Inn Keeper/Vintner.....

[ABACUS]

Can anyone tell me if there is a register/record of Inn Keepers/Vintners - Edinburgh early 1800's?

[Russell]

Hi

I don't know if there was a formal Register of Inn keepers byt there is a good chance that there are some early Edinburgh Directories which were like the current telephone cum yellow Pages of their day. They listed all the businesses who chose to pay a few coppers for the entry to be recorded so they may not be complete listings.
Keeping a public house was not a high status occupation which in the previous century was mainly womans work unlike the keeping of a coaching inn or hostelry which was effectively several small business in one - food, drink, accommodation and change of trace teams of horses.

The National archives may have what you are looking for.

Russell

[ABACUS]

Many thanks for the reply Russell

[LesleyB]

Hi Abacus
I wonder if the Scottish brewing Archives at Glasgow Uni might contain some relevant info?
http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/sba/aboutsba.html

Also the scan site in their Knowledge Base at http://www.scan.org.uk/researchrtools/index.htm
has this:

Registers of Liquor Licensing

The early registers of certificates issued, whether by Justices of the Peace of by burgh magistrates, are usually brief, single-line entries with annual lists of names, addresses (or at least a place, or in a burgh a street name), and occupation (normally 'spirit dealer', 'publican' or 'change-keeper'). These registers may include transfers of certificates between licensees, or there may be separate records of these. They may be in the form of registers of applications granted, or simply of applications, with a note of whether or not they were granted or refused. Only a small minority were refused, almost always without reason given (or at least recorded). In nineteenth-century burghs the magistrates would take reports from the police or the watchmen as to the reputations of licensees, and these reports may also survive. The early registers may be for the sale of ale or spirits or both. Those under the later Licensing Acts specify the type of licence, distinguishing for example between those for inns and hotels, for public houses and for dealers in spirits, groceries and provisions.

The limitations of these records are obvious: apart from police reports, they give little indication of the contribution of these premises to social life. It is almost (perhaps completely) unknown for them even to give the names of public houses. Where minute books of magistrates' committees survive, and especially where there are actual transcripts of proceedings before licensing magistrates, however, they can give a wealth of information about changing social attitudes towards drink, temperance, conviviality and respectability.

For liquor licensing registers of a burgh the most likely place these will survive will be among burgh records, normally with the appropriate local authority archive or library service, or the National Archives of Scotland. In the case of several Fife burghs, the records are held by St Andrews University Library. Registers compiled by Justices of the Peace may either be with local authority archives or with the National Archives of Scotland, depending on the county concerned. The SCAN Knowledge Base Gazetteer contains entries on each county, including a note on the location of Justice of the Peace records.

best wishes
Lesley

[ABACUS]

Many thanks Lesley