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

Grand Local & Family History Fair: Celebrating Lanarkshire 2013

We had a stall at the Grand Local & Family History Fair: Celebrating Lanarkshire 2013 yesterday, hosted by the Lanarkshire Family History Society. It was a marvellous event, well organised, well attended and full of interesting stalls.

As usual we were spending the day helping people unlock their family secrets. Graham helped a number of individuals through the free 30-minute genealogy consultations. Using his experience he managed to help a number of people overcome a brick wall so that they could continue their research.

We also encouraged a number of people to enter the world of prison records. Our free online index can unlock a part of your family's history hidden for over a century! The register itself tells you basic details such as name, address, age, place of birth and religion but also tells you details you are unlikely to find on any other record such as height, appearance, hair colour, eye colour, education and of course offence.

Whilst interesting in itself the prison register gives the date of a trial (if there was one) which means you can then go to the relevant court papers and find out more details about the offence and the people involved. Quite regularly the court documents will name family members or give some other clue to assist your research as well as offering a fascinating glimpse into the life of your ancestor.

With a huge array of stallholders there was definitely something for everybody at this event. I hope this becomes an annual occurrence!

Scottish Monumental Inscriptions

After the fair was over the members of the Scottish Genealogy Network met for our monthly meeting. It was great meeting some for the first time and putting a face to the name. If you are looking for a professional genealogist look out for the Scottish Genealogy Network logo on their website or blog!

Scottish Genealogy Network

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.

Sir Walter Scott

I was in Edinburgh the other day looking at Selkirkshire Sheriff Court papers. Obviously it could be a bit of a blow if you discover your ancestor committed a terrible crime, however, in Selkirkshire it could be softened by the fact that Sir Walter Scott could have signed some of the papers!

Graham is working on indexing the Selkirk Prison registers now, so if you see they were tried at the Sheriff Court it would be worth looking at the trial papers, you never know what you might find!

Uses for the prison indexes

So we have spoken a lot about the prison indexes adding colour to your family tree but they may add even more than that. I came across this post on rootschat.com.

Quiet a familiar situation, born Ireland no further information. Where do you start? Is this the end of the line? Well as you can see from the post I made our prison index gives a County in Ireland. Now the family will have a chance of tracing their Irish ancestors.

So if you have Irish ancestors living in Scotland have a look at our prison indexes and see if we can unlock your little mysteries.

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1851 census for Kells now online

We have been making great progress with www.maxwellancestry.com. Various new records are now online and more will be coming shortly as well as new books, some of which will be ready in the next day or two.

The big census update is 1851 Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire; this is now in the database and also available from our bookshop. We have also added more household links, general notes and prison links to the database.

Regarding the prison indexing project, Graham has now indexed the second Jedburgh volume and is proof-reading it now so it should be on sale within a couple of weeks. He has now also started work on the next Scottish Borders prison, which is Kelso. Although various links will appear in the census database from now this is not by any means a search of the prison registers themselves. In fact less than 1% of the prison entries have any link with the census records at present. Therefore if your ancestors are from the Borders area it is best to check in the actual prison index. If you do not already have a copy they are available from our bookshop.

The mapping is also continuing, Hawick and Wilton parishes are next, these may take some time though! Big towns always seem to slow up the census mapping project!

I’ll let you know when the new Jedburgh prison book is ready.