Was Your Ancestor a Convict?

Every year the Scottish Association of Family History Societies (SAFHS) hold a conference and family history fair. This year the theme is, "Was Your Ancestor a Fife Convict?"

The annual event will take place this year on 21 April 2018 at the Rothes Halls, Glenrothes, Fife. 

One of our genealogists, Emma Maxwell, will be giving the talk, “Finding Your Ancestors' Footprints” and all the talks will revolve around the theme of criminal records. 

As well as the four talks there will be a free ‘Ask the Expert’ area, hosted by the Scottish Genealogy Network. It will be a great opportunity to get some professional advice on how to trace your family history.

To find out more and book your ticket go to the SAFHS 2018 website. 

If you need help to find out what life in Scotland was like for your ancestors get in touch and see how we can help.

Body Snatching in Kirkintilloch

With the launch of our new website, www.scottishindexes.com, in August we have been starting to index records outside our home area in the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway. One of these records we indexed recently was Dumbarton Prison Register, 1828 to 1840. An interesting crime that we spotted along the way was ‘Raising and Carrying of the Body of a Woman from the old Burying Ground Kirkintilloch’ and ‘Violating Graves’! Both of these crimes were committed by one Peter Gardner.

Auld Aisle Graveyard Gateway and Watchhouse
Kirkintilloch
© Copyright Martyn Gorman

This seems like a pretty gruesome crime that Peter committed so you may wonder why someone would do this. Until the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832 it was very difficult for anatomists, surgeons or medical students in the UK to obtain bodies to dissect, which was a vital part of their education. One major reason the public objected to the use of bodies in this way, and therefore a reason for the creation of laws preventing the use of bodies by the medical profession, was that there was a belief that if your body was not buried whole you could not be resurrected on judgement day. This belief was so strong that it was viewed that allowing a body to be dissected was an extra punishment that could be handed out after death. For this reason it was only the corpses of convicted murderers that were given to the medical profession for dissection.

As you may be able to imagine there were simply not enough murderers for the medical profession! The need for corpses was so great that there was a very lucrative trade in dead bodies and in some instances this led to murder!

This is why Peter Gardner was willing to risk imprisonment for his lucrative backstreet profession. The Anatomy Act of 1832 changed everything. It gave legal access, by holders of a licence, to obtain unclaimed corpses. These corpses were often from prisons and workhouses, to be used by medical professionals. It also made provision for a person to donate the corpse of their next of kin to s school of anatomy.

Peter’s occupation, at least the illegal side of it, was now redundant and most of those buried in graves across Scotland would remain there.

Dumfries prison register

We have begun indexing the prison registers for Dumfries. As each year is indexed we will make it available on our website. We have 1841 and 1842 online so far and hope to add 1843 today or tomorrow.

The Dumfries register has some interesting characteristics. For example the description is a lot more ‘human’ than that which we have seen in other prison registers. In many prisons the description/marks column is left blank unless the individual had a tattoo, obvious scar or something similar. In Dumfries however it seems to have almost always have been filled in (for the years we have inspected so far) and gives such descriptions as “common”, “squints”, “stout”, “pock pitted”, “nearly blind in right eye” and even “white spots on his head”! Certainly a way to really learn more about your ancestors… if you dare!

The online index is free and we charge just £5 for a full transcription: Come and search today!

www.maxwellancestry.com/prison

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!

Example Prison Register Transcription

It has now been a few weeks since our free prison index went online and I’m glad to say it is proving popular and our customers seem really pleased with the transcriptions. If you haven’t searched for your ancestors yet here’s the link again: www.maxwellancestry.com/prisons

Below is an example of the sort of transcription you’ll receive for just five pounds!

Prison Register Transcription

 Hawick Prison 1844-1862

(National Archives Reference HH21/14/1)

Number: 42

Date of Admission: July 15, 1845

By whom Committed: Bailie Haddon J.P.

Name: John Gibson

Sex: Male

Age: 64

Where Born: Whitehaven

Late Residence: Carlisle

Where he has spent the greater part of his life: Whitehaven

Height: 5 feet 6 inches

Complexion: Dark

Hair: Black

Eyes: Blue

Marks, &c.: None

Offence: For Begging Drunk and Disordly in the Town

Clean or Dirty?: Dirty

Sober, partially Intoxicated, or Drunk?: Sober

Clothes in good Repair or Ragged?: Good

Did the Prisoner come in Direct after Arrest?: Direct

Ordinary Occupation: Saddler

Previous Imprisonments: [none]

Trial: July 23; Bailie Haddon; Convicted

Sentence: Nine Days

Number of Days in Prison: 9

Conduct during Confinement: Good

Free surname lists added to Parish Records and Prison indexes

It’s not exactly an index however it is an indication. We have added lists of the surnames found in each of our parish and prison books. This will hopefully make it a little clearer as to whether or not your ancestors will be recorded in the book.

Just go to the county page and click on the title of the book to see the list. Here is the Roxburghshire county page.

I hope this will make finding those illusive Scottish ancestors easier but remember if you still have a brick wall and need some guidance please email me, we can often solve genealogy mysteries quite easily with the resources we have on hand as well as our years of experience.

  

Email me today: tell me as much as you can about your brick wall.