Police predecessors’ records

Prior to 1800 there were a number of bodies which had powers to combat crime and public disorder. Of these, the most important were burgh councils (which organised watch and ward and, occasionally, town guards) and justices of the peace (who, along with commissioners of supply, controlled parish constables).

Watch and Ward/Town Guard

Research into policing in a specific burgh should begin with published histories of the burgh concerned. The principal source of information will be minute books of the burgh and other burgh records. In most cases these will be held by the relevant local authority, although the records of some burghs are held by the National Records of Scotland and the records of many burghs in Fife are held by St Andrews University Library.

Parish Constables

First read Ann E. Whetstone, Scottish County Government in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (John Donald, 1981), which has chapters on the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of Supply – the two bodies which administered the parish constable system in Scotland. If you wish to look in details at the work of parish constables in a particular county, you should look at Justice of the Peace records and commissioners of supply records for that county. Depending on the county these may be with a local authority archives service or the National Records of Scotland. You might also consult J. A. Haythornthwaite, Scotland in the Nineteenth Century: An Analytical bibliography of material relating to Scotland in Parliamentary Papers 1800-1900 (Scolar Press, 1993) for material in parliamentary commissions.