CRIME and PUNISHMENT ISSUE Chairman’S Notes and Archive News

Issue No. 30 April 2011

The Tolbooth: Perth’s Prison until the early 19th century

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT ISSUE Chairman’s Notes and Archive News...... 2 Murders in 19th Century Perthshire...... Geoff Holder...... 4 18th Century Crime and Punishment ...... Jim Ferguson...... 11 Review: Willie MacFarlane’s County Police history...... 14 Putting Meat on the Bones...... Graham Watson...... 17 The Old Kirk at Rait...... Donald Abbott...... 19 The Case of the Missing Stipend....Amelia Wansborough...... 20

(Picture: AK Bell Library Local Studies)

Chairman’s Notes Dear Friends, Belated greetings for 2011! I note with pleasure that the snowdrops and cro- cuses are very visible – especially in the most welcome spring sunshine. As you are aware from my Christmas letter, the Committee is concerned that some members are feeling out of touch with events. I am most grateful to all of you who took the time and trouble to respond to my letter. We are taking steps to make use of your comments and to comply wherever possible with your wishes. Please do not hesitate to contact myself, Jan, Steve or any Committee member if you have any ideas for improve- ments. The Archivists are looking for Friends willing to spend some time in the search room, looking through a selected box of documents to see if it might make an interesting article for the Newsletter or elsewhere. There’s more information about this opportunity on the back page. After nearly half a millennium, the Tailor Incorporation of Perth is winding up its af- fairs and depositing its remaining records in the archive to add to those it already holds. It has also left its remaining funds with the Friends to pay for restoration and preservation. Our annual outing in 2011 will take place in Dundee on Tuesday 21 June. In the morning, we shall visit the University of Dundee to look at the Archive and the Museum. The afternoon will feature a visit to the City of Dundee Archive, in the company of the Friends of Dundee City Archive. Sadly, num- bers are again strictly limited, to 15 people, and places will be distributed on the usual first come, first served basis. To reserve your place or find out more about the outing, please contact Jan Merchant at 01738 477012 or email [email protected] Best wishes, Margaret Borland-Stroyan 2

Archive News

It’s amazing how a throwaway remark can develop…..Just before Christmas I col- lected some records from Perth Academy, and happened to mention to a col- league that they included lots of unidentified class and team photographs from across the decades. ‘Oh, she said – I went to the Academy, maybe I can come along to the Archive and see who I know?’ And from that simple offer came the idea for the very successful ‘Spot the Pupil’ event. Not only did over a hundred people come along to put names to faces in the photographs, but we also had more visitors over the coming weeks wanting to help – and even offering their own copies for us to use. As a result, we now have names for lots of the pupils and staff, which will help us produce some really useful finding aids. As ever though, there’s a catch – we need a volunteer who’s willing to come in for a few weeks to collate and organise all this new information. It would mean looking through over 600 photos and the information gleaned from the ‘Spot the Pupil’ day, spotting gaps that could be filled and then listing them all. Interested? Give me a call on 01738 477012. I mentioned in the last issue that we now have a Twitter account. It’s been great fun let- ting people know what goes on ‘behind the scenes’, but there’s also been a spin-off benefit – we got sent a WWI burial notice from one of our followers. As usual, you can keep up to date with newly-listed collections and new accessions, by checking out the Archive’s news page at www.pkc.gov.uk/archives. Finally, when you next visit the Archive, say hello to Anna who’ll be with us until the summer. Among her numerous duties (no, we don’t ask her to make the tea!) Anna’s been helping populate CALM, our electronic management system. This is a priority project for us, as it’s a final step in getting our whole catalogue of collections made available on the website. Just think, by this time next year, you’ll be able to search the Archive’s collections from the comfort of your home.

Jan Merchant 3

Perthshire Murders and Executions in the 19th Century

Geoff Holder The said Duncan Clark, Pannel, to be to be carried from the Bar back to the Tolbooth of Perth, therein to be detained and to be fed upon bread and water only, in terms of the Act of Parliament…entitled ‘An act for preventing the horrid crime of Murder’….to be taken furth from the said Tolbooth to the common place of execution…and then and there betwixt the hours of two and four in the afternoon, to be hanged by the neck upon a Gibbet by the hands of the Common Executioner until he be dead.

These are the words from the death warrant of Duncan Clark, dated 20 September 1826. The Warrant is one of a number of such documents held in the Archives. For anyone used to researching more mundane documents, it can be an unsettling experience to open a folded sheet tied with ribbon and to find that the stark words within condemn a person to a violent death.

