Several Aberdeen trades hospitals were built by the merchants and trades associations of Aberdeen ("New" and Old Aberdeen) in Scotland from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Traditionally hospitals had been built by the church.
In addition to hospitals that served the needs of the poor and elderly, "hospitals" were built as schools. Robert Gordon's College was founded by a wealthy merchant in 1731.Robert Gordon's Hospital, Foundation Statutes and Rules of Robert Gordon's Hospital in Aberdeen (Aberdeen: Chalmers, 1784) In "Royal" AberdeenAberdeen received royal burgh status from King David I (1124–53) and Old Aberdeen the incorporated trades formed associations to serve the needs of the craftsmen. Similar incorporated trades associations are to be found in Elgin, Edinburgh, Irvine, Stirling, Dundee, Kirkcubright and Glasgow.See, James Colston, The Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh. With Introductory Chapter on the Rise and Progress of Municipal Government in Scotland. [with Plates and Illustrations.] (Edinburgh: Colston & Co., 1891), pp. l, 237 p.
In addition to such hospitals, there were "correction houses" and workhouses or poorhouses.See E. Patricia Dennison, David Ditchburn, and Michael Lynch, Aberdeen before 1800 : A New History (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2002), pp. xxviii, 515 p., p. of plates; for a useful summary of the various "correction houses" and Workhouses in Aberdeen. (pp 64–69).
Pre-Reformation hospitals
From the early twelfth century, hospitals had been built by church foundations across Europe to meet the needs of the poor and elderly (see Hospitals in medieval Scotland for more details on medieval hospitals).The work by Cowan & Easson and Hall's survey of Monastic Landscapes provide extensive gazetteers of known Aberdeen hospitals. Derek Hall, Scottish Monastic Landscapes (Stroud: Tempus, 2006), pp. 222 p., 16 p. of plates.; and, Ian Borthwick Cowan, David Edward Easson, and Richard Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man. 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1976), pp. xxviii, 252p,fold plates. In general the church applied a doctrine of charity in which the elderly, infirm and those suffering from diseases such as leprosy were cared for in hospitals. Few Pre-Reformation hospitals provide what is now called "health care". The general concern in Pre-Reformation times was for "spiritual health"; in Post-Reformation times the concern was for "physical health". Some hospitals did have physic gardens.For example See Provan Lordship Garden/ St Nicholas Glasgow; NT 34000 72000 The growth of incorporated trades organizations and merchant societiessee Ebenezer Bain, Merchant and Craft Guilds : A History of the Aberdeen Incorporated Trades (Aberdeen: Edmond & Spark, 1887), pp. xii, 360 p. offered an alternative of community care for members and their "relicks".The Scots word relick means "widow" Church hospitals founded before 1559/1560 were: Aberdeen Leper House, St Anne c1363 to 1573; St Peters c 1179 to 1427; St Thomas the Martyr 1459 to uncertain; St Mary's Old Aberdeen 1531 to 2013.
Post-Reformation developments
Trinitarian Monastery A Trinitarian Monastery and Hospital had been founded in Aberdeen in 1181 - possibly 1211. The location was west of Market Street and on the north side of Guild Street. At the time of the Reformation the buildings were attacked and destroyed.The monastery was sacked by Reformers in 1560 the main buildings were saved, and the church continued in use until its demolition in 1794. William Guild bought the lands and buildings in 1632 for the Incorporated Trades in order to create a new Hospital. (See below) The location was probably at NJ 9427 0607.
Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr The Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr was founded in 1459 by "Master" or Canon John Clatt for the reception of the poor and infirm. The residents have were referred to as "Bedesmen". The site is probably to the north of Union Street in Aberdeen, adjacent to Correction Wynd(NJ 94100 06200). In a document dates 28 May 1459, the foundation is recorded thus: “...Mr. John Clatt, canon of the Churches of Aberdeen and Brechin ... did ... for the reception of the poor and infirm who shall come into the said hospital. Of which hospital, and the lands and possessions assigned, or to be assigned, and also of the poor and infirm persons dwelling in it after its construction, he created and ordained Sir John Chawmer to be Master and Rector, and gave to him the chaplaincy of the same; he assigned the patronage of the chaplaincy of the said hospital, after his own decease and that of the said Sir John, to the Provost for ever ...”From James Cooper, Cartularium Ecclesiae Sancti Nicholai Aberdonensis, New Spalding Club (Aberdeen: New Spalding Club, 1888), V2, pp. 136–138. The hospital appears to have worked in a satisfactory manner; although little more is known of its creation or the nature life for the residents. It is known that the Bedesmen entered the Hospital: ".. separate from the world of all worldly employments and relations ...(professing) to betack themselves to Godlivership ..." They were distinguished by a russet gown and an identifying badge. They received new clothes annually and were banned from asking for alms outwith the Hospital. Almost certainly they lived a sub-monastic life – similar to the Bedesmen who lived in Bishop Dunbar's Hospital in Old Aberdeen. A reference to their life in the archives of Aberdeen Council records that they spent: "... their days in prayer, reading mortification conference and other suchlike Christian exercises.."See CR liv 21 December 1659. What is also known is that tensions grew between the Merchants and the Craftsmen or Tradesmen over entry to the Hospital.The distinction between "Craftsmen/Tradesmen" and Merchants was one of function and status. In essence the Merchants appeared to have a superior status, much to the displease of associations of Tradesmen – e.g. Tailors, Fleshers. The Trades organized themselves in 1587 into an association of Incorporated Trades with the appointment of a Deacon Convener. See http://www.seventradesofaberdeen.co.uk/our-history/ In practice the Merchants monopolized the use of the Hospital. This came to a head in 1609 (1 March) when the Aberdeen Council enacted a clear discrimination in favour of Merchants. The Aberdeen Council Records notes the decision as follows:
