courts and prisons

[duck]

Does anybody have any knowledge of the court/police/prison system in Glasgow of the early 20th century?
Continuing research into my family I have come across a poor law application in which it states about one particular ancestor: "1913 Boy xxxx sent to prison one week for drunkenness" He was just 16 at the time and was killed in the war four years later!
Would prison have been Duke Street or Barlinnie, or were there any other smaller ones? Would it have been a justice of the peace court, a magistrate or a sheriff court? I've tried fathoming out Scran and NAS but just keep going round in circles. Would there be a record of his court appearance or prison record anywhere?
His address was Anderston, by the way.

[Vinny the Mackem]

I imagine it would have been a police court or burgh court, usually attached to the local cop shop. I don't know exactly where in Anderston there was one (there used to be a fantastic site of the history of Anderston, but I'm buggered if I can find it).

Couple of things that might be of interest, even though it doesn't answer your question!

http://www.scottishjustices.org/index/history-of-justices-of-the-peace

http://townhead.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/the-last-judgment-all-rise-as-district-court-hears-its-final-case-after-102-years.html

[glasgowken]

The police museum in Bell St might be able to help.

http://www.policemuseum.org.uk

[The Egg Man]

Anderston's first police act was passed on 26th May 1826. The prison was built in the same year. The police started out in the Methodist Church in Cadogan St and stayed there till the 1880s. In 1846 it's recorded that the staff numbered 28 and a report in 1853 tells us the greatest number of prisoners was at any time was 3.

Another police station was opened in Lancefield St in 1870. The National Assistance Board building in Cranston St, adjacent to the police station occupied what used to be the police court for the area.

The above is precised (is that the word?) from Simply Anderston.


The website used to be at http://www.anderston.ukpals.com/ and it gets a mention at http://www.glesga.ukpals.com/profiles/anderston.htm

[br-cmr]

The website used to be at http://www.anderston.ukpals.com

That site doesn't seem to exist any more, but you can find an archive from 2008 on the Wayback Machine http://web.archive.org/web/200805170601 ... kpals.com/

[duck]

Great stuff - lots of reading there. Thanks very much guys

p.s. how do I get my avatar back!!!

[the researcher]

Does anybody have any knowledge of the court/police/prison system in Glasgow of the early 20th century?
Continuing research into my family I have come across a poor law application in which it states about one particular ancestor: "1913 Boy xxxx sent to prison one week for drunkenness" He was just 16 at the time and was killed in the war four years later!
Would prison have been Duke Street or Barlinnie, or were there any other smaller ones? Would it have been a justice of the peace court, a magistrate or a sheriff court? I've tried fathoming out Scran and NAS but just keep going round in circles. Would there be a record of his court appearance or prison record anywhere?
His address was Anderston, by the way.

try the hm general register house in edinburgh as am sure they hold court records its across the road from waverley station on princess street there is also a seperate department at the west end of princes street but which one holds these records am unsure google HM general register house for their website and send an email they will be able to tell you whether they hold these records or not.
i would have thought the archive centre in glasgow would hold the records you are looking for, when i worked at the archive centre in markinch i collated and put onto a computer database police court sentencing details that were in a large book detailing incidents such as those described about your relative.
hope this info is of use

[The Egg Man]

"An Act for regulating the Police of the Burgh of Anderston and Lands of Lancefield and others, adjoining the said Burgh,in the County of Lanark, paving, cleansing, and lighting the Streets and Passages of the said District, and for erecting a Court House and Gaol therein.

Printed in English on paper and disbound.

Date - 26 May 1826

Condition - Good."

on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ACT-PARLIAMENT-BURG ... 3f0ab5214b

[robertpool]

1912

Police Office,
Eastern, 15 Tobago St.
Southern, Oxford St.
Northern, 19 Maitland St.
St. Rollox, Tennant St.
Queen's Park, Craigie St.
Maryhill, Gairbraid Avenue.
Marine, 19 M'Alpine St.(Anderston)

Police Station,
Dalmamock Road.
Camlachie.
Stanley Street, Paisley Road.
South Wellington Street.
Camperdown Street.
Springburn, New Keppochhill Rd.
Hillhead, Byres Road.

BURGH COURTS. POLICE COURTS.

Held every lawful day at 9 a.m. in the Central
Police Office, St. Andrew's Square, Glasgow, and
in the District Police Offices, Southern, Eastern,
Western, Northern, St. Rollox, Queen's Park, and
Maryhill respectively.