The death warrant of Duncan Clark (P&KC Archive)

4 Two extracts from Duncan Clark’s death warrant, ordering him to be fed on bread and water, hanged and anatomised (P&KC Archive)

The warrant announcing Clark’s death further specified that his body was to be handed to the anatomists at Edinburgh University and used for the purposes of dissection and education. As it turned out, Duncan Clark’s fate was to be very different, if just as grim. Three petitions for clemency were soon in circulation. One was from Clark himself; the second from a large number of respectable and professional people in and around Perth; and the third was signed by every member of the jury. All three were based on the circumstantial and uncertain evidence in the case, while the petition from the jury expressly maintained that the eight who had voted for a guilty verdict had admitted the evidence was difficult and contradictory.

5 High St, Perth, in the mid 19th century. Duncan Clark lived near here (AK Bell Local Studies)

In the case of Duncan Clark these words were more than a little ironic, as he was a Writer, that is, the early nineteenth century equivalent of a solicitor. He had been found guilty of the murder of his infant illegitimate child, who had been handed to him hours after the birth by the baby’s mother. It’s fair to speculate that the relationship between the urban professional Clark, and Christian Cameron, an illiterate Gaelic-speaking itinerant worker, was not a permanent one. Clark may or may not have killed the child – the forensic medi- cal testimony at his trial was confusing – but he may well have been culpable of neglect, and was definitely guilty of attempting to conceal the death, as the infant’s body was found in his apartment on Perth’s High Street, locked in his armoire.

On 18 October 1826 the Perth authorities received a letter from Whitehall stating that Prime Minister Robert Peel had advised George IV to commute the sentence of Duncan Clark to transportation for life (this document is also in the Archive). The same post included a similar reprieve for Robert Lacky or Locky, who had been condemned to death at the same court session, his crime being housebreaking in Fife. Locky had received the sentence of death with equanimity, and listened to the declaration that saved him from the gallows with equal calmness. Throughout his time in court and in custody, Locky rarely rose above an expression of boredom or indifference.

6 Clark was sentenced to spend the rest of his natural life at the penal colony of Van Die- men’s Land (Tasmania). As was commonplace, he was taken to the south of England before his departure and kept on one of the Hulks on the River Thames. The Hulks were large ships converted to floating prisons, where prisoners were kept in appalling conditions, rife with disease and neglect.

In March 1827 it was reported that Duncan Clark, former Writer in Perth, had died on board one of the Hulks.

The Courts

Clark’s was one of the relatively few Perthshire murder cases of the nineteenth century. As it was not practical for all serious cases to be brought to Edinburgh, High Court judges travelled on a Circuit twice a year, bringing the authority of the High Court to nine Scot- tish cities including Perth, where cases from Fife, Dundee and Forfarshire were also tried. One High Court judge, Lord Cockburn, left an entertaining and revealing memoir of his time on Circuit in his book Circuit Journeys (David Douglas; Edinburgh, 1889). Here, for example, is his entry for Perth on 30 April 1842:

We had 84 cases, the greatest number, I am told, that has ever been at any one Circuit town in Scotland…Nor was there any case worth recording, ex- cept one too horrid, however, to be mentioned. The dark roll was filled with the ordinary, and scarcely varied repetition of robberies, assaults, sheep and cattle stealing, fraud, conspiracy, forgery, fire-raising, night poaching, bigamy, and above all of theft, which now forms fully a half of all the criminal business of Scotland. There is certainly a fashion in crimes. There was far less transportation than usual, long imprisonments in the recently- opened penitentiary at Perth being the substitute.

The reason Lord Cockburn and his fellow Circuit Court judges were occupied with so many thieves, poachers and bigamists was that the High Court had the responsibility of dealing not only with serious crimes but also serious punishments. Up until 1855 Scotland had 25 crimes that could attract the death sentence. The principal alternative to execution was transportation, where the felon was sent into exile in a penal colony on one of the British overseas territories. Quite simply, Britain did not have enough prisons, and so the criminal population was exported. From the early seventeenth century the New World had been the transportation location of choice, but the American Revolution of 1776 put paid to that. A few alternatives such as the Falkland Islands were scouted, but it soon became clear that Australia offered the best choice. The first convicts were transported to the Antipodes in 1787, and transportation remained a significant system of punishment until the 1850s, finally being abolished in 1868. Any individual sentenced to seven or

7 A typical warrant of transportation, with gaps left in the pro forma document for the individual criminal. Here, Alexander Steel is transported for life for ‘strouthrief’ (robbery with violence) and robbery. He was originally condemned to hang. (AK Bell Library Local Studies)

8 more years’ imprisonment could be transported. Tariffs were usually seven years, four- teen years, or for life. For example, Donald McPherson, convicted in Perth of assault and Attempted rape in 1831, was served with a warrant authorizing him to be “transported beyond Seas, for and during the days of his natural life.”

