Key records for researching Glasgow criminal ancestors

NEWSPAPERS

Local newspapers from the 1920s and 1930s, including the Glasgow Herald, Evening Citizen, Evening News and Evening Times, along with district newspapers such as the Glasgow Eastern Standard, are available on microfilm at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow; some have been digitised and are accessible via the British Newspaper Archive (BNA; britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) and, for Pro-level subscribers, Findmypast ( findmypast.co.uk). The library has a printed annual index to the Herald, which lists the criminal trials reported by the paper each year by prisoner’s surname.

National papers the Scotsman and the Sunday Post have also been digitised and are on BNA and Findmypast; the Scotsman is also available through archive.scotsman.com (two-day access costs £7.95). These newspapers frequently reported on gang cases in Glasgow, especially in the late 1920s and 1930s.

PRISON REGISTERS

Registers of Barlinnie Prison and Duke Street Prison are held at National Records of Scotland (NRS) in Edinburgh. These provide details of every admitted prisoner, including the date of admission, offence committed, sentence imposed and date of release, along with personal information such as age, height, place of birth, current address, occupation, religious affiliation, level of education and number of previous terms of imprisonment served. Entries in the registers for each prison are cross-referenced, making it possible to trace the prisoners’ criminal careers. Registers for the years up to 1930 are open to researchers (Barlinnie: 1882–1930; Duke Street: 1845–1930). The Barlinnie registers (and associated indexes) have been digitised, and the digital images can be consulted in the NRS searchrooms using the ‘Virtual Volumes’ system. Registers and indexes for the years from 1931 onwards are currently closed.