Prison Registers Indexing Project
We are now progressing rapidly in our project to index the Scottish Borders Prison Registers. These records, held at the National Archives of Scotland, have been up till now difficult to search due to the lack of indexes, but are packed with fascinating information about the thousands of individuals who were in prison, including their height, colour of hair and eyes, their offence and sentence, and much more. We are starting the project by releasing indexes for each prison, from which you can order from us an inexpensive transcription of the full entry if you locate someone. Later, we hope to transcribe the full entries and release these in printed form.
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Indexes now Available
Greenlaw Prison Index, Volume 1 1840-1848 - This index contains details of the crime the prisoner was accused or convicted of. The index also contains the birthplace, residence, occupation and approximate birth year of prisoners, enabling you to identify individuals in the much more detailed original records held at the National Archives of Scotland, for which we can provide full transcriptions/copies for a small fee. The Greenlaw Prison Index, Volume 1 is available for £7.99, with our usual bulk discounts and postage rates for publications applying.
| Buy Greenlaw Prison Vol. 1 Index |
Greenlaw Prison Index, Volume 2 1848-1862 - This index contains details of the crime the prisoner was accused or convicted of. The index also contains the birthplace, residence, occupation and approximate birth year of prisoners, enabling you to identify individuals in the much more detailed original records held at the National Archives of Scotland, for which we can provide full transcriptions/copies for a small fee. The Greenlaw Prison Index, Volume 2 is available for £9.99, with our usual bulk discounts and postage rates for publications applying.
| Buy Greenlaw Prison Vol. 2 Index |
Hawick Prison Index 1844-1862 - A new updated version of this index is now available, which also contains details of the crime the prisoner was accused or convicted of. The index also contains the birthplace, residence, occupation and approximate birth year of prisoners, enabling you to identify individuals in the much more detailed original records held at the National Archives of Scotland, for which we can provide full transcriptions/copies for a small fee. The Hawick Prison Index is available for £7.99, with our usual bulk discounts and postage rates for publications applying.
| Buy Hawick Prison Index |
Jedburgh Prison Index, Volume 1 1843-1848 - This index is in the same format as the index above, and contains details of the crime the prisoner was accused or convicted of. The Jedburgh Prison Index, Volume 1 is available for £7.99, with our usual bulk discounts and postage rates for publications applying.
| Buy Jedburgh Prison Vol. 1 Index |
Jedburgh Prison Index, Volume 2 1848-1869 - This index is in the same format as the indexes above, and contains details of the crime the prisoner was accused or convicted of. It is a large volume, running to 4,061 entries. Many of the people of the Scottish Borders and beyond are recorded. The Jedburgh Prison Index, Volume 2 is available for £12.99, with our usual bulk discounts and postage rates for publications applying.
| Buy Jedburgh Prison Vol. 2 Index |
| Buy Kelso Prison Index |
| Buy Peebles Prison Index |
Obtain a full register entry
If you find an entry or entries in one of our prison indexes for which you would like to see a full transcription, please e-mail us below. You can see a sample prison transcription by clicking here. For a fee of £5.00 per entry, the transcriptions will be sent to you promptly via e-mail. The fee also includes a free copy of the transcription together with a free copy of the original register pages covering your entry mailed to you anywhere worldwide.
| Pay for a full prison register entry |
What do the indexes contain?
The index contains the full name of the prisoner, their residence and occupation, as well as their approximate year of birth and birthplace, and the crime they were accused or convicted of. The year of imprisonment is also indexed, together with a reference number we have added which is unique to each entry. Some place name spellings have been standardised, but other spellings have been left as in the original register. An asterisk in the index indicates an entry which is substantially incomplete due to damage to the original register.
Top of pageWhat kind of information is included in the original record?
This information is included in the Hawick prison register, even more is included in the Jedburgh registers.
Prior to about 1848 the registers ususally include the following information: Date of admission; By whom committed; Name; Sex; Age; Birthplace; Residence; Where spent greater part of their life; Height (feet/inches); Hair colour; Eye colour; Distinguishing marks etc.; Precise offence (including article stolen etc.); Clean/dirty; Drunk/sober; Clothes good repair/ragged; Direct from arrest or from another prison, if so which one; Occupation; Previous imprisonments with entry numbers for such; Liberated without trial – when and by whose authority; Tried – when and by whom; Convicted or acquitted; Sentence; Liberated or removed after conviction – when, by whose authority, to what place; Number of days in prison; Conduct during confinement.
After about 1848 the registers usually include the following information: Date of admission; Previous imprisonments with entry numbers for such; Name; Age; Sex; Height (feet/inches); Birthplace; Residence; Where spent greater part of their life; Distinguishing marks etc. (includes hair and eye colour); Precise offence (including article stolen etc.); Occupation; Religion; Education on Admission – Cannot read/reads a little reads well and Cannot write/writes a little/writes well or Education superior to mere reading and writing; Whether education improved during confinement; Apparent state of health on admission; Untried prisoners – under examination by whom, committed till liberated in due course of law by whom; Liberated without trial – when and by whom; Tried – when and by whom; Convicted or acquitted; Sentence; Liberated or removed after conviction – when, by whom, to what place; Number of days in prison; Conduct during confinement – good, tolerable or bad.
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