Sites Of Execution

Because the High Court sat at Perth the city had the right to perform executions. In common with most Scottish cities, the original gallows had been well outside the city limits, on the Burghmuir, but this was increasingly unsatisfactory on grounds of public disorder, time and expense. The simplest alternative was to build the gallows immediately outside the prisoner’s place of incarceration. So after 1774 the new execution site was outside the Old Tolbooth at the eastern end of the High Street. The usual scaffold erected here had a platform with a trapdoor; the condemned criminal stood on this with a noose around the neck. When the executioner pulled a lever the trapdoor opened and the prisoner dropped down. If the executioner had done his job properly the drop would cause the noose to break the neck, leading to almost instantaneous death. If there had been a miscalculation the prisoner would slowly strangle to death on the end of the rope. George Penny’s book Traditions of Perth recorded a variation of the standard theme: on one occasion there was no drop, but a heavy weight attached to a jointed beam holding the noose. When the weight fell, the beam abruptly rose, jerking the prisoner upwards off the scaffold. It was not a satisfactory operation.

The Tolbooth at the bottom of the High Street. Perth’s prison until the early 19th century (AK Bell Library, Local Studies) 9

A document in the Archives demonstrates how bureaucratic a hanging could be – letters and other documents had to be sent out to dozens of individuals and official bodies, the cost of writing and posting each item being carefully noted down by the Town Clerks. In all, the administration costs for the execution of Joseph Bell in 1865 cost the taxpayer £18 17s 3d. This was just the budget for the paperwork – the fees for the scaffold, executioner, police, soldiers, officials and so on would have been much higher.

Perth’s execution sites changed as its prisons changed. From 1817 or thereabouts the new location was outside the south wall of the recently-constructed Speygate Jail, overlooking Greyfriars Cemetery.

After 1868 executions were no longer held in public, and moved inside the walls of the fortress-like Perth General Prison. On 4 October 1870 George Chalmers was the first person in Scotland to be hanged under the new regime, and also the last person executed in Perth in the nineteenth century. Only three more executions took place at the prison, in 1908, 1909, and 1948. Capital punishment was effectively abolished in 1965, leaving a new hanging block erected in the early 1960s with no function, and it was eventually de- molished. No-one is now sentenced to be “hanged by the neck upon a Gibbet by the hands of the Common Executioner until he be dead.”

Geoff Holder is the author of Perthshire Murders, which, along with several other of his more paranormal-themed books such as The Guide to Mysteri- ous Perthshire, can be found for sale at the Local Studies section of the AK Library. See www.geoffholder.com.

10 Crime and Punishment in 18th century Perth

Continuing our occasional series ‘What’s in a Box?’ Jim Ferguson delves into the Council’s records in box B59/26/11/3/ . These hold documents that record punishments handed down by courts in Perth in the 18th century and later.

To get an idea of life within a community in the 18th century it is not only necessary to understand the behaviour of the people, but their misbehaviour. The manner in which criminals were treated by society gave an indication of its strong conservatism, its respect for the Kirk, and its differential esteem for the rank of the offender.

What happened to those poor unfortunates who were incarcerated in the tollbooth in Perth awaiting sentencing on crimes ranging from murder to minor theft are described in Box B59/26/11/3 in Perth and Kinross Council Archives.

Punishments abounded. For minor crimes offenders were banished from the town after being whipped through the streets, or placed in jougs, or iron collars, attached to the walls of the Kirk, or alternatively put in the pillory with their ears nailed to its wooden frame. It all served as entertainment for the town’s citizens. On the other hand, imprisonment was not a popular sentence with the magistrates, as it cost the town money for the prisoners’ upkeep, but when it was felt to be unavoidable it was used only for very short periods.

The common thief of that time seemed to steal anything which was not nailed down, and the contents of the box describe the sentences imposed on those who stole horses, sheep, cloth, beeswax, or were involved in housebreaking, shoplifting, forgery and keeping a disorderly house.

Punishments were equally varied, often severe and sometimes barbaric. For instance, for serious crimes, perpetual servitude was a sentencing option. An iron collar was fixed around the offender’s neck with his name, age and his new owner inscribed on it, and then sent to work in a mine (the value of his labour being a gift to the mine owner). Oth- erwise, the punishment for murder or theft of objects of high value was hanging, and the Common Hangman was kept busy transporting the unfortunates from the Tollbooth in Perth to one of the sites of public execution such as Gallows Road, at the top of Burgh- muir Road. The sight of a felon swinging on the gibbet must have sent a salutary message to those passing by on the main road into Perth.

The Common Hangman’s principal role was to be the jailor in charge of the Tolbooth at the bottom of the High Street. He was a man of some prestige in the town; he had a dis- tinctive uniform, and was allotted his own (isolated) seat when he attended the Kirk .

11 One of his perquisites, prior to the Anatomy Act of 1833, was to be paid for delivering excep- tional bodies of hanged criminals to the School of Anatomy in Edinburgh.

