George Mealmaker was a legendery Dundee radical from the late 1700s, he founded the ‘Friends of Liberty’ – a slightly rowdy bunch who supported the ideals of freedom, liberty and equality for all.
Tag: crime
On this day – Police ask for the underworld’s help
On May 20th 1980, the press made a plea to the ‘underworld’ to help solve the murder of Dr and Mrs Woods. Reported in the Glasgow Herald, Detective Chief Superintendent James Cameron appealed to thieves and housebreakers in the area as the motive for the murders was thought to be theft. He hoped that localRead more ⟶
A Devil in Disguise?
On November 9th, 1889, the Dundee Courier And Argus ran a very strange story indeed – one we found had not only a bizarre set of circumstances, but also an odd ending: “A mill foreman was fined in the Dundee Police Court the other day for assaulting a youthful worker. Time was when assaults onRead more ⟶
Crime in 1920’s Dundee
Dundee is no stranger to a brawl – a reputation that has preceded the city for generations. Petty crime in Dundee, Scotland in the 1920’s was unsurprisingly, not much different to as it is now. The men, and, perhaps more importantly, the women, have proven to be a fearsome populace, and continue to fight andRead more ⟶
Dundee crime statistics 1898 – 1902
The following is a collection of extracts of Dundee Crime Statistics from the Dundee criminal returns of 1898 to 1902 inclusive, read, in part, by us on one of our forays in the archives. A very informative and insightful glimpse into the lives and crimes of this era, it’s also hard sometimes to see whereRead more ⟶
The Dundee Body Snatchers
In Dundee, body snatchers, graverobbers, or “Resurrection Men” turned over a considerable amount of business. When Cholera struck in 1832, the memories of Burke and Hare’s atrocities were still very much at the forefront of people’s minds. Even though Burke had been executed in 1829 (whilst Hare spent the rest of his years in relativeRead more ⟶
On this day – Man sentenced after family feud ends in brother’s death
It is the party season, and while family gatherings can be joyous occasions, sometimes we don’t get on with our family. Things can quickly take a turn for the worse when alcohol is involved, and on this day in 1974 Daniel Flanagan was sentenced for the culpable homicide of his brother, and assault for stabbingRead more ⟶
On this day – Gordon Johnston murder trial
The Glasgow Herald ran this story on Nov 25th 1989, in the midst of the Gordon Johnston murder trial, where Ryan Monks and Paul Mill stood accused. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19891125&id=2DNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UFkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4317%2C2186038 News report mid-trial during the Gow gun shop murder. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19891125&id=2DNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UFkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4317%2C2186038
Hanging and execution in Dundee
273 people were publicly hanged in Scotland between 1800 and 1868. Of these 273, 14 were women. Few of them actually took place in Dundee, with only six recorded hangings, five of them public, the final one private. The last man to be hung in Dundee, William Bury, was the infamous murderer who was suspectedRead more ⟶
On this day, 1977 – Chief Constable of Tayside held at gunpoint
Today in 1977 was a far more dramatic crime day, when the Chief Constable of Tayside was held at gunpoint! Read this story from The Glasgow Herald: *** ***