DD2759 - Papers of Sapper Robert Stephen:
Robert Stephen was born in Peterhead on the 5th July 1894, the son of Robert Stephen and Jessie Stephen nee Keith. His family moved to Aberdeen and were living at 44 Esslemont Avenue in 1901. The family and Robert later moved to Richmond Terrace. Robert served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers during the First World War. He was conscripted in September 1916, but that he joined the army in November 1915. He served with the 1st/2nd Highland Field Company, allocated to the 51st (Highland) Division on the Western Front. He was promoted to Lance Corporal.
The three diaries in this collection, which date 15 Sept 1916 - August 1917, 1918 and 1919 have been transcribed by our volunteer Olivia:
Olivia has also written a blog post on Robert, his diaries, and her experience transcribing these: https://aberdeenarchives.blogspot.com/2023/09/transcribing-first-world-war-diaries-of.html
Mounthooly Smallpox Hospital
In the 1870s Aberdeen was struck by an outbreak of Smallpox. The Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was unequipped to deal with the growing number of patients, so a temporary infectious diseases hospital was instituted in an old factory located at Mounthooly. An 1872-1875 register from the hospital details its patients, their occupation, addresses and the outcome of their treatment. The item can be viewed at our Town House site using reference C/1/D1/R/72. You can view an index for this register here:
A map created by our Archives Assistant Ashleigh Black plots the entries of the small pox register below, or can be viewed in a new tab here: Mounthooly Smallpox Hospital List of Patients 1872 - 1875 map
Map key: the red coloured icons display those who died, the green icons are those who survived and the purple icons are those who were deemed unfit to be admitted into the hospital. In this case ‘unfit’ most likely meant that they were not suffering from smallpox.
Despite the development of a vaccine in the 1790s by Dr Edward Jenner, Smallpox continued to wreak havoc on communities around the world. The most recent outbreak in the UK was recorded in 1978, since then the disease has been eradicated in the British Isles.
Garden of Troup
Garden of Troup: Bundle 89 (reference DD21/1/89) - Petition from the fishermen, fish-curers and inhabitants of Gardenstown and Crovie to Mr. Garden of Troup requesting that the harbour be improved.
Leslie & Russell, Printers
Factory inspection register for Leslie & Russell, printers (reference DD7): this index covers entries in the register of the names of employees between 13 and 18 years of age employed at the factory from 1867 to 1879.
Kincardineshire Prison Board
This Prison Board was established under "An Act to improve prisons and Prison Discipline in Scotland" (2. and 3. Victoria, cap. 42), which required a Prison Board to be appointed in each County to superintend and manage the county's prisons. The board was to be elected by the Commissioners of Supply. The Board resolved to unite with Aberdeen County for the purposes of providing a first class prison. Stonehaven Jail (in the County Buildings) was classified a second class prison, and Inverbervie Jail a third class prison (another jail at Laurencekirk was proposed at an early meeting). A new jail was erected in Inverbervie c. 1841 as part of the Council rooms/hall. Stonehaven jail closed in 1878.
The Kincardineshire Prison Board Minute Books (KPB/1-2) have been researched by our volunteer Matthew and a historical overview provided in the spreadsheets below. This also includes a name index of the Board Members and any named Prisoners (although often only statistical information on the prisoners is given). Events, activities and reports of interest have been detailed, alongside information about specific prisons. Matthew has also written a blog post, available here.