The trail of documents in the box reveal gradual changes over time. Early in the 19th century an alternative to hanging for serious crimes became available, and soon became the preferred outcome. The length of a sentence of transportation was from seven years to life; anyone who returned before the sentence ran out could be hanged.

The archive details the writ issued for each person transported, with a description of their crime. It gives their married status, trade or profession, the sentence, and how they had be- haved in prison. The official orders describing the procedures to be followed in getting the con- vict to the ship, and the clothing they were to be provided with, are surprisingly comprehensive, as the order dispatching one Ann Sutherland illustrates. Interestingly, it shows that children of up to ten years of age could be transported with their mothers.

For petty theft the culprits were flogged through the streets before being incarcerated . Although prisons were a disgrace to civilisation, prisoners were few and the terms of imprisonment were short. The most savage and cruel fate was borne by bankrupts and debtors who were treated more severely than the penal code specified for ordinary prisoners. Dishonest debtors were placed in the stocks, fed on bread and water for a month, and then scourged. As a further mark of disgrace, they were then forced to wear a half yellow, half brown uniform until their debts were finally paid in full. As creditors were obliged to pay 3d a day for the maintenance of their jailed debtors, the former had a strong incentive to insist that jailers made life in prison was made as comfortless as possible. ‘Squalor Carceris’, a life of degradation and dirt, was more a matter of policy than simple neglect. And imprisonment for debt was far from unusual; when John Howard visited Scotland's prisons in 1784 he found that they held more debtors than criminals.

In the Tolbooth in Perth money set aside to feed the criminals and debtors was often spent on alcohol. Felons with sympathetic friends often bribed the jailor to supply ale and whisky for a celebration. When funds were low, a basket could be dropped from the Tolbooth window with a notice attached inscribed ‘pity the poor prisoners' in which compassionate members of the public might place coins, drink, or food. Councillors were wont to frown on such jollities in jail, which were evidently not confined to Perth. In Ayr the Council tried to enforce a rule that ‘prisoners be discharged from holding any feast, treat, or banquet within the prison, and that no person above the number of one shall be allowed to dine or sup with any prisoner’. Towards the end of the 18th century a more liberal and humane attitude prevailed, outlawing the more barbaric punishments—cutting and carving of ears, the public flogging of women, shaving heads and banishment from towns, as well as fines for Sabbath breaking or cursing. These all vanished from the civic code as allowable punishments. Progress indeed!

Jim Ferguson

12 Two excerpts from the order dispatching Ann Sutherland to the Antipodes

13 Book Review: The History of the Perthshire and Kinross-Shire Constabularies

Willie MacFarlane, a Perthshire policeman for thirty years, has written an in- sider’s picture of the Force he knew well, and clearly had a great affection for. As the Honorary Curator of the Tayside Police Museum he was ideally placed to carry out the extensive research it demanded. His narrative carries conviction, and is full of arresting detail and telling anecdote.

The reviewer’s first big surprise is to show that the Constabulary was established in 1839 for one purpose only; to defend the properties of the large landowners of Perthshire from the bands of vagrants (or ‘rogues and vagabonds’) at that time roaming the countryside. An 1833 Police Act gave county ‘Commissioners of Supply’ (made up almost entirely of landowners) the right to set up their own police forces to combat this perceived threat. The Commissioners set up a Police Committee, again composed of landowners, which hurriedly established a rudimentary force of twenty-two constables. Their function as a defence force against intruders was demonstrated by fact that they were located near the county boundaries on all the main roads, and on the outskirts of larger burghs to keep un- ruly townsfolk invading the nearby estates. Mr. MacFarlane gives us an excellent account of the gradual evolution from the original cohort of untrained, unskilled and often befud- dled watchmen into a professional force. He gives most of the credit for this to a succes- sion of Chief Constables, whose strong personalities shine out from his narrative.

The first Chief Constable, appointed three years after its inception, was a military officer with no police experience, but a gentleman whom the landowners could trust would share their interests. As the first in the post, Captain Grove had extraordinary challenges to overcome. The quality of his men was abysmal; he described them as ‘extremely aged, in- firm or illiterate and in many cases all three’. There was no structure of ranks to provide discipline and supervision, and the area to be covered was dauntingly vast to police with a mere handful of constables. It is to his credit that the structure that he designed, and the ethos that pervaded it, proved to be long-lasting. After replacing practically the whole of the original squad with his own appointees, and establishing firm standards of conduct, he appointed sergeants to enforce discipline by frequent unannounced inspections, di- vided the county into six divisions of manageable size, and argued (at the time fruitlessly) for inspectors to be appointed to manage outlying divisions.

But Captain Grove’s basic priorities are revealed in his instructions to sergeants on their dealings with proprietors; they were told that it was important to maintain close contact the Gentlemen of each parish, always to salute them, ‘and generally to ensure that the landed gentry were well satisfied with the service provided.’

