The Gorbals , Glasgow , Scotland 46 year old James Docherty lives with his wife Margaret , adn their seven children in a "single end " measuring 18 ft x 15 ft on the first floor of 14 Lawmoor Street , a recently condemned property . Mrs Docherty keeps the family spotlessly clean . She is expecting another child shortly . The corridor to the back of the house is flooded so every day she , or one of her chidlren , walks round the tenement buidling to carry the waste to a dustbin . 1952