Tales of Crime in Fraserburgh

While she and the said George Lambe were together in the kitchen bed beside them

There are many wonderful stories to investigate in our collections. The following are just a few tales of crime from our Fraserburgh Records.

Church Courts

From the early modern period through to the 19th century, church courts operated alongside the civil authorities. They focused on a range of offences, many that we would no longer view as crimes today, such as: irregular marriages, sex outside of marriage, adultery, drunkenness, those swearing or slandering, abortion, and disrespecting the sabbath. These acts would have been monitored locally and discipline handed out by the local Kirk Session. The Kirk Sessions acted in conjunction with other civil and ecclesiastical bodies within the parish by providing education, poor relief and public health.

[Kirk Session records are available via the National Records of Scotland on their Scotland's People website: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/]

This entry from the Fraserburgh Kirk Sessions is dated 30th July 1739 and shows a woman called Janet brought before the court for the sin of the scandal of fornication with a soldier. She is requested to make her appearance the next Lords Day to pay her penalty.

Likewise, this entry from 8th October 1743 shows a woman in front of the session for 'scandalous' behaviour. Margaret Shepherd was accused as having gone away for ‘some days’ with a soldier. 

 

The case below relates to Nancy Willox. It begins on 14th September 1817 and is not concluded until several meetings later on the 5th October 1817, with fairly lengthy entries at each meeting.

In this case, Nancy declared George Lambe as the father of her child. George Lambe, a married man and servant at Kinglasser, denies this and any criminal connection with Nancy Willox. The next entry of 21st September continues as follows:

Compeared also Nancy Willox who persisted in affirming that she could give no other as father of the child than the said George Lambe, she declared that she had been servant at Kinglasser along with him from last Martinmas up to the 14th instance. That Alexander Thomson was during last winter another man servant at Kinglasser, that Betty Burnett was also servant along with her at Kingslasser during that winter, and that the said Alexander Thomson and Betty Burnett knew of a criminal intercourse being carried on between her and the said George Lambe for 3 or 4 months; that they were frequently sitting at the fire side carrying on conversation, while she and the said George Lambe were together in the kitchen bed beside them'.

The following entries include testaments from fellow servants Betty Burnett and Alexander Thomson, who confirm such a relationship and discuss George’s visits to see Nancy whilst she milked the cows. Reading on, it was extremely irritating to discover that, despite all the evidence and the details of their private relationship that Nancy Willox had to share, George Lambe was allowed privacy for his confession. The entry from 5th October 1817 reads:

being interrogated as to the truth of the confession of his guilt, at length, promised to answer with the Moderator in private on the subject

 

Ordnance Survey from NLS Maps, showing Kinglasser

Police Courts

The registers kept by the Courts often appear in our 19 Aberdeenshire burgh collections. The registers that we hold for Fraserburgh Police Court date from 1881 – 1924 and 1958-1975.

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The type of offences most commonly appearing are:

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• committing a nuisance or using obscene language; ​

• being drunk of any carriage, horse, cattle or steam engine​

• riding a horse or driving a cart or carriage furiously, recklessly or carelessly; ​

• being drunk and incapable; ​

• reckless use of a sling or catapult, throwing stones, making bonfires or throwing fireworks to the danger or annoyance of residents; ​

• loitering on paths or streets: probably targeting the homeless or travellers

There are quite a few crimes we wouldn’t expect to see now, such as reckless use of a sling or catapult, and some that we probably would see but in a modern context. For example, driving a cart or carriage furiously would be akin to speeding or dangerous driving today.

All the entries from the above pages are from the 7th September 1903 and come under either: breach of the peace, S. 380 or drunk and incapable. The list of names is long and varied, and the volume on this date alone suggested that there could have been some sort of fight or brawl. However, looking at the newspaper report of 8th September 1903 from the P&J, we can see that their crimes are separate. The newspaper reports are a very useful way of adding extra information and context to some of these crimes.

The entries on the pages for 29th August 1910 were also lengthy. Looking at a local newspaper for the time, The Fraserburgh Advertiser, answered my question of why there were so many charges on this date. It also confirms why there were so many charges on the previous slides page in 1903 as well...it was the end of the fishing season:

 
We’ve found that these registers often give information that would not necessarily be found elsewhere in written evidence. The two examples shown below are for Hugh McLeod and Thomas Philips.

 

Hugh McLeod was brough to the Court in offence of the 331st clause of the General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act 1862, which was the suppression of vagrants, whilst Thomas Philips was brought against the 23rd clause of the Pub Houses Amendment (Scotland) Act 1862, which was for someone in a state of intoxication and unable to take care of himself. Both Hugh and Thomas are labelled as tramp or pedlar without fixed residences. These records may be one of only a few pieces of recorded evidence of where these individuals were located at this time.

Police Wanted Posters

Our service holds the Grampian Police Collections, which was transferred to us by Police Scotland in 2016 and contains the records of Grampian Police and its predecessor forces: County Constabularies, City Police and Scottish North East Counties Constabulary (SNECC). A highlight from this collection is a set of around 800 information request notices or, as we call them, wanted posters. The posters were, for the most part, stored by officers at the Dufftown Police Station in Banffshire, but they were sent there by forces across the UK to track down criminals, missing persons and stolen goods. By the late 19th century, the rail network offered criminals an excellent means of escaping the vicinity of their crimes, which meant that police forces had to work together across the country to keep an eye out for suspected offenders. ​​

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The posters include the below from Kincardineshire Constabulary, requesting information about James Morrison, aged 16 years, native of Fraserburgh, and David Simpson, aged 17 years, native of Forfarshire. They were both deserters from Rossie Reformatory for Boys. James and David were suspected of theft of clothing and personal effects from a farm of Newton near Laurencekirk in 1901.

The poster gives a good description of both boys – James is described as 5ft 6 with dark brown hair, blue eyes, a fresh complexion but pale, of medium build with a forward stoop. He has a slight limp, due to a previously broken leg. He gets off lightly for his description compared to David, who is described as having a sallow complexion and slovenly appearance. It was thought they would continue north to gain employment lifting potatoes but they didn’t make it too far, being apprehended in Stonehaven and sentenced to three weeks imprisonment.

The example below relates to the Fish Curing Yard on Denmark Street, which lost two ships’ logs, a herring net, six herring net buoys, a life jacket, 34 brass pipes and burners of flare lamps, and three jute bags, to thieves George Burnett Middleton and Samuel McIntosh, both pedlars in their 30s. Thankfully, the supplies were all recovered in a broker’s shop in Peterhead, where they had been sold by the two men. The original document states the men had left Fraserburgh on 21st April 1929 and there was no trace of them, but we can see from the note in red on the left and an additional document, that they were apprehended 3 months later in July 1929.

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Unfortunately, that wasn’t the beginning or end of Mr Middleton’s thieving woes. The newspapers are littered with details of his offences and, by 1939, he is described as being 'one of the worst characters in town'.

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Records can be viewed in our Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives searchroom by appointment: https://sites.aberdeencity.gov.uk/AAGM/plan-your-visit/archives

By Kim Smith, Archivist