I have now been approached by three people regarding relatives, or themselves, being born in a nursing home in Marywood Square, including Hilary, the wife of Mike Stanger, founder of The Strathbungo Society back in the 1970s.
So here’s what I know, should anyone else ask.
Dawsholm Nursing Home
Margaret G Dawson rented premises at 8 Marywood Square from the architect James Money and opened her nursing home in November 1934 .
Advert in the Jewish Echo, 9 Nov 1934. Source: BNA
While the Post Office Directory always called it the Dawson Nursing Home, Dawsholm was the correct name from the start. The nursing home features in numerous birth announcements in the press from the 1930s. This is the earliest I have found:
Birth announcement in the Inverness Courier, 26 July 1935. Source: British Newspaper Archive
In 1939 the home moved from No 8 to No 20 Marywood Square, perhaps as a consequence of the death of Mr Money in April that year , and even the PO Directory recorded it as Dawsholm Nursing Home from then on.
The last references to the home I can find are a stillbirth recorded on the Scottish Jewish Cemeteries website in February 1954 , and an advert in the Belfast Newsletter of May 1954 for nursing staff. The advert suggests the home was also using No 22 Marywood Square at that time.
The Glasgow District Nursing Association
There was a further nursing organisation at 34 Marywood Square. The property was acquired around 1925 by the The Higginbotham Sick Poor Nursing Association, which soon became The Glasgow District Nursing Association.
Wishaw Press 15 Oct 1926. Source: BNA
While the association regularly advertised for staff, including maternity staff, their aim was “nursing the sick poor in their own homes”, and the house appears to have been a base for district nurses rather than a nursing home per se. It was still in use as a centre for district nursing for the Greater Glasgow Health Board in 1976.
The property was subdivided into three flats in 1986.
Oxton House Residential Nursing Home
A brief mention for the current nursing home in Marywood Square, which began at 14 Marywood Square, and in 1998 extended into the neighbouring flatted houses at 16 and 18, and provides 34 rooms for its elderly residents.
July 12, 2024 at 10:31 pm
Beautiful cast iron railings ! Haven’t seen that photo before – were they removed in WW2 ?
July 14, 2024 at 2:27 pm
I believe so. The lost railings throughout Strathbungo are documented on an old blogpost
https://bygone.bungoblog.com/wp/the-railings-of-strathbungo/
and mapped out here
https://bygone.bungoblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/Strathbungo-Railings-Map.jpg
The Marywood Square railings were much more fancy than elsewhere, and the same pattern survives in Queens Drive. You should put them back!
May 7, 2025 at 5:04 am
Looking at my birth certificate I saw that I was born at 20 Marywood Square on 18 April 1954. Thank you for the picture and information. I am a retired artist, although still painting and Inow live in New Zealand.
May 20, 2025 at 1:46 pm
I was a pupil at Miss Allpress’s Secretarial College in Marywood Square in 1955. Can’t recall the number and no information forthcoming. I do remember there was a number of Jewish girls there.
May 21, 2025 at 10:49 am
Ah, I know that one! A Marywood Square resident told me about it recently. She had trained there too, and about the same time. Allpress Business School, 19 Marywood Square. Opened around 1940. Also around 1910 a Theodore Allpress ran a shorthand & typing school at 77 Kilmarnock Road in Shawlands. Perhaps he was Miss Allpress’s father.
May 22, 2025 at 1:37 pm
Theodore S Allpress was from England. He worked as a ship owner’s clerk initially, living in Battlefield Gardens in 1901, but by 1905 had opened a school of shorthand at 77 Kilmarnock Road. In the 1930s he moved it to Queens Drive.
He married Louise and had a daughter, Daisy, b 1890 in England. She became involved in the business and later took it over. She moved to Marywood Square, first at 37, then 47, and at some time in the 40s moved the business from Queens Drive to premises at 19 Marywood Square.
July 12, 2025 at 6:29 pm
I’ve been trying to find out more about the nursing home I was born in and have just found this article.
My mother mentioned the name Dawsholm (I thought she was saying Dawes Home) but my birth certificate says 4 Marywood Square. Would this be a mistake since you say they were at No 8?
I believe it was private and she had to pay and I’d love to know how much!
July 12, 2025 at 6:43 pm
Pretty sure it was no 8, opening in November 1934. So when were you born? If it was earlier in the year it might have been a temporary arrangement. Yours would be the earliest birth I have come across so curious to know.
Sadly I don’t know prices, but I’m sure you were worth every penny.
[Oops read 1954 as 1934]
July 12, 2025 at 7:48 pm
Haha thanks for that! My mother travelled from Greenock as she had previously had a bad experience at the local maternity hospital.
I was born in August 1954. I’ve been trying to get in to the Mitchell Library to see if they have any information on who owned it and when it was sold. I’m so glad I found your blog.
July 12, 2025 at 10:16 pm
Sorry for my earlier error, that would be the latest birth I have come across, not the earliest, and at 20 Marywood, unless it moved again. The Mitchell has the PO Directories that would tell you how long it remained in Marywood Square, and where.
October 27, 2025 at 4:45 pm
Thank you for this information.
I was also born in a Nursing Home at 20 Marywood Square in September 1952 and am so pleased to find this article. The name Dawsholme sounds familiar but sadly there is nobody left in my family to confirm it but my Birth Certificate will be accurate. I am also amazed my parents had to pay for the care as I am sure money was tight – I am now feeling rather fortunate about the start in life which they gave me. Never realised it at the time!