From the Archive: Accounting for life in years gone by
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At the Highland Archive Centre we hold the Treasurer’s Accounts for Inverness Burgh from 1732 to 1900. These accounts contain a wealth of information about the history and development of Inverness. The first volume (and the largest – 29in wide by 21in tall when open!) covers the years 1732 to 1790, is beautifully written, and has some fascinating entries.
The volume sheds light on many aspects of burgh life. Some entries detail necessary aspects of managing a community. There are payments made to window cleaners and street sweepers and entries regarding salaries (including to teaching staff at the Grammar and Music Schools). Repair of town buildings can be seen (including the town house and the jail in the vaults of the bridge). An entry from December 1734 details “an extraordinary reparation done to the steeple”, with payments to masons (for putting an oak joist in the charter room), to burgh officers (for guarding the breach in the charter room) and to a Mr Francis Gatton (for overseeing and directing the project).
In an article a few weeks ago, we looked at the work of the town hangman, and the related payments for the work carried out by him. The articles used for punishment (including gallows and iron jackets) were made by local craftsmen and their purchase is also recorded in the accounts. There is an indication, in the accounts of April 1733, that perhaps the hangman didn’t relish his job as three men were dispatched to Nairn to bring him back after he had run away!
Following the Battle of Culloden in 1746, several entries appear which give an indication of the state of the town. £53 was paid to mend the bridge after it was shattered by the guns of the fort (Inverness Castle) and by the fort’s being blown up. This entry also includes the cost of a new sundial in place of the old one. August 1748 saw a payment of £133 for materials and labour to furnish the Grammar School with new desks, seats and tables as they had all been burnt when the school was used as a military hospital.
Throughout the volume the burgh council can be seen marking the birthdays of the Royal family. With unrest and controversy surrounding the subject of monarchy at the time it was no doubt a conscious decision to be seen marking these occasions. Inverness certainly did that, with dozens of bottles of claret and white wine purchased and a note on the number of broken glasses frequently following!
One last entry to highlight is from September 1738 when Andrew Davidson, bookbinder, was paid £15 7s for binding and repairing the burgh’s old records. It’s nice to see that almost 300 years ago the importance of preserving Inverness’s collective history was known.
n The Highland Archive Centre is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. To make a booking or to enquire about remote archive or family history research please contact us at archives@highlifehighland.com, tel: 01349 781130 or see our website for further details.
