Harrowing Black And White Photos Show The Horrific Living Conditions In 1940s Glasgow Where Overcrowding Was Rife And Sewage Seeped Into Slums

It was the notoriously poor Glasgow slum which was rife with overcrowding and sewage running in the streets. And harrowing black and white photos have shed light on the horrific living conditions of residents living in the Gorbals in the 1940s…

Two boys in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, UK on January 31, 1948. The Gorbals tenements were built quickly and cheaply in the 1840s, providing housing for Glasgow’s burgeoning population of industrial workers.

Conditions were appalling; overcrowding was standard and sewage and water facilities inadequate. The tenements housed about 40,000 people with up to eight family members sharing a single room, 30 residents sharing a toilet and 40 sharing a tap. By the time this photograph was taken 850 tenements had been demolished since 1920. Redevelopment of the area began in the late 1950s and the tenements were replaced with a modern tower block complex in the sixties. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Getty Images)

Men from the Gorbals, Glasgow’s slum area, meet in the local pub for a friendly smoke, 3rd January 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Boys and girls pose for the camera in the Gorbals, a slum district of Glasgow, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A group of young children on a street in the Gorbals, a slum district of Glasgow, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A street scene in the run-down Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Getty Images)

Two young boys from the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

A woman standing at the bottom of a flight of stairs in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

An overcrowded tenement flat in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Glaswegian children playing on a rubble heap in the Gorbal on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Boys play in a puddle in the slums of Gorbals, Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

A Glaswegian woman and her pet cat at her home in the Gorbal on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Two children at home in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Two boys walking along a street in the run-down Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

A young boy blowing up a balloon in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

A West-Indian family in their dining room in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, Scotland, 31st January 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Barmen at work in a pub in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Children playing in a street in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Two young boys playing with toy guns in a derelict area of the Gorbals in Glasgow on January 31, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Two boys with their dogs in the Gorbals, a slum area of Glasgow with unkempt streets and graffiti covered walls, 1948. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)