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                  Where can I see minutes of the meetings of a current local authority or its committees?

                  Most councils in Scotland provide online access to their minutes and committee minutes and have placed older minutes in their archives service. Check the council’s website or ask its contact centre about access.

                  Where can I see minutes of the meetings of a regional or district council or its committees?

                  The most likely source for these is the archives service of the successor local authority.

                  Did a particular town or suburb have a police force at one time?

                  Not all Scottish towns had separate police forces. Here is a list of those which did (with their dates of operation and the force which succeeded them). If the town concerned is not on this list it almost certainly did not have a separate police force, and was most likely served by the relevant county constabulary.

                  Aberdeen 1818-1975, successor force: Grampian.

                  Airdrie 1821-1967. Successor force: Lanark County.

                  Alloa 1822-1930. Successor force: Clackmannan County.

                  Anderston 1824-1846. Successor force: Glasgow City.

                  Annan 1858?-1881. Successor force: Dumfries County.

                  Arbroath 1836-1949. Successor force: Angus County.

                  Ardrossan 1859- ? Successor force: Ayr County.

                  Ayr 1845-1968. Successor force: Ayrshire.

                  Banff 1859-1886. Successor force: Banffshire.

                  Blairgowrie 1857-1875. Successor force: Perthshire.

                  Brechin 1859-1930. Successor force: Angus.

                  Broughty Ferry 1888-1913. Successor force: Dundee City.

                  Burntisland 1859-1861. Successor force: Fife.

                  Calton 1819-1846. Successor force: Glasgow City.

                  Campbeltown 1858-1863. Successor force: Argyllshire.

                  Coatbridge 1886-1867. Successor force: Lanarkshire.

                  Cromarty 1859-1868. Successor force: Cromarty County.

                  Cullen 1840-c.1861. Successor force: Elginshire.

                  Cupar 1859-1864. Successor force: Fife.

                  Dingwall 1859-1865. Successor force: Ross-shire.

                  Dumbarton 1855-1949. Successor force: Dunbartonshire.

                  Dumfries 1811-1932. Successor force: Dumfries-shire.

                  Dunbar 1844-1869. Successor force: East Lothian.

                  Dundee 1824-1975. Successor force: Tayside.

                  Dunfermline 1811-1949. Successor force: Fife.

                  Dysart 1858-1859? Successor force: Fife.

                  Edinburgh 1805-1975. Successor force: Lothian and Borders.

                  Elgin 1850-1893. Successor force: Morayshire.

                  Forfar 1857-1930. Successor force: Angus.

                  Forres c.1859-1867. Successor force: Morayshire.

                  Fraserburgh 1859-1866. Successor force: Aberdeenshire.

                  Galashiels 1850-1930. Successor force: Selkirkshire.

                  Gorbals 1808-1846. Successor force: Glasgow City.

                  Govan 1864-1912. Successor force: Glasgow.

                  Glasgow 1800-1975. Successor force: Strathclyde.

                  Greenock 1801-1967. Successor force: Renfrew and Bute.

                  Greenock Harbour 1817-1822, 1825-1843. Successor force: Greenock Burgh.

                  Haddington before 1857-1874. Successor force: East Lothian.

                  Hamilton 1855-1949, 1958-67. Successor force: Lanarkshire.

                  Hawick 1840-1930. Successor force: Roxburghshire.

                  Helensburgh 1846-1875. Successor force: Dunbartonshire.

                  Inverkeithing c.1859-1885. Successor force: Fife.

                  Inverness 1847-1968. Successor force: Inverness-shire.

                  Jedburgh 1857-1861. Successor force: Roxburghshire.

                  Johnstone 1857-1930. Successor force: Renfrewshire.

                  Kelso Burgh ?-1881. Successor force: Roxburghshire.

                  Kilmarnock 1846-1968. Successor force: Ayrshire.

                  Kilsyth 1840-? Successor force: Stirlingshire?

                  Kinning Park 1892-1905. Successor force: Glasgow City.

                  Kirkcaldy 1877-1949. Successor force: Fife.

                  Kirkintilloch 1838-1872. Successor force: Dunbartonshire.

                  Kirriemuir 1859-1891. Successor force: Forfarshire.

                  Leith 1859-1920. Successor force: Edinburgh City.

                  Lerwick 1892-1940. Successor force: Zetland.

                  Macduff 1859-1870. Successor force: Banffshire.

                  Maryhill 1856-1891. Successor force: Glasgow City.

                  Maxwelltown 1863-1890. Successor force: Kirkcudbrightshire.

                  Maybole 1859-1861. Successor force: Ayrshire.

                  Millport ? – ? Successor force: Bute?

                  Montrose 1833-1930. Successor force: Angus.

                  Motherwell & Wishaw 1930-1967. Successor force: Lanarkshire.

                  Musselburgh 1835-1841. Successor force: East Lothian.

                  Nairn 1859-1866. Successor force: Nairnshire.

                  Newburgh 1859-1969. Successor force: Fife.

                  North Berwick ? – 1857/8. Successor force: East Lothian.

                  Paisley 1806-1969. Successor force: Renfrew and Bute.

                  Partick 1858-1912. Successor force: Glasgow City.

                  Perth 1811-1964. Successor force: Perth and Kinross.

                  Port Glasgow 1857-1895. Successor force: Renfrewshire.

                  Pulteneytown 1858-1902. Successor force: Caithness-shire.

                  Renfrew 1857-1930. Successor force: Renfrewshire.

                  Rothesay 1846-1923. Successor force: Bute.

                  St Andrews 1858-1859? Successor force: Fife.

                  Stirling 1857-1938. Successor force: Stirlingshire.

                  Stranraer 1857-1870. Successor force: Wigtownshire.

                  Thurso 1841-1873. Successor force: Caithness-shire.

                  Wick Burgh Formed 1841-1858.  Successor force Caithness-shire.  Re-formed 1863-1873.  Successor force Caithness-shire.

                  Wishaw ?- 1859.  Successor force Lanarkshire.

                   

                  What was a police burgh?

                  Police burghs were towns where a local or general act of parliament provided for services (such as water supply, drainage, sewerage, policing, paving, street lighting and refuse disposal) to be supervised by an elected body of commissioners and funded by local rates. Not all police burghs had police forces.

                  In the second half of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century many burghs and other towns faced problems coping with industrial pollution, sewerage, water supply, public health and crime. In 1800 Glasgow obtained a local act of parliament to set up a system of policing, whereby a body of police commissioners, elected by householders, oversaw a police force, and the maintenance of paving, lighting and cleansing the streets. Other Scottish burghs obtained similar local acts in the next few years. In 1832 and 1833 legislation converted royal burghs and many burghs of barony and regality into parliamentary burghs with elected councils. The Burgh Police (Scotland) Act allowed burghs to adopt policing, paving, lighting and cleansing powers through a sheriff court process (which was much less expensive than an act of parliament). Under the Police of Towns (Scotland) Act 1850 and the General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act 1862 these (and further public health) powers were extended to populous places, and the result was the creation of over 100 ‘police burghs’. The Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1890 ended the anomaly whereby some burghs had an elected body of police commissioners and a town council and granted further powers to burghs.