Mothers and Babies welcome. The Dundee Social Union was a small band of women volunteers led by Mary Lily Walker who were concerned about the appallingly high child mortality and disease rife among mill working families in late 19th century Dundee. Recognising that the low wages of unskilled males could not provide necessary nourishment for the mother if she stayed off work, the Dundee Social Union opened a childrens Restaurant at the West Port in 1906, the first of its kind in Britain . Here breakfast and dinner were supplied to any mother nursing her child, free of charge for the first three months of the child’s life, as long as the infant was breast-fed, the mother stayed away from work, and the child was brought to be weighed each week. Its success led to further social Restaurants opening in Dundee, home visits for all new babies, infant clinics, milk depots and a School for Cripple Children. The City eventually took over Miss Walker’s scheme and developed the first Infant Health Department in Scotland. Image at Verdant Jute Mill Museum, courtesy of University of Dundee Archive Services and Dundee Central Library
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 09:17:17 +0000