LAND DISPUTE

8th Oct 1483. Sir William Doby, Chaplain, has lodged a formal complaint against Thomas Kerr for the "wrongful vexation and inquisition and disturbance of the said William in the breaking and joising [enjoying the use of] of 4 acres of land lying beside the town of Lanark".

EXPENSIVE TAXES

1549: The Ayr Burgh Accounts show that it cost a massive £10 [pounds Scots] in travelling expenses for Adam Wallace to take the stent [tax money] to Edinburgh. To put this in context, it had cost £8 to make up the stent, and James Kennedy had been paid £1-2s-6d for the tax-gathering in the rural area outside the Burgh.

SCHOOLMASTER FINALLY PAID

12th Dec 1656. The Schoolmaster of Irvine, Ayrshire, is to have his unpaid fees paid at last. The Magistrates and council have instructed the Burgh Treasurer, Robert Taylor, to make the payments.

The Schoolmaster, Hugh Ross, was appointed in April 1652, to run the school and be doctor [= schoolteacher] to the pupils. He made an appeal to the council for his back payment, saying that otherwise he would have to go begging in the town! His implied threat seems to have worked miracles.

BRIDGE APPEAL DOES NOT APPEAL

On 29th October, 1663, the Synod of Dunkeld appointed a collection to be made for the Bridge of Almond, Perthshire [which had been built on or soon after 1619, at the instigation of John Grahame of Balgowan].

This bridge was far from most people, and the appeal did not do very well. The Logierait kirk-session reported that the collection had "been yet delayed, the people being most unwilling to give anything". There must have been at least one later appeal, for in April 1669, the kirk-session of Rattray made a collection amounting to 4 pounds, which they delivered to the collector, David Drummond.

DOCTORING COSTS!

1st Nov. 1664, Perth: Mr. Alexander Balneavis has signed an obligation to pay to Mr. John Moor, Doctor of Physick, before Candlemas 1665, the sum of 40 pounds, for the cure of a pain and impediment in the left knee of Mr. William Suord, schoolmaster at Tibbermuir, which the said Mr. John had undertaken, payment of the sum to be made whether Mr. William died or lived.

[EDITOR - We note as an addendum of this story, that by 8th February, 1665, Mr. William Foord, the schoolmaster at Tibbermure, had suffered amputation of his leg and is thereby brought to great straits. The presbytery asked several parish churches to give him some financial support. N.B. all the above spellings are as found in the original; they are not errors.]

DIVORCE APPEAL AT DINGWALL

26th August 1666: The Presbytery of Dingwall has received an appeal by Donald Kemp, indweller in Dingwall, for support in obtaining a divorce from his wife, Janet Urquhart. He alleged that Janet had committed adultery with one John Caird, a vagrant, and had given birth to a child by him. The Presbytery took the reputation of Mr. Kemp into consideration, and found that the application had their backing, to go to the Commissioners for a divorce.

THEFT LOSES HIM HIS APPRENTICESHIP

7th February 1735: It is with regret that the indenture of apprenticeship of John Bruce, has had to be given up, the man having now been convicted of theft. John Bruce's father, William Bruce, is a weaver in Airdrie, and his son had, in November 1729, obtained an indenture through the Incorporation of Weavers, Glasgow, but this had been transferred to a new master in April 1733.

MORTCLOTHS OF THE WORKERS, UNITE!

8th Feb., 1774. The Glasgow Incorporations of Tailors, Wrights, and Weavers, have agreed to unite their various mortcloths into one common stock, in a contract of Co- partnery. Each craft had several mortcloths available for the funerals of members and their families, and the intention is to add flexibility to this provision to all three trades. [Editorial Note: the tradition of using mortcloths died out during the 19th century]

EXECUTED

21st Feb. 1812: This day, Alexander O'Kain was executed at Stirling, pursuant to his sentence for the robbery of Alexander Stewart on the evening on which the unfortunate men, Menzies and Anderson, were executed here in October last. A crowd, estimated at 4,000 in number, watched the public execution. The prisoner, dressed all in white, was attended by a Roman Catholic priest at the scaffold prior to the execution.

CLEARED ON RABBIT CHARGE

27th Nov. 1899: In the Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Sheriff Burnet on the bench, James Black, jun., labourer, 21 Burn Lane, Inverurie, was charged with having, on 13th inst., been found with four rabbits in his possession at Inverurie Railway Station which, it was alleged, he had obtained illegally. He pleaded "not guilty", and after evidence, the Sheriff found the charge not proven.

FATAL BRIDGE FALL

27th Nov. 1899: There was a fatal accident at Waverley Railway Station in Edinburgh this morning. William Mackay, a workman, residing in Thistle Street, Edinburgh, was admitted to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary suffering from serious injuries to the head, and shock. Mackay was working on the Jeffrey Street Bridge when he lost his footing and fell from the bridge level to the ground below. He died in the course of the afternoon.

HIGH DUDGEON!

28th Nov.1899: The three brothers Dudgeon, from Woodside, Aberdeen, were each sentenced yesterday at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh to three years' penal servitude for making and uttering false coins. They have become infamously known as The Woodside Coiners".

KILLED TINKER WITH POKER

28th Nov. 1899: Hugh Macdonald, a labourer from the parish of Fearn, Ross-shire, was yesterday sentenced at the High Court, Edinburgh, to three years penal servitude for causing the death of a tinker by striking him with a poker.

DIED IN INDIA

15th March 1914: Died at Madras, India, John Adam, Crown and Public Prosecutor at Madras, 1900-1913, formerly Principal of Machaiyappa's College, Madras, 1884- 1894, called to the Bar in 1895. He was a Ferguson Scholar in Mathematics, having graduated MA with honours in Mathematics at Aberdeen, 1868. Born 10th August, 1849, at Old Machar, Aberdeen, the son of the Rev. John Adam, Free Church minister, John Adam was a Special Correspondent of the "Glasgow Herald" in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870.

We hope you have enjoyed this issue of our "oldnewspaper". Contributions are welcome for future issues, but please note that they must all be Scottish news items, and not less than about 70 years old (for copyright reasons). They may be emailed to gordon@kinhelp.co.uk

Copyright G. Johnson, 1996