John Dodd Esq. Perth Chief Constable 7th November of Perthshire 1884

Dear Sir,

Referring to the appointment of Constables at the request of Noblemen in this County, specially to take cognisance of and watch over their Lordship’s Estates in this County, we beg now in terms of the Police Scotland Act 20 & 21 Vict. Cap. 72 to make formal application on behalf of Montagu MacDonald Yr. of St. Martens for the appointment at his cost of the Constable required.

Yours Faithfully

Even as late as 1884, the above letter to the Chief Constable indicates that the County Po- lice are still regarded primarily as the defenders of the estates of landowners.

So an interesting question is, when was the point at which the Constabulary became a service for the whole community, or did the focus of attention change imperceptibly over the years? Certainly, Mr. MacFarlane shows clearly that by the 1930s, there is a quite different spirit abroad. It was now possible for Charles McGregor, a mere police sergeant, to stand up to constant attempts by the Earl of Breadalbane to have him removed, and with the support of his Chief Constable, win the contest. That outcome would have been un- thinkable in the mid-19th century; so when did the change take place?

Another topic running through Mr. MacFarlane’s account is the occasional abuse of power by constables. From an outpouring of complaints it is clear that in the early years, and even later in the century, ill-trained or ill-intentioned constables greatly abused their powers, often arresting innocent people on trumped-up vagrancy charges. Vagrancy was such an amorphous crime that it was very easy to lay a charge on flimsy evidence. The Kirk Sessions were constant critics of the police. It was alleged that ‘the respectable poor could hardly stray beyond the bounds of their own Burgh, without being falsely arrested for vagrancy’. In one famous case, an elderly woman was jailed for the ‘crime’ of asking for bread for her lame daughter (in these cases, the magistrates invariably sided with the police, not the kirk).

It seems that unjust arrest was a lingering problem, as Mr. MacFarlane’s research showed that even later in the century, far more people were being arrested than were subse- quently brought to court, let alone convicted of any crime.

15 From the earliest days until our own more sober times, drink is a constantly recurring motif in this account. Perhaps, as Mr. MacFarlane hints, it was because there were then a great number of illicit stills in the countryside, and it would have been worth a flask or two to a poteen-maker to have ‘police protection’ for his operation. Whatever the cause, policemen’s drunkenness could sometimes be spectacular; the Chief Constable’s ‘punishment book’ in the 1850s and 1860s records such instances as: ‘Constable drunk and causing a riot at Errol’, ‘Drunk and making a spectacle of himself at Forgandenny railway station’ and ‘Drunk and disorderly at Thornhill, kicking doors and windows.’

But the county constable who liked a drink had a constant preoccupation; according to his onerous conditions of service he was officially on duty at all hours, seven days a week! Even evenings at home in lodgings or a police house, he was considered to be on duty, and drinking on duty was a sackable offence. In the punishment book, drunkenness was a recurring theme, involving senior ranks as well as constables. It seems that repeat offences were common, even after several warnings. It was not until 1912 that the Police (Weekly Rest Day) (Scotland) Bill gave a drinking copper at least one day in which he could imbibe blamelessly. And in earlier days it did not help at all that, in the absence of local police stations, a room in the local pub or coaching inn would be used as a holding pen for a prisoner – together with his (probably) thirsty guardian.

Among the many topics Mr MacFarlane explores are the absence of any kind of pension scheme for older men until the 1890s, forcing them to carry on working despite advancing age and infirmity; the appalling living conditions for constables and their families in earlier times, only grudgingly improved; the huge 20th century increase in the policing role , and the impact of developments in transport and communications technology.

He is acutely aware of the influence of the personality of Chief Constables, for good or ill, on the well-being of the service and its members, and can be trenchant in his judgements; “...just a deeply unhappy man” is his dismissive judgement on one senior figure. In short, a readable, well-researched history, abundantly illustrated, with some remarkable insights into the almost feudal origins of County policing.

A Fine Body of Men; Pitlochry Division in 1910

The History of the Perthshire and Kinross-shire Constabularies is published by Perth and Kinross Libraries 16 Putting Meat on the Bones

It can be very dull at times cataloguing family papers, but a little digging can produce a wealth of background information which brings it all to life.

The family papers of the Watson* and Rannie families, 1845 – 1923 (MS 218) are a very good instance of this. They consist of no less than 153 mostly well-filled diaries of members of the family, which at first sight might seem to be of little interest to people today. There’s also the problem of making sense of who these people were and their relationships to each other; while the diaries themselves can give us clues, often cataloguers have to do a bit of research elsewhere to find the answers.

