RECORD ROUND-UP
What’s available online and in the archives
Ancestry
Ancestry has several record sets relating to Fife, drawn from Fife Archives. You can search criminal registers covering 1910–1931 via bit.
ly/anc-fife; the register from 1912 to 1923 includes photographs. You can browse images of the Fifeshire Constabulary Criminal Register within this collection, which has been split into four time periods: 1910–1920, 1923–1930, 1928–1931 and 1930–1931.
British Newspaper Archive
The BNA has many Scottish newspapers for you to search, and these include details of various criminal trials: britishnewspaperarchive.co. uk. The newspapers are also available through findmypast.co.uk if you’re a ‘Pro’ subscriber.
Findmypast
Findmypast has the Scotland Prison Registers Index 1828–1884, taken from records at the National Archives of Scotland (now the National Records of Scotland): bit.ly/fmp-prison
registers. Transcripts offer details such as name, age, birth year, birth county/country, occupation, residence, crime, prison (and prison location), archive and archive reference. To get the full record after locating an individual in the index, you would need to go to the NRS or order a full transcription, for a fee, from Maxwell Ancestry ( maxwellancestry.com) or Scottish Indexes ( scottishindexes.com).
TheGenealogist
TheGenealogist has a good collection of transportation records, drawn from the series HO10 and HO11 at The National Archives. The List of Convicts in Tasmania, from HO11, has several entries relating to Scottish criminals who were transported to Australia – including Ann Bryan, who was convicted in Scotland and received a life sentence in 1817. These records can help tell you when your ancestors were sentenced and transported; what ship they were transported on; when they arrived in Australia; and when their sentence expired: bit.ly/tg-transport.
The Mitchell Library
Glasgow City Archives, at the Mitchell, includes several police records, such as Glasgow Police Court books for the early 19th century (B3/1/1/ 1–10) and circuit-court indictments for 1896– 1977 (SR22/53/2–3), although many records only survive for a limited period (for example the Dunbartonshire Constabulary criminal photographs register, which covers 1903–1914). Unfortunately the Glasgow records have not been digitised or indexed, so you will need to visit the Mitchell and be prepared to spend time going through the material to find the information that you need. The library has created an informative guide to Glasgow criminal records available at bit.ly/mitchell-criminals.
National Records of Scotland
Family historians can’t afford to miss the NRS’s guide at bit.ly/nrs-criminals. It looks at both institutions, such as the burgh courts, High Court of Justiciary and sheriff courts, and individuals – criminals and prisoners. It also explores transportation – only prisoners who had been tried at the High Court of Justiciary could be sentenced to be transported. In addition the guide details the different record sets that you can consult at the NRS building in Edinburgh, and you can locate records using the NRS online catalogue: bit.ly/nrs-catalogue.