Barlinnie prisoner photographs bring Scots eye-to-eye with our past

Pictures of inmates in Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison in Victorian times can now be found on family history website Scotland's People.

Two thousand rare images have been added to the site along with 180,000 records containing details of people entering the prison between 1882 and 1899.

There are 180,000 register entries in total, with some people jailed more than once. Researchers can see digitised copies of the original registration books.

Only some prisoners were captured on camera. The photographs show imprisoned people on the day of their release. Most served sentences of only a few days for petty offences.

The harsh social conditions of the time are evident in the photographs. John Porter features three times as an inmate all by age 18. Porter was charged with “being a rogue and a vagabond” at a time when homeless people were imprisoned for minor offences.

Barlinnie opened in Glasgow in 1882 and had a reputation as a tough prison. Inmates carried out hard labour, breaking rocks from a local quarry. Punishments for misbehaviour were harsh.

Archivist Jessica Evershed of National Records of Scotland, which runs the Scotland’s People website, said:

“Prison records are an excellent resource for social history research. You may even track down your own relatives in these records, and – in some cases – find a photograph of your ancestor.

“These photographs are a fantastic resource for researchers. The Scotland’s People website now allows you to put faces to names in a way that isn’t possible for other records.

“While Barlinnie prison did hold some people convicted of serious crimes, most prisoners were serving short sentences. The most common entries are for petty offences such as minor thefts and drunkenness.”

A more detailed article describing the history of Barlinnie prison, with details of inmates and their offences, is available on the ScotlandsPeople website.