John McKirran - "A Dishonest Pauper"

 

John McKirran was a native Aberdonian, growing up on Chapel Street where he appears on the 1841 census aged just 2 years old. He was living with his brother William, then 6 years old, and their parents William, a labourer, and Eliza who were both 30 years of age. William snr.'s occupation indicates that the family were solidly working class. In an era when social mobility was incredibly difficult, it is perhaps no surprise that John's entry in the Register of Returned Convicts (see image at the foot of the page) conveys clues as to a life lived in poverty while the title of the newspaper report of his trial which appears in the Aberdeen Press & Journal of 20th September 1871 describes him as "A Dishonest Pauper":

"John McKirran was charged with having, on the 22nd or 23rd March last, stolen a pair of trousers, a coat, a pair of drawers, a shirt and a vest, from the Old Machar Poorhouse, St. Machar Place. McKirran was libelled with three previous convictions before the Aberdeen Police Court in 1860, and one before the Sheriff of Aberdeen in 1863, and three before a Sheriff and a jury at Aberdeen the three following years. Prisoner pleaded guilty. It was stated in his behalf that he was an inmate of the Poorhouse at the time of the theft. He had pawned the clothes and was again lifting them when detected. The Lord Justice-Clerk passed sentence of Penal Servitude for seven years". 

Reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

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Ordnance Survey Aberdeen 1867

Sheet - LXXV.15.7

Following his discharge from prison in February 1877, the Register of Returned Convicts reveals that John McKirran lived at several addresses in Aberdeen during the course of that year. These included Shoe Lane (at "Mrs. Cruickshanks"), the Old Machar Poorhouse where he had stolen from earlier that year, and 45 Guestrow, otherwise known as the Victoria Lodging House. Following his second stint at the Old Machar Poorhouse in September that year, John was again apprehended for theft and further sentenced in November 1877. Incidentally, the register also notes that John had "lost [his] right leg below knee" - given that he was caught so many times, we can only guess that this hindered a more successful life of crime.