Fishermen, Randies and Fraudsters

Crime in the 19th Century Aberdeen and the North East

Ravaged by riots, vice and violence, nineteenth-century Aberdeen was very different from the city we know now. Danger lurked around many corners. Truculent fishermen rioted on the coast. 'Resurrection men' snatched dead bodies for anatomists' experiments. Children became career criminals. Railway navvies created havoc with their drunken 'randies'. Respectable people were well advised not to enter streets like Shuttle Lane, which harboured thieves, whores and murderers. And famous fraudsters lived their lives deceiving others, such as the notorious Mrs Gordon Baillie, who beguiled victims from Melbourne to New York. In Fishermen, Randies and Fraudsters, Malcolm Archibald reveals historical Aberdeen's sordid underbelly. And he also uncovers the heroic efforts of the town sergeants and infant police force that attempted to keep the city under control as they nobly battled crime in nineteenth-century Aberdeen and the North East.