Laigh Kirk and The Formation of The Scottish Poor Laws
In the early 19th century, following a collapse in the Paisley cotton trade, the Kirk Session of the Laigh and the burgh clashed over the right to poor relief under the existing Scottish Poor Laws. In particular, over the classification of those who were traditionally eligible - the church found it could only fund those physically unable to work and not the able-bodied unemployed. The financial crisis that followed for the church and the burgh, and the need for government intervention, was to play a large part in the redrawing of the existing Poor Laws.
The then minister, Rev Robert Burns, was to become an influential figure in the campaign for alleviation of the suffering of the urban poor. Most notably, his ‘Historical Dissertations on the Law and Practice of Great Britain, and particularly of Scotland with regard to the Poor’, would be much cited by those who took up the cause. He would even be part of four deputations that visited London to petition Parliament on the subject.
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