William Richardson, Kirkcudbright 1787

As promised I have uploaded the Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal today, issue No. 6. The first article is very interesting - it is entitled “Discovery and Punishment of Murder by Circumstantial Evidence.”

It tells us about the case of William Richardson who murdered a woman in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in the autumn of 1786. William Richardson was found guilty on evidence and circumstance not on the testimony of witnesses. It’s a fascinating account although all very sad for the poor girl that was murdered.

I have ordered the appropriate high court minute book and will look at it when I’m in Edinburgh next week. I’ll let you know if it gives any further information.

I find these cases fascinating. If your family tree is anything like mine there will be a lots of “Ag. Labs” and very few people recorded in sasines or wills, so it’s nice to find documents outside of the OPR’s and census. As one customer said this week prison records add some “spice” to a family tree. Court papers can be a wonderful addition if your ancestor was tried, in fact we hope to have some exciting news about that later in the year!

If you’ve not already looked have a search in our prison registers and see if there are any black sheep in your family!

What’s New at Maxwell Ancestry?

We have added to our website today an index to our prison database. This will hopefully make it easier for you to find which book you need or purchase or enable you to order a full transcription of the prison record directly.

Why buy the book?

The prison books that have been available in our bookshop for some time have all the information that is online and in addition they also list the crime (the thing we all want to know) that the prisoner committed. If you see more than one record relating to your family this is a cheaper way of finding out what crimes were being committed.

Why buy the full record?

The original entries are very informative and cost just five pounds. Typically in any record after 1840 you would expect to find at least the following:

Date of admission; By whom committed; Name; Sex; Age; Birthplace; Residence; Where spent greater part of their life; Height; Hair colour; Eye colour;

Distinguishing marks etc.; Precise offence (often including article stolen etc.); Clean/dirty; Drunk/sober; Direct from arrest or from another prison,

if so which one; Occupation; Previous imprisonments with entry numbers for such; Liberated without trial – when and by whose authority; Tried – when

and by whom; Convicted or acquitted; Sentence; Liberated or removed after conviction – when, by whose authority, to what place; Number of days in

prison; Conduct during confinement; Whether able to read and write.

So whichever way you buy further information we hope that this new database will prove useful to all. Search it at: www.maxwellancestry.com

Harsh punishment for Michael

As work continues on the seemingly endless Jedburgh Prison book Graham is transcribing he came across entry that we thought may be of interest.

20 May 1861

Michael Gallacher, labourer at Newcastleton, single, aged 60, born in Ireland, 5' 6", 157 lbs on admission, 151 lbs on release, in apparent good health, can read a little, but cannot write.

Tried 3 June 1861 for the crime of the theft of a handkerchief, sentenced to 3 days imprisonment, total; time in jail 17 days, conduct good.