Scottish Court of Session Decisions

Mrs Rachel Mitchell Teacher and others, the trustees of the Domestic Training School and Hostel for Women Workers, 260 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, petitioners, presented a petition in which they craved the Court to authorise them to transfer the property and funds of the trust to the Church of Scotland Training Home for Servants and to the National Vigilance Association of Scotland in proportions set forth in the petition.

The petition stated—“That in the year 1884 there was founded in Glasgow a society known at its inception as ‘The Glasgow Union for the Care and Help of Girls and Women.’ Its object was ‘to form a centre for all work at present carried on in Glasgow for the care and help of women and girls, and to set on foot from time to time, and after consultation with existing

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societies, such new branches of work as may seem desirable.’ That as a result of the labours of the said Glasgow Union a variety of schemes were set on foot and amongst them a training home for servant girls, a clothing club, and a free registry. These enterprises were managed at the outset by separate committees but were run in conjunction with each other. A temporary Home for girls was started soon after, and for over thirty years ‘The Training School, Temporary Home, and Free Registry for Friendless Servant Girls’ were carried on under one management. In the year 1919 the name was changed to 1 the domestic training school and hostel for women workers. the objects of the said training school and hostel were—( a) The School is to train young girls for domestic service. ( b) A free registry is attached to the School to find situations for girls in domestic service. ( c) The Hostel is to give board and lodging to any young working woman or girl who shall be approved by the committee. ( d) Only girls of good moral character are eligible for admission. That the work of the institution was carried on by a committee with the aid of funds subscribed by the charitable public in the form of annual subscriptions, donations, and legacies supplemented by fees paid by the girls and women residing in the Hostel out of the wages earned by them. That the policy of the committee of management throughout was to co-operate with other philanthropic agencies in Glasgow with the object of avoiding overlapping and to adjust the resources of the institution to the needs of the community. Accordingly during the war board and lodging on reasonable terms was offered to women munition workers, who in considerable numbers availed themselves of this benefit. Since the war the Home has continued to receive women workers as boarders and to derive income from this source. That of recent years the numbers of girls desirous of receiving domestic training has been small. In 1904 26 girls were under training, while at the present there are only 8. On the other hand, the demand for accommodation in the Hostel has largely increased. The petitioners feel that the usefulness of the Domestic Training Home as a means of training friendless or destitute girls has been much impaired owing to modern conditions under which a wider field of occupation is open to girls; they also consider that the Hostel, at one time a refuge for girls unable to find temporary accommodation, has become a lodging-house for women workers who are in a position to pay for, and do pay for, the board and lodging provided. It appears to the petitioners that in the circumstances the original objects of the Home have failed, and that the Hostel has lost the charitable character which it formerly possessed. That at a meeting of the General Committee held on 19th May 1922 it was agreed to submit to the annual meeting of the subscribers to the institution the following resolution:—‘That in view of the small number of girls now availing themselves of the Training Home and of the Hostel as a temporary home when out of a situation, the institution should be wound up and the property and funds divided between Florentine House (Church of Scotland Training Home, Glasgow) and the National Vigilance Association of Scotland, and that the trustees and the executive committee be authorised to take such steps as may be necessary to enable this to be done.’ That the foresaid resolution was duly advertised in the Glasgow Herald and Glasgow Citizen newspapers along with the intimation of the date of the said annual meeting at which it was to be proposed, and that at said annual meeting held on 9th June 1922 it was unanimously carried. … That the Sixtieth Annual Report of the Church of Scotland Training Home for Servants presented to and adopted by the annual meeting of those interested in the said Training Home held on 6th December 1921 states that the said Training Home is under the management of ‘The Glasgow Elders' Wives and Daughters' Association,’ and that the chief work of said Association is ‘training orphan and destitute girls as domestic servants in the Home, Florentine House, 53 Hillhead Street, Glasgow.’ Seventeen girls were under training in Florentine House at the date of said report. The annual accounts for the year ending 30th November 1921 show a deficiency of income as against expenditure of £167 odd. The petitioners contend that the work of giving domestic training to deserving girls can be aided more effectually by the proposed transference of property and funds to an institution with a wider sphere of opportunity than by continuing to carry on a home which has ceased to be fully occupied. That the National Vigilance Association of Scotland is a society supported by donations and subscriptions at the hands of the public. Its main object is the protection of women and children from becoming the victims of offences of a sexual nature. It seeks to attain this end by assisting to bring to justice those who transgress the law in this respect, and by endeavouring to strengthen the existing law dealing with such matters. The petitioners contend that their house at 260 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, would be of great assistance to the said National Vigilance Association as a temporary home for those whom they seek to rescue or protect, and they crave authority to make over this house, with furniture and fittings, and also a sum of £300 for the purposes of putting the said house in a state of suitable repair, to the said National Vigilance Association. The petitioners are fully conversant with the work carried on by the Church of Scotland Training Home for Servants and the National Vigilance Association of Scotland. They have been in communication with both of them, and have ascertained that they are anxious and ready to accept transference of the property and funds in the proportions specified. In these circumstances they respectfully ask the authority of the Court to the transfer of the property and funds held by them to the two selected associations in the proportions set forth in the petition.”

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On 10th January 1923 the Court remitted the petition to Mr Oswald Dykes, advocate, to inquire and report.

In his report the reporter stated, inter alia, that the objects and history of the charity were correctly set forth in the petition, that the association had ceased to fulfil the useful purpose for which it was started, that the procedure had been regular, and that the granting of the petition would be in conformity with the practice of the Court in analogous cases. The petition was heard on the 20th March and the 14th July 1923. After the first hearing the petitioners lodged a minute setting forth, inter alia, the financial position of the society from which it appeared that without the payments received from lodgers it would be impossible to continue the Home.