The main clues that the diaries gave us were names of people – people whose visits were noted, or who were visited, whose opinions and activities were jotted down. Then there were clues about the whereabouts of not just the diary writer, but also of those mentioned. So we knew that Christian Williamson from Leuchars had written one diary in 1847, and others were kept by different Rannie family members who lived around Glencarse. As it was a family at the heart of this collection, it made sense to find out more using the basic tools of family history research. So using Christian in Leuchars in the 1851 census as a starting point, we were able to find out who she was, where she lived and who she was related to. Adding in other names, dates and locations to searches of the different censuses online helped build a picture, one filled in by checking the online births, deaths and marriage records. In the case of the minister, the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoti- canae was useful, giving as it does an outline of careers and family. It was by no means a com- plete family tree, but it was enough to allow us to make more sense of the diaries themselves.

So we found that the Rannie family were originally gentleman farmers of 600 acres at Newton, Glencarse. The diaries commence with John Walker Rannie, farmer, who inherited the farm from his father, and who married Mary Watson, daughter of the Rev. David Watson of Leuchars, Fife. John Rannie had a sister Jemima, and Mary Watson a sister Susan, neither of whom married. They both kept very well-filled diaries religiously from the late 1860s to their deaths in the early 1900s, and it is these that are of most interest, along with that of John Walker Rannie’s son David, their nephew.

David Rannie did very well for himself, becoming a barrister and purchasing Conheath mansion house near Dumfries in 1876 at the age of 23. It seems that he inherited the farm and sold it to buy Conheath. Jemima and Susan joined him there from Newton. In 1893 David married a lady in the Isle of Wight, but continued to commute between Conheath and London until around 1906, when it was apparently sold and he bought a house in Winchester, while Jemima and Susan moved into Dumfries town. Strangely, I have seen no reference to David Rannie’s wife.

17 *No relation to the Author John Rannie’s early diaries from 1845 up to his death in 1865 describe farming in the 19th century, and include details of crop prices and yields, experiments with crop varieties, and accounts relating to day-to-day expenditure and work on the farm over the year. Detailed personal expenditure is also listed. Together, his diaries provide a remarkable insight into Victorian farming life and methods in a period of profound and rapid change.

The diaries of Susan and Jemima, covering some thirty years, are extremely well-filled and provide a wealth of information on the social life of two reasonably well-off Victorian ladies of leisure who never married. Jemima lived at Glencarse and Susan joined her after the death of her father in 1871. The diaries of both women contain accounts of day-to-day life, from the weather to travelling and social engagements such as afternoon teas, lunches and visits to friends.

The censuses show that in Newton and at Conheath there were never less than four or five servants, and even when Jemima and Susan lived at 45 Castle St., Dumfries in their declining years, they still kept two servants. Both women ‘did’ the fashionable Continental Tour through France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland – with David Rannie in 1867 and again in 1876 and 1877. These provide an absorbing insight into how one ‘toured’, with descriptions of places visited. As the women aged, by the turn of the century the diaries became sparser and the handwriting shaky (Susan’s hand was difficult to make out even in her younger days, but improves later on). Both diaries were kept up right until their deaths.

Later diaries of David Rannie describe his legal work in London and Oxford, club life and social life in Dumfries and London, the sights of London and travel between Oxford, London and Winchester – along with the daily weather reports of course. Susan and Jemima both visited London from time to time and describe the life they lived there and the friends they visited. David Rannie’s diaries continued right up to his death in Winchester in October 1923. Hidden in this mass of material are many little gems which could easily be missed. Besides the diaries there are other items of much interest, such as David Rannie’s sparsely filled exercise book from 1868 to 1871, with Greek translations and other matters, a notebook on the early life of Queen Victoria and her transcribed letters up to the death of Prince Albert, a notebook of sermons, religious texts and prayers, 1876-1902 belonging to Susan Watson, and some incomplete family history charts. There is also a very small notebook which gives details of an eight-day train journey in Britain, giving precise times of arrival and departure from all intermediate stations!

So it is not just a question of listing 153 diaries which at first sight look virtually identical in content. A little browsing, and using the internet to discover family history through births, deaths and marriages and the use of census surveys, reveals the daily life and travels of a well-to-do Victorian family, probably typical of many, but not always available in such detail. Indeed, it pays to look for the meat as well as the bones! Graham Watson

The Old Kirk at Rait

This unused postcard from c.1900 is of the old kirk at Rait. There has been a church here th st since the 13 century as a chapel of Scone Abbey. By 21 April 1491, it was described as the parish church. During the times of the ongoing disputes between Perth and Dundee as to which was senior in the Convention of Royal Burghs and arising from discussions held at three meetings of the Convention held in Glasgow in February 1579, they thought a way of settlement had been reached. ‘The Kirk of Raitt’ was designated as a meeting place for representatives of the litigants ‘on the Wednesday immediately preceding Palme Sonday next’. Three Commissioners were chosen from each side, with a somewhat complicated method set in place for appointing an ourisman or chairman. They duly met on the appointed day but singularly and not surprisingly, failed to agree.

