Face put to boy, 10, whipped by the police in Fife 134 years ago

‘Fascinating but disturbing’ story brings memories flooding back for grandson

A face can finally be put to the tale of a 10-year-old boy whipped by police as punishment more than 130 years ago.

The Courier’s story about John McNeill has brought family memories flooding back for his 82-year-old grandson.

John “Jock” McNeil, who lives in Lincolnshire, was alerted by a family member to the “fascinating but disturbing” story of his grandfather’s brush with the law 134 years ago.

The story came to light after artefacts were uncovered during recent refurbishment work at Fife Police Museum.

A Register of Juvenile Male Offenders revealed John was to be given six “stripes” for an unrecorded crime.

Modern-day Fife officers placed flowers on John’s grave in an act of atonement and the tale triggered grandson Jock to venture into his attic to find a long lost portrait of the man himself.

“At first I didn’t believe it when I was told,” said Jock. “It’s fascinating, though somewhat disturbing to learn what happened to him as a boy but they were much harder and often more brutal times.”

Sadly, neither the police or John’s descendants in Fife could find a photograph of John when the news first broke but Jock has now unearthed what is thought to be the only known image of the whipped boy.

He said: “The photograph of my grandfather John McNeil was given to me around 15 years ago, following the death of a family member. It’s amazing to think the grown man in the image was once the young boy who suffered the punishment.

“I have a very vivid memory of sitting on his shoulders, being no older than three, and him walking me up from Lochore, where I lived, to the junction at Lochgelly to see the tram cars.

“All I can remember is holding on tight to his chin and being amazed at the sight of the trams and buses.

“It must have been some walk for my grandfather up the hill to Lochgelly with me on his shoulders.”

Jock said the story had also answered a few questions thrown up by his research into his own family tree and rekindled a desire to revisit Fife for the first time in many years, to see his grandfather’s grave in Ballingry Cemetery.

He added: “Being from a large family we are scattered far and wide and I’ve lost touch with many in Scotland.

“I moved away from Lochore and worked in the military police in Singapore before becoming a police officer and later a police dog handler in the Hertfordshire force for 20 years – eventually coming to live out my retirement in the village of Mumby in Lincolnshire.”

Jock said he now wants to provide the police museum, which rekindled those memories of his now famous grandfather, with a copy of the portrait.

“It would be nice for them and everyone else to finally be able to put a face to the story of that little Fife boy that just happened to be my grandfather.”

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It’s amazing to think the grown man in the image was once the young boy who suffered the punishment. JOCK MCNEIL

Jock McNeil with a photograph of himself as a toddler with his grandfather, whose punishment records and grave are also pictured.