Hugh Bruce

The family must have moved to Maxwood Rows sometime before 1900, presumably because the eldest son Robert was working in the Maxwood colliery. The description on the right of the appalling conditions in Maxwood Rows (albeit a few years later) is taken from the Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 1979 publication of the 1913 Housing Report : Ayrshire Miners' Rows 1913 Evidence submitted to the Royal Commission on Housing (Scotland) by THOMAS McKERRELL and JAMES BROWN for the Ayrshire Miners' Union With notes by JOHN STRAWHORN MA PhD FEIS The children’s mother Grace died in Maxwood Rows, aged 48, of pneumonia (hardly surprising given her living conditions) on 1st December 1900 when Hugh, the youngest son, was only 10 years old. The informant was John Paton (son-in-law). He was the second husband of Grace’s eldest daughter Janet Bruce.

MAXWOOD ROWS, GALSTON. Littlejohn & Sons. Rent. No washing-houses. These rows are situated just outside the boundary of the burgh of Galston in the direction of Newmilns. There are two rows. One row consists of ten single apartment houses, and the other ten two apartment houses. The houses are built of brick, with walls thinly cemented. The rent is - For single apartment houses 1s 7d per week, and for two apartment houses 2s 6½d per week, inclusive of rates. There are four closets for the 20 families, and four ashpits. The closets have doors. but the ashpits have no roofs. Each tenant has a coalhouse, but there are no washing-houses. We saw several rents in the walls, which appear to have been caused by a subsidence. The tenants complain that the houses are damp. The closets and ashpits are at the front of the doors. The pathways are unpaved and muddy. There is only one well to supply water for the twenty families. It is gravitation water, and a tank has been built to store it, but the tenants complain that very often the supply of water is so very scarce that they have to wait for a long time before getting their pails filled. This may be due to the fact that the houses are built on a considerable elevation. The measurement of the single apartment houses is approximately 16 feet by 11 feet. The houses are owned by Messrs. Littlejohn & Sons, coalmasters, Galston, and are inhabited by workers and their families.