Description:Elliot’s report was commissioned by the Duke of Sutherland to investigate the condition of the Alms Houses in Newcastle. The Duke was evidently concerned that the buildings were kept in a good state and that the living accommodation was comfortable for the inhabitants. The well-being of the ladies occupying the Alms Houses also appears to have been a significant concern for the Duke.
Elliot refers to ‘the recent repairs’ which had been carried out on the Alms Houses, which had ‘greatly improved’ the ‘exterior’ of the buildings. The grounds at the back of the Alms Houses had also been made ‘much neater than formerly’ providing a small allotment for each of the ladies living there. Elliot observes that the allotments would ‘certainly be of use’ to the widows, ‘giving them a little occupation’. However, he notes that a labourer would need to be employed in the Spring in order ‘to dig & set each small lot’ as the ladies would be unable to manage without such assistance.
Elliot’s report is accompanied by a letter written by the Duke of Sutherland in response to his observations. The Duke ordered that no new residents should be allowed to occupy vacant number six until ‘the room does not smoke’, advising that ‘something should be done’ to all the chimneys that smoked. Number six was also ‘to be cleaned’ and a new bed provided for the room.
The Duke appears to have been concerned about unauthorized people living in the Alms Houses with the inhabitants. He advised that in future ‘no person must be allowed to occupy the room with its occupant’. However, the Duke was reluctant to disrupt the living situations of the current inhabitants, adding ‘I suppose it will not do to disturb what now exists’. In addition to these orders, the Duke required the roof of number nine to be ‘repaired’ and the walls of number eighteen to be ‘whitewashed’.
The Newcastle Alms Houses performed an important function in Newcastle, providing accommodation for elderly and incapacitated women in the area. It is significant that the Duke states in his response to Liddle Elliot’s report that the Alms Houses were ‘a work of charity not a work house’, established as an act of philanthropy to support the Newcastle community in the early nineteenth century.