Humane Society House stands near the end of St Andrew's Suspension Bridge on Glasgow Green. Built as a house for the officers of the Glasgow Humane Society, it links the society’s history of rescuing people from drowning with a decisive scene in Bella Baxter’s story: Godwin Baxter examines her corpse there.

Setting and Foundation

The Glasgow Humane Society for the Rescue and Recovery of Drowning Persons was founded by the Glasgow Faculty of Surgeons in 1790. Its first boathouse and a house for its officers were built on Glasgow Green in 1796. The house’s position near the end of St Andrew's Suspension Bridge placed it close to a site where people jumped into the river and rescuers might be called to intervene.

Officers and Continuity

George Geddes was the society’s first full-time officer, serving from 1859 to 1889. His son, also named George Geddes, held the post from 1889 to 1932. The work then passed to Ben Parsonage, described as equally famous; by July 1992, Parsonage’s son occupied Humane Society House. This succession gives the building an association with generations of officers and with the society’s continuing rescue work.

The House in Bella Baxter’s Story

The house is identified as the place where Godwin Baxter examined the body of Bella Baxter, who had drowned herself at Glasgow Green in 1880. The same account locates the related events around the green: the spot where she drowned, the bridge from which she leapt, and the wharf where Geddes saw her drown. Humane Society House thus sits at the intersection of the rescue setting and the extraordinary aftermath of Bella’s drowning.