n. putting a person on trial after you have drowned them
Story is that a man wouldn’t leave his cell so the folk of Cupar flooded it, accidentally drowning him. Cheated out of a trial, they put his body in the stand anyway.
see also: JEDDART JUSTICE. n. putting a person on trial after you have hanged them
In 1822, James Stuart and Alex Boswell had a pistol duel in Auchtertool. Boswell politely missed on purpose. Stuart had never held a gun and accidentally shot Boswell in the chest, killing him It was over a poem in a newspaper making fun of Stuart.
It was the third-last duel in Scotland, having been illegal since 1819. Alexander was James Boswell’s son. The poem basically said that Stuart, a politician, was a farmer. Stuart got off with it. #Auchterduel
In 1903 Clementina McDonald was arrested for walking down Edinburgh’s High Street dressed in a Black Watch uniform. She was let out with a warning and told to “stick to petticoats”.
Illustrated Police News. 31/1/1903.
Dundee Courier 23/1/1903
Known by their scarred faces, the Redskins was Glasgow’s (& Scotland’s) largest ever gang. In 1916 its “queen” was Annie Rennie. She once stabbed a woman 14 times during a square-go. The other woman was fined more as she “was married and should know better”.
The fight started after Annie took exception to Mary Glen singing during the music at a dance hall. Someone shouted “Get aff yer shawl and get in at her!” Sympathy was with Annie because Mary was the wife of a soldier, defending his country, while she went to a dance…
The Illustrated Police News. 16th November 1916. pg. 4.
In 1888, landless crofters at Aignish demanded a tenant farmer vacate so they could divide his land up for crofts. The Riot Act was partially translated into Gaelic and 11 men were arrested. The marines, police, and the Royal Scots were sent to quell the riot.
It really was fixed-bayonets vs. cas chroms. The arrested men all got sentences of about a year. Aignish Farm wasn’t broken up into crofts until 1905. A memorial statue now stands at the site of the riot.
It would seem that many of the London papers were on the side of the crofters, judging from the positive language used to discuss the riot. For context, the Illustrated London News published these sketches of Lewis:
Aignish Memorial. Am Baile https://www.ambaile.org.uk/detail/en/21987/1/EN21987-aignish-memorial-isle-of-lewis.htm
Illustrated London News. 21st January 1888, pg. 1.
Illustrated London News, 28th January 1888, pg. 13
Penny Illustrated Paper. 4th February 1888, pg. 1.
16th March 1559. Bessie Smith complains to St Andrews Kirk session that her husband, Andrew Lumsden, has “nocht adhered to hir in bed for twelf years”. Church decrees that he must “adhere to her” within 48 hours. Her neighbours to report back and confirm.
Hay Fleming, D. (ed) (1889) Register of the minister, elders, and deacons of the Christian congregation of St. Andrews : comprising the proceedings of the Kirk session and of the Court of the Superintendent of Fife, Fothrik, and Strathearn. 1559-1600. Vol. 1., Edinburgh University Press. 486pp.
22nd December 1900. Aberdeen Sheriff Court has its priorities in order…
Source: Dundee Evening Post. 22nd December 1900. pg. 3
In 1640, so many Aberdonians brought their dogs to church, the burgh council had to ban them from sermons. “The barking and peturbation of these dogges, aftin withdraw people from hearing of God’s word!”
UPDATE: It seems that it was fairly common for shepherds and other folk to bring their dogs to church with them, which for some parishes, was considered “sabbath-breaking”. In Inverurie there were stiff fines for bringing your dog to the kirk as outlines in this extract from the Kirk Session minutes:
Every an that brings doggs to the kirk with them to pay 40 shillings for the first time; hav a merk for the second tym, whilk is still to be doublit, so long as they continue so doing.
Inverurie Kirk Session Minutes, 17th February 1650.
In March 1673, Oyne parish kirk in The Garioch, Aberdeenshire, paid for a “dog-clip” to be made– a long handled pair of forceps that the official dogwhipper would use to grab dogs from the church and take them outside.
The role of “dogwhipper” can be seen the bottom right of David Allan’s 1807 etching “Presbyterian Penance (The Black Stool).
Mackinlay, J. (1897). Dogs in Church. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 31, 98-103.
Turreff, G. (1871) Antiquarian Gleanings from Aberdeenshire Records. James Murray, Aberdeen. pg. 174
Davidson, J. (1878) Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch. David Douglas, Edinburgh. pg. 316.
Don’t mess with folk from the Wee County…
In 1699, Rob Livingston, found guilty of stealing sheep, was whipped out of Clackmannan (after a few laps of the town), stark naked, with the sheep’s head and feet round his neck, and was banished on pain of hanging.
Wallace, J. (1890) The sheriffdom of Clackmannan; a sketch of its history with lists of its sheriffs and excerpts from the records of court .James Thin, Edinburgh pp.74-75.
Though the stocks as a punishment was far less common in Scotland than in England and “disgracing punishments” were considered old-fashioned by the 1790s… ..the last person to made a “laughing stock” in Fordoun was in July 1841, during the Paldy Fair.