H.M. PRISON, CATHEDRAL SQUARE.
Governor, William B. Buglass; chaplain. Rev. John
Alexander, M.A. ; Episcopalian visiting clergyman,
Rev. John M'Bain ; R.C. visiting clergyman,
Rev. Raphael Nickson ; medical officer. Dr. James
Devon; assistant, Dr . Joseph Green ; matron,
Katherine Allardyce ; steward, John Wighton ; head
warder, Andrew Sharp.

H.M. GENERAL PRISON, BARLINNIE,
NEAR GLASGOW.
Governor, James Cram ; deputy governor. Captain
R. P. H. Monro ; chaplain. Rev. David Watson
R.C. visiting clergyman, Rev. Wm. J. Molloy
Episcopalian visiting clergyman, Rev. J. T. Smith
medical officer, William J. H. Sinclair, M.B. , CM.
assist, medical officer, Edward B. Weir ; steward,
P. R. Kinnoch ; first-class clerks, Robert Young and
Geo. D. Stobie ; head warder, David Gardner

[Vinny the Mackem]

Thanks to Robert, finding this became easy. This is the old Marine station in McAlpine Street.

From the New Glasgow Society website.
http://www.newglasgowsociety.org/photo/marine-police-station-mcalpine?xg_source=activity

The building further up the street is still there (well, at least it is on Google Street View!) so that should give you exact location perspective.

[robertpool]

The building belongs to R.M.Easdale (i think John Robertson's sister worked there in the late 1980's or early 1990's.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertpool ... 227453304/

[duck]

Thanks very much to everybody for their help and suggestions. Very much appreciated one and all. I did as Ken suggested and contacted the police museum and have just received a great reply from a very helpful guy, whom I'd better leave annonymous. He wrote,
"Hi David,
Thanks for contacting us.
The fact is that being jailed for being drunk tells its own story. This would not have been his first drunk charge. Small fines were the norm, but only if he was a repeat offender or could not pay the fine would he be jailed. So he obviously had a few previous charges like this.
He would have been locked up in the police station that covered the area he was found drunk, so it is hard to guess unless you find more information.
He would have appeared at the local police court in the divisional police HQ where he was arrested and jailed in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow.
Although he lived in Hydepark St., his local police office was the Western Divisional HQ in Cranston Street (photo attached). The Marine Police office in McAlpine St. was for offences relating to the docks and shipping.
Forget police records of this incident...they are long gone. The myth that police records are kept forever is just that....even today they have a 5 year destruction policy !
This is a very minor offence so I would suggest that your only source would be newspapers at the time. This could be a lengthy search as minor offences would only be mentioned in local area papers if at all.
Sorry to be a bit negative, but the newspapers are your only hope and they are kept in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. With so little information you would be required to go through the newspapers yourself....few are indexed.
Hope this helps.
Regards"

I suppose after a stint in Barlinnie he would have been a bit more prepared for the horrors that awaited him in Gallipoli and Egypt!!

[Sunflower]

"... you would be required to go through the newspapers yourself....few are indexed...

Google's news archive seems to have indexed a lot of the Glasgow Herald. (My experience so far has been that the same search doesn't always find the same things, but that makes it even more exciting...)

[robertpool]

I don't know why the Western District Police Office was not listed under 'Police' as the rest were, but l did find it in 'Cranston Street'. Located at number 55 Cranston Street where Lancefield Street intersects between numbers 45 and 55; Hydepark Street intersects Cranston Street a bit further back between numbers 9 and 11. He would have lived very close to the Police Office. What was the boys name?

1911 - 1912

Hydepark Street

15 Stewart, A. W
29 Clelland, Jas
39 Spence, J.

Catherine place here

47 Boag, Thomas & Co., Ltd.
(Incorp Allan & Chisholm)
51 Watson, Wm. cooper
53 The Clyde Export Packing Co.
61 Cleland & Thornburn
75 Bilsland Bros, bakers
87 Aspin, Jas. & Sons
89, 97 Lowrie, W. P. &Co. Ltd
105 Gardner, G. P. & Co
109, 111 Stewart, Thomas & Co
119 Model Lodging-house
127, 113 Phillips, John, & Co
131 Carey, J.
144 Clydesdale Lodging House
138 Mathews, Maclay, & Mansons
130 Napier Brothers, Limited
108 Dixon & Corbitt and R. S. Newall & Co., Ltd
106 Guinness, Arthur, Son, & Co
104 Thomson, Aikman & Co
Ross, W. C.
94 Reid, Macfarlane, & Co. Ltd
84 Campbell, R. & A. wool brks
72 Livingstone, A., & Co
68 Reid & Robertson
64 Ritchie, Alex
60a Forbes, A. joiner
58 Sun Ventilating Co.
Adam & Gray
56 Cumming, Peter
52 Wilson, James, pawnbroker
42 M'Grory
24 Hydepark Industrial School
8 Sidwell, A.