Lizzie’s Story: Paisley

Sherwood Avenue (recent photo)

Lizzie Clark Millar 1885 and John McInnes Moffat 1890 were married in Paisley in September 1922. At the time of their marriage Lizzie’s official address was her great-uncle William’s flat in Edinburgh and John lived with his family at 9 Lady Lane, Paisley.

At some point after their wedding and before 1924 they moved to 18 Sherwood Avenue which was in a new council housing development built on the outskirts of Paisley in the Whitehaugh area.

They were the first to live in the house and they rented there for forty years. It was a great house on a quiet street and backed onto a cricket field.

The development was built in order to relieve congestion in Paisley, which was terribly overcrowded due to the influx of workers in the textile industry over the preceding hundred years.

John was 32 and still living in a small flat with his parents and several adult siblings when he got married. They soon had a child (and Lizzie’s elderly Aunt Janet Clark) so they were lucky to be able to move to Sherwood Avenue.

Cover of book on the Garden City movement

The Whitehaugh development was inspired by the Garden City movement in the UK. Rather than building more tenements it was felt that the returning heroes of WWI deserved a nicer place to live than the smoky crowded inner city. Cottage-style twin homes with gardens were built on curved streets, giving every family light, space, and privacy.

John and Lizzie were at the right place at the right time - by the 1940s the government returned to building vertical apartments in dense developments to relieve the housing pressure.

Update December 13 2022:

Dr Kay Williams, historian, recently gave a talk on the Homes of Heroes at the Scottish Indexes Conference which I was unable to (virtually) attend. I reached out to her and she found this amazing illustrated map of Paisley in 1931 which shows the Whitehaugh homes. Dr Williams believes that they were indeed part of the Homes for Heroes scheme and were built due to the 1919 Housing Act.

Obviously there was a much great need than availability and people had to submit an application and be approved. John McInnes Moffat would have been eligible based on his wartime service, having a child, and earning a low income. Perhaps Lizzie hid her new wealth as this would have disqualified them.

Detail of Paisley map 1931