It is interesting that the kirk of Rait was chosen for the venue, presumably as being half way between both towns. Perth and Dundee had other issues such as which town held the admiralty of the River Tay but that was not settled until 26th November 1602 with Dundee having jurisdiction from Invergowrie and Balmerino to the mouth of the river and Perth having jurisdiction from Invergowrie and Balmerino to Perth.

During the Cromwellian period, General Monck’s troopers camped at the Swirlhead in the Sidlaws above Rait, and were intent upon carrying out demolition works at that bastion for Royalty, the castle of Fingask. However, they left the castle well alone and are said to have satisfied themselves with setting fire to this old church in Rait and on the Fingask estate, dedicated originally to St Peter. In any event the parish of Rait amalgamated with Kilspindie in the 1600s. The kirkyard was the burial place for many generations, but few gravestones are seen today. Its adjacent glebe still forms part of the lands held by Kilspin- die and Rait parish church. Donald M. Abbott, FSA Scot., Invergowrie

The Case of the Missing Stipend

In December 1831 James Brodie, City Chamberlain for Perth, received a letter from Thomas Nelson the Minister at Auchtergaven in a tone that indicated some distress. Nelson refers to the date of the call being delivered into his hand, 13th September 1830, and says ‘although my settlement was from circumstances well known to you, unduly delayed I am still liable to supply the parish with Sermons’ He requests payment of his salary ‘as I am now in want of money' (P&KCArchive PE58 Bundle 71). Why was Nelson writing to Brodie and why had he not received his salary? Also why was the confirmation of his appointment unduly delayed?

Nelson was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in April 1810 and presented to the parish of Little Dunkeld in 1824 (what he was doing in the interim I am unable to ascertain). However, as he had no knowledge of Gaelic the church courts refused to sanction his settlement. The following year he was presented to the parish of Muckhart but again his appointment was not Confirmed, and he then seems to have enlisted the help of the Perthshire MP Adam Hay to help him obtain a parish. Hay intervened with the 4th Duke of Atholl who was the Parish's' Heritor in Chief, and who duly recommended Nelson for the parish to the King as was then a standard practice. Nelson was duly presented with the living by William IV in September 1830. The archive at Blair Castle contains a letter from Hay to the Duke which states; ‘you have made a poor man a very grateful one, in the offer of the place of the assistant at Autchtergaven which Mr Nelson most gladly accepts ’ (Atholl Es- tates Archive NRA(S) 234Box6992 & 3 Letter no 399).

So where does the problem lie? Back to James Brodies' correspondence and a letter to James Brodie from William Chalmers addressed Dear Nephew and dated 26th May 1831. The letter discusses the Auchtergaven Cause, saying that this has been in- troduced into the business of the General Assembly, however I have no doubt it will be instantly decided in favour of Mr Nelson as it ought to be. In another letter, Chalmers goes on to discuss the matter of the crop of the Glebe of Auchtergaven and whether they are due to himself or to Mr Nelson and saying that as Nelson cannot take any concern about the Glebe until his ordination it would be proper to get the Glebes ploughed and sown in proper time (Perth and Kinross Archive PE58 bundle 78) .This indicates Nelson had still not been confirmed in the living at Auchtergaven some seven or eight months after being appointed by the crown.

Auchtergaven Parish, W. of the Tay some 7 miles N. of Perth (from Stovie’s map, P&KC Archive).

William Chalmers was the minister at Auchtergaven until 1808 when he retired due to ill health but continued to receive his full stipend of £150 per annum plus an al- lowance of £25 per annum for forgoing the use of the glebe and manse. He appears to have paid the assistant some £40 plus £5 for Communion elements a year, thus retaining £105, a considerable sum at that time. A series of assistants was appointed thereafter, the longest serving of these, John Burns, dying in 1830. To find out what happened thereafter it was necessary to visit the National Archives and access the records of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. These records (NAS 02024 CH1/2/154/1/00002) tell of a tale of dissent in the parish over the appointment of Mr Nelson.

Following the death of Reverend Burns , Chalmers wrote to the Presbyery of Dunkeld stating that as he is ‘weakly in health’ he authorises the Presbytery to make application to the Duke of Atholl, that he ‘may communicate with the Crown’ and recommend a fit person to be assistant and successor at Auchtergaven. He also states he is willing to assign to the successor the manse of Auchtergaven ( newly built in 1829) plus the garden and glebe and also agrees to pay him from his stipend £40 plus £5 for communion elements, ‘which sum I was in the use of pay- ing to my former assistants’. As we have read above, Thomas Nelson was duly appointed by the Crown in September 1830.