.. The said day the provost, baillies, new and old counsell, considering that divers persons his been admitted and received to the hospital of this burght in times bygone wha hes not been Burgess of gild, express against the terms of the foundation of the hospital, be the whilk it is specially provided that none sail be admitted thereto except decayed brither of gild of this burght allenarlie. Therefore to avoid the said abuse hereafter, and in respect that the rent of the said hospital is given and mortified thereto be the brither of gild of this burght, and be nane others, they enact and ordain that nane sail be admittet nor received to the said hospital in time coming unless that they be burgesses of gild of this burght according to the tenor of the foundation thereof, excluding hereby all craftsmen of this burght, extranears or utheris whomsoever from having any place in the said hospital ... unless the foundation thereof be altered, and that livings be deited and mortifiet thereto be craftsmen...” Council Register, vol. xliii, p. 884.The wording and spelling in the quotations are from the various primary and secondary sources.
It is believed that Dr William GuildAn Aberdonian, merchant, cleric, Christian polemicist, and latterly, Principal of King's College, Old Aberdeen. came to found what became known as The Trades Hospital in 1632/3 as a result of this decision.Ebineezer Bain concurs with this judgment.
William Guild Mortification and the Trades Hospital
In 1632/3, Dr. William Guild (1586–1657), endowed Trades Hospital in a Mortification and received confirmation from King Charles I dated 24 June 1633.See Aberdeen (Scotland). Town Council, Mortifications under the Charge of the Provost, Magistrates and Town Council of Aberdeen (Aberdeen: Chambers, 1849); & James Fraser, and Aberdeen (Scotland). Magistrates, Report and Abstract of the Mortifications and Funds under the Administration of the Magistrates and Town Council of Aberdeen, in Which the Burgesses of Guild, and Their Widows and Children, Have an Interest; as at 30 September 1860 (Aberdeen: Avery, 1860); for a comprehensive list of mortification held by various civic, church and College bodies. Many of these constitute poor relief. The Incorporated Guilds and other guilds were major recipients of many legacies left by pious donors. Guild, the son of Matthew Guild a wealthy armourer, was a complex character. He was generous to the Incorporated Trades and gifted part of the land and buildings of the Trinity Monastery (See above) as a Meeting House and Hospital.Only six of the seven Incorporated Trades were to benefit from the initial endowment. In total there were some 320 trades member in 1632. The Fleshers were admitted later in 1657. The benefits were applied to the Hammer men; the Bakers; the Wrights and Coopers; the Shoemakers and the Tailors. The residents were to be "decayed craftsmen". They would be known as "Beidmen". Guild was very specific about the way the "Beidsmen" were to behave.See the Wikiquote resource for a transcript of the 1633 Deed of Confirmation made in 1825. The following sections from the Confirmation indicate the strict Reformed Protestant and Christian values that Guild himself maintained and required from the residents.quoted also in Bain, pp 165/166.
I WILL also, that they be always present at the Sunday and weekly sermons (unless they be confined to their beds by sickness), as also at the public morning and evening prayers (especially in summer)...
ALSO, I ordain that in their own chapel a portion of the Word of God be read twice daily, and prayers offered up by a suitable reader (who shall have fifty merks paid him therefore yearly), to be properly chosen by the patron, which service shall be between nine and ten in the morning or forenoon, and between three and four in the evening or afternoon and whoever (except through sickness) shall be once absent, let him be admonished; if twice, punished by the director; and if thrice, removed from the hospital...
I WILL also, that no woman dwell in the said hospital (although the wife of one that is admitted), or stay therein for a moment; and that no one who is admitted wander in any way forth thereof through the town or streets; and that they all be always clothed with gowns of a single and decent colour; MOREOVER, that the said beadmen be subject and obedient to the commands and admonitions of the foresaid director, and that they be an honest, godly, and peaceable conversation. And if any of them wander without, or be troublesome within to any of their comrades, or commit any other fault, or be found disobedient, or a breaker of the rules of this mortification, he shall be punished in his person, or removed from the hospital, by the said director, who, however, in this case shall take the advice and consent of the foresaid minister of the Word of God and deacon convener, who have, and by these presents shall have power, one poor man dying or removing from the said hospital or being otherwise withdrawn, to choose and put in another poor man in his place, in form aforesaid. ...