Wiliam Gillespie - Civil Prisoner in Dunblane 1861

[darylrodger]

Hi,

I was hoping some one out there could help me find out why my 2 x grandfather William Gillespie / Gillispie (a Miller) was listed as a 'civil' prisoner on the 1861 census in Dunblane.
I'd love to know what he'd done to deserve a stretch in a prison and what's the difference between a normal prisoner and a civil one ?

Can anyone help ?

Thanks,

Daryl

[jgmills]

Below is a definition of Civil Prisoner

http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Por ... soners.pdf

Cheers
John

[Currie]

Hello Daryl,

There’s a possibility at the British Newspaper Archive that I cannot access. If you check the home page you’ll find that you can get free credits. (also available via FMP I think?)

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.u ... rder=score

Thursday 14 February 1861, Stirling Observer, Stirlingshire, Scotland
“….. 19th day of February next, The cattle, farming utensils, household FURNITURE, and other Effects, belonging to William Gillespie, Meal Miller there, consisting of, viz. One …. “

Hope that’s useful,
Alan

[darylrodger]

Hi Alan,

Many thanks for that info regarding the article in the Stirling Observer in Feb 1861. I've had a look at it and it certainly looks like my 2 x great grandfather William.
It looks like he had most of his possessions sold by auction, but don't have a clue why By April he was in prison, so I wonder what had happened for him to end up in there.
Are there court/prison records I could look at ?

Regards,

Daryl

[apanderson]

Probably his offence was simply that of a 'debtor' - it makes sense if his possessions were auctioned off.

Anne

[Falkyrn]

Hi Alan,

Many thanks for that info regarding the article in the Stirling Observer in Feb 1861. I've had a look at it and it certainly looks like my 2 x great grandfather William.
It looks like he had most of his possessions sold by auction, but don't have a clue why By April he was in prison, so I wonder what had happened for him to end up in there.
Are there court/prison records I could look at ?

Regards,

Daryl

It sounds as if he may have gone bankrupt and that as his worldly possessions, or what was gained from them at auction, wasn't sufficient to meet his debts his creditors had him thrown in prison.

[carolineasb]

Have you tried searching in the "Edinburgh Gazette" in case he was bankrupt?

[darylrodger]

Hi Caroline,

Thanks for the link to the Edinburgh Gazette, I've had a look but I can't seem to search for William in 1861. It says it's an invalid date.
It would have been ideal if it had worked

Is there anywhere else I can look up prison / sheriff court records ?

Regards,

Daryl

[Currie]

Hello Daryl,

I checked the Gazette as well but didn’t get anywhere. I had the same problem with a similar situation. I don’t know how that turned out. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17130

The invalid date thing may have been Feb 29, 30 or 31.

You would think there would be something extra in the Stirling newspaper, perhaps the print quality wasn’t good enough for accurate OCR. Maybe a slow trawl through each edition around that time would be worthwhile, but time consuming. Maybe there was another newspaper closer to his home that isn’t online.

NAS prison records are listed here, but I can’t see Dunblane.
http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/crime.asp

And here for Court of Session records in connection with civil matters.
http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/introducti ... cesses.asp

Best of luck,
Alan

[darylrodger]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for those links for the NAS records.

The Edinburgh Gazette site is very frustrating as I tried to put in the years 1860-1861 but it kept on saying 'dates invalid' and that was without using specific dates

I've sent a message to NAS regarding records relating to Dunblane prison and sheriff court, so hopefully I'll hear back from them.
I'll have another trawl through the Stirling Observer again to see if William is mentioned again.

Thanks.

Regards,

Daryl