Coverage - Prison Registers

We have now indexed over 500,000 prison register entries. Many of our ancestors spent a night in jail, some spent longer. The information is truly valuable as the full entries often give places of birth which may not be available anywhere else as well as giving personal details such as eye color!

Find out more about prison registers in our Learning Zone.

Here is a list of the prison registers we have indexed so far. If you can’t see the one you need please get in touch with our genealogists, Graham and Emma Maxwell.

The Prison Register record set now contains 501,749 entries.

Aberdeen Prison 1836-1839, 1879-1880, 1884, 1888-1911
Ayr Prison 1888-1905
Banff Prison 1848-1878
Campbeltown Prison 1840-1882
Cromarty Prison 1841-1871
Dumbarton Prison 1828-1840
Dumfries/Maxwelltown Prison 1841-1936
Dumfries Prison (Civil) 1841-1880
Dunbar Prison 1844-1878
Dundee Prison 1900-1908, 1911-1914, 1922-1927
Edinburgh (Bridewell) 1814-1835
Edinburgh (Calton Jail) 1841, 1848-1851
Edinburgh (Lock-up House) 1826-1836, 1848-1850
Edinburgh (Police Prison) 1841
Fort William 1849-1880
Glasgow (Barlinnie) Prison 1891, 1900, 1901-1903, 1916, 1918, 1921
Glasgow (Duke Street) Prison 1845-1871, 1884-1885 (males), 1887-1895 (males)
Greenlaw Prison 1840-1862
Greenock Prison 1859-1864, 1870, 1879-1885, 1888-1889, 1930
Hamilton Prison 1828-1841
Jedburgh Prison 1811-1841, 1843-1869
Jessiefield Borstal (Maxwelltown) 1912-1926
Kelso Prison 1844-1862
Kirkcudbright Prison 1791-1811, 1815-1826, 1841-1883
Kirkcudbright Prison (Civil) 1841-1882
Lanark Prison 1848-1881
Linlithgow Prison 1849
Maxwelltown (Old) Prison 1840-1874
Paisley Prison 1848-1875
Peebles Prison 1848-1862
Perth Prison 1916
Port Glasgow Prison 1848-1855
Selkirk Prison 1828-1840, 1853-1878
Stirling Prison 1828-1840
Stranraer Prison 1840-1883
Tobermory Prison (Civil) 1872-1882
Wigtown Prison 1840-1875
Wigtown Prison (Civil) 1841-1882

Search the Prison Register Index