A portrait of an Aberdeen man dressed in uniform. He has a lantern hanging from his jacket and may be leaning on a large cudgel.

This image is used in the book The Diced Cap: The Story of Aberdeen City Police (1972). It features on a plate, opposite page 32, and is captioned as "Watchman 1857".

On page 45, The Diced Cap quotes a report on the state of Aberdeen's law enforcement from 1859 by Scotland's first H. M. Inspector of Constabulary, Colonel John Kinloch of Logie, Kirriemuir.

The highly critical report includes the following passage: "The Constables are divided in the old fashioned way into 'Day Constables' and 'Night-Watchmen'; the latter being so far consider an inferior class that they have less pay and are not thought worth of putting into uniform like the Day Constables, being provided only with a great-coat, flat bonnet, and a big stick!" (The Diced Cap, page 47)

The figure shown in this image very much fits Kinloch's description of Aberdeen's Night-Watchmen.

Location

Aberdeen

Keyword

Police

Photographer