Sir Gabriel Wood's Mariners' Asylum is a facility in

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

which opened 17 October. 1854. It was built to house and care for aged and impoverished seamen belonging to the counties of

Renfrewshire (historic) Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The lieutenancy area covers the three modern council areas of Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Re ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire () or the County of Dumbarton is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbar ...

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

, and

County of Bute The County of Bute (), also known as Buteshire, is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. Now replaced by Argyll and Bute for the Isle of Bute, with the Argyll and Bute Council. The Isle of Arran and The ...

. Its founder, Sir Gabriel Wood (1767–1845), served as Vice-Consul for the state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and later as Commissary-General of Accounts for the

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, then of the

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, and finally of

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. He bequeathed his entire estate to his wife Louisa Augusta and his sister Francis Ann Wood. A memorandum instructed them to establish a home providing for the care of local destitute seamen. Sir Gabriel Wood's Mariners' Asylum was included in the 1861 United Kingdom census. At that time, there were forty-five former mariners and seamen residing there with ages ranging from 58 to 84 years old. The staff included the Governor of the Institution, Adam MacKay, a matron, a housekeeper, a laundress, and two servants. In November 2020, inspections by

Care Inspectorate (Scotland) The Care Inspectorate (formally known as Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland) () is a scrutiny body which supports improvement. They look at the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards. Where improvement is n ...

identified several deficiencies in the care being provided. The Trustees of the

Sailors' Society Sailors’ Society works with the global maritime industry, supporting seafarers and their families in need through our helpline, crisis response network, wellness training, emergency grants and peer support groups. For more than 200 years, mariti ...

who owned the facility decided to close the home. As reasons, they cited increased pressures resulting from the

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, and lack of resources to uphold the standards they set for the home. In March of 2022, the property was sold to Torah Capital Limited, a London company.

References

1854 establishments in Scotland Shipping in Scotland Greenock Category A listed buildings in Inverclyde Buildings and structures in Greenock Christian missions to seafarers {{Scotland-stub