21 However, it appears from the records of the Presbytery that at a meeting on the 18th November that year, the majority of the members agreed to consider the appointment but rejected a motion to read a petition from some of the inhabitants of Auchtergaven ( more on this later). A member of the Presbytery, a Reverend Mr Butter, dissented, and complained to the Presbytery of Perth and Stirling . Another motion that it is incompetent and inexpedient for the Presbyery to sustain the call of Thomas Nelson was not seconded and the Presbytery voted to sustain Nelson's call. The rejected motion appears to have been on the grounds that Chalmers was now fit and should resume his duties, a view that was also contained in the petition of the parishioners.

The petitioners appealed to the synod at Stirling, but in the meantime, on the 25th January 1831, the Presbytery at Dunkeld examined Mr Nelson on his knowledge of theology and various other aspects of his training and education and was satisfied with the result.

The presbytery also appointed a committee to examine the complaints of the petitioners and their findings were submitted to the synod at Stirling. The committee upheld the decision of the Presbytery to sustain the call of Mr Nelson.

The reasons for the appeal by the Reverend Mr Butter of Lethendy are rather com- plex:

He feels that an appointment of an assistant and successor is not necessary— presumably he agrees with the Auchtergaven parishioners about William Chalmers. He also states that even if an assistant and successor were necessary, the appointment of Thomas Nelson is inexpedient as being opposed to the edification of the parish, which should be the only concern in making an appointment. He goes on to state that the call to Nelson is defective and illegal.

This may be early signs of opposition to the patronage involved in appointments and which resulted in the Great Disruption more than a decade later, but the language is difficult to interpret.

The basic complaints made by several elders and some 257 parishioners were that the people of the parish had had the burden of the maintenance and support of an assistant and successor and that they believe that the Reverend William Chalmers is fit to and should resume his duties in the parish, and had written to him inviting him to do so: and that as Mr Chalmers was capable of resuming his duties, the appointment of Mr Nelson was not necessary.

It appears that the General Assembly dismissed all the appeals and Reverend Nelson was confirmed in his appointment to Auchtergaven in May 1831. The reports also seem to indicate that William Chalmers is in very poor health ,and at the time was between seventy and eighty years old.

Despite this confirmation Nelson was still unpaid in December of 1831 and forced to appeal to Chalmers nephew James Brodie. What else was going on?

During all this appeal process, the 4th Duke of Atholl died, leaving his estate I trusteeship as his heir was not competent, possibly due to learning difficulties or mental ill health (no one seems to know). Whatever the cause, the result would have been that the activities of the estate would be in suspension for a time.

Two further clues are to be found in Brodie's papers: a letter from T. Graham, factor to the Duke of Atholl on 16th April 1831, expressing surprise that the stipend for Auchtergaven had not been paid, as Mr Condie had been instructed to do this some time ago. He says ‘I have written to Mr Condie this day and hope that the payment will be made on Monday’. Condie wrote to Brodie two days later, saying that he had had instructions to pay the stipend provided Chalmers was duly authorised to receive it.

No further correspondence on the matter can be found until a letter dated 15th November 1831 to Brodie from Thomas Graham saying ‘Sir, if you will send up a discharge for the Auchtergaven Money Stipend due to Mr Chalmers to the Auchtergaven Inn on the 21st or 23rd crrt., it will be paid.’

As we have heard, whether that payment was made or not, Thomas Nelson still had to appeal for his money as late as 29thof December that year. So all that can be surmised from this is that Brodie and Chalmers had nevertheless withheld this man's salary.

William Chalmers died in 1832 and Thomas Nelson automatically inherited the full ministry (and presumably the full salary). He remained the minister in Auchtergaven until his death in 1852. He was the author of the very detailed second statistical account in 1838, which shows a more detailed view of the parish social and economic structure than that written by William Chalmers in 1793.

Amelia Wansborough

TEN TAYSIDERS Tayside’s Forgotten Figures, selected by the Abertay Historical Society, with an introduction by Billy Kay.

Encounter great figures from politics, business, medicine, science and many other fields—the Montrose-based slave-trader who later became an abolitionist; the lady philanthropist who founded Dundee’s University; the Atholl Crimean War hero—each one has a remarkable tale to tell.

Abertay Historical Society invites you to these book launches:

Friday 15 April, 5.30pm Saturday 14 May, 2pm A K Bell Library, Atholl Country Life Museum,

Perth. Blair Atholl

Speakers include Steve Connelly Speakers include John Kerr

Volunteers Wanted! Discover hidden treasures in the Archive.

Friends who might enjoy spending a day or two in the search room, taking charge of a selected box of documents to identify any interesting running themes and highlight papers of particular interest. The outcome could be an article in the Newsletter in the ‘What’s in a Box? series—or if you prefer, compiling notes for one.

Interested? Phone 01738 477012,, email [email protected], or come to the Archive in person.