Rare collection of faces with a troubled past is up for auction

Known Inebriates Book from 1905 was circulated around the bars of Dundee

They were the miscreants and drunkards whose pictures were circulated around Dundee’s bars, warning publicans of their unruly behaviour.

The more than 40 faces will have become familiar to those charged with keeping public order in the city.

Placed together in a handy book, the mugshots and charge sheets of the individuals showed who was banned from bars in the early 20th Century.

A total of 35 women and six men appear in the notices.

Published in 1905, each page depicts those convicted under the Inebriates Act of 1898 three times in a 12-month period.

The Known Inebriates Book was circulated around the city’s bars, and landlords could be fined up to £20 for serving those depicted.

The rare collection is now to go up for auction.

Each page, along with a copy of the City and Royal Burgh of Dundee Licensing (Scotland) Act 1903, describes an offender with name, address, employment and distinguishing marks and two mugshots.

The document came from the bar of CJ Strachan in Dundee’s Small’s Wynd. Run by the same family since 1853 it was demolished in 1957 to make way for a Dundee University campus expansion.

It goes under the hammer at Curr & Dewar’s Dundee saleroom on Tuesday.

Auctioneer Steven Dewar said: “It’s a fascinating snapshot of the time, these are all hard-working people living in a hard time. The large number of women who worked in the thriving jute mills of Dundee perhaps explains the number of women in the mugshots.

“Female employment being higher than male employment meant they earned the money and led the city to be known as she town”.

Steven added: “I have only had one other copy of the book before and it sold for £1,500 a few years ago”.

Singer-songwriter Michael Marra immortalised the women in the Inebriates Book with his song Muggy Shaw.

Muggy, a fictional character, was born after Michael was shown a copy of the documents and he amalgamated them into the character who was banned from all the pubs in Dundee.

John Reynolds “had been giving himself up to the drink”.

Left: Margaret Devannah found her way into the Known Inebriates Book at the age of 16 and died at 46. Above: Harriet Croll, a mill worker from Fife who lived in Dundee, was number one in the register.