this area, the Church of ' Scotland has been neglected. Yet the Kirk was the established national church, the leading denomination in terms of membership share, a leading contributor to Scottish health debates and the first Protestant denomination to build a hospital in Britain- the Deaconess Hospital in Edinburgh. This project will highlight the extent and nature of this healthcare provision and where it fit within Scotland's mixed economy of healthcare between 1900 and the onset of the NHS in 1948. It will also highlight how the Kirk entwined maternal healthcare and social welfare with its definition of citizenship in relation to broader Scottish perceptions of maternal citizenship. The project will result in scholarly articles, conference papers and articles in popular magazines, including the Church of Scotland's own Life and Work, a workshop on the voluntary provision of healthcare since 1850, and public engagement activities. Lastly, this small project will provide the foundation and first stage of a larger project examining the health and welfare provision, as well as the knowledge exchange, between voluntary providers in industrial communities- particularly religious groups and employers, who were two of the largest providers at the end of the nineteenth century. Archival location and a scoping exercise is on-going to define the final parameters of the project.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 3081
Applicant Surname Greenlees
Approval Committee Medical History and Humanities Funding Committee
Award Date 2010-12-14T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2010/11
Grant Programme: Title Small grant in H&SS
Internal ID 095576/Z/11/Z
Lead Applicant Dr Janet Greenlees
Partnership Value 3081
Planned Dates: End Date 2012-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2011-02-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region Scotland