Neil McPherson - A Prisoner at Perth, Pentonville and Peterhead

 

Neil McPherson was born on the 5th January, 1858, on Millbank Lane, off George Street, in Aberdeen. He was the son of Neil McPherson, a butcher, and Elizabeth McPherson (née Kennedy) who were both originally from Perth. Indeed, by the time of the 1861 census, with Neil jnr. aged 3 and his siblings Alexander and Jane aged 8 and 5 respectively, the family were living at an address on Guard Vennel, just off the High Street in Perth. Neil's father's occupation was noted as a "saw miller".

Neil McPherson snr. evidently died at some point prior to the next census in 1871 when the family are to be found living at 35 Brown Street, Dundee. Neil McPherson jnr. was then aged 13 with his occupation noted as a "mill worker". His mother, Elizabeth, was recorded as a widow with her occupation given as a "factory worker".

Come the 1881 census, which was conducted on 3rd April, Neil McPherson was an inmate at Pentonville Prison, London. Under the headline of "The Upperkirkgate Housebreaking Case", the Aberdeen Evening Express of 1st February 1881 provides the reason as to how he ended up there:

"In the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh yesterday, Neil McPherson, from the prison of Aberdeen, was charged with theft by housebreaking, in so far as on the 2nd or 3rd September 1880, he did wickedly and feloniously, break into and enter the shop or premises in or near Upperkirkgate of Aberdeen, then and now or lately occupied by Benjamin Duffus, watchmaker or jeweller there...by mounting upon a wooden frame and raising the lower sash of one of the windows situated at the back of the said shop or premises and entering thereby, and did steal 9 or thereby silver English lever watches, 2 ladies' gold English lever watches, 8 or thereby gold Geneva watches, 44 or thereby silver Geneva watches, 18 or thereby gold albert chains....", etc.

The list of items stolen is comically long and ends, 

"The prisoner was also charged with being a habit and repute thief". 

Neil McPherson denied even being in Aberdeen on the night of the crime, although witnesses testified that he had in fact stayed at the Crown Inn on Shore Brae on the day that the crime was committed. This, coupled with the fact that he pawned a chain in Perth which was part of the haul was enough to convince the jury of his guilt. He was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.

At that time, all male convicts sentenced to penal servitude in Scotland were usually detained during their probation period at the General Prison in Perth and were subsequently removed to the public works prisons in England to undertake a period of labour. When Neil McPherson was sentenced on the 31st January 1881 there was significant pressure on space at Perth due in part to the closure of many local prisons across Scotland. It would appear that he spent little time at Perth before being transferred to Pentonville at a point prior to the 3rd April, the date when the 1881 census was conducted. 

An isometric drawing of Pentonville prison, from an 1844 report by Joshua Jebb, Royal Engineers

Following his stretch inside Pentonville, Neil McPherson would have entered the final phase of his sentence and would have been released on license, an early form of the current parole system. It was at this stage that he returned to Scotland, probably in 1885 or 1886.  However, it didn't take too long before he was back in court: the Dundee Courier of the 2nd May 1888 reports that he was tried at the Circuit Court of Justiciary in Dundee on the 1st May 1888 for the "daring burglary" of a safe and its contents which included £20 and several documents. In his summing up, the judge, Lord MacLaren expressed his disappointment that Neil McPherson had only recently completed a period of penal servitude. On this occasion he was sentenced to seven years.

Peterhead Prison opened in 1888 and it is there that Neil McPherson is to be found as an inmate on the 1891 census. He remained there until his discharge on 23rd September 1893 when he moved to Aberdeen and his details were recorded in the Register of Returned Convicts for Aberdeen (see image below). He lived at a number of addresses in the city between 1893 and 1895 including 68 Broad Street, 128 Chapel Street, 2 Cuparstone Lane and Kepplestone Cottages in Rubislaw.