Guild / burgess records for Jedburgh

[Matt R]

Hello all,

I have recently purchased some baptisms from ScotlandsPeople for my Rae family and have noted slightly differing details for my ancestor, William Rae. He and his wife had seven children and on their baptisms he is described as being first a "walker", then a workman, and latterly a clothier and litster.

Can anyone advise me please as to whether or not all of these occupations came under one guild? One of the witnesses on a baptism is Gabriel Newton, who is described as the "Deacon of the Taylors" Another is George Rennelson who appears to be a Kirk Officer. I am wondering if Gabriel is connected to William in any way, and if William would have been part of a Taylor/Tailor's guild.

The obvious reason for requiring this information if possible is to see if I can locate any surviving guild or burgess/apprenticeship records but this family are my only interest in the Borders region, so I am unfamiliar with where to start, even after trying to find some answers on Google. On all of his children's baptisms, William Rae (or Rea as his name appears on his marriage in 1719) is living in Jedburgh so another question I am hoping can be answered please is if I will need to look at Jedburgh records or if it came under another burgh (like Haddington, etc).

I'd appreciate any help on this as I hope to visit relevant archives when I am in Scotland in just under a month's time.

Regards,

Matt:)

[philipsearching]

A walker walked over (or trampled) wet cloth as part of the cleaning process.
A litster (or lister) was a dyer.
A clothier either made or sold clothing.
and a workman could be in any trade!

I don't know what guilds operated in Scotland but Tailors would be possible as would clothmakers, clothworkers or drapers.

Hope this helps
Philip

[Sunlaws]

Hi

Jedburgh was a royal burgh and parish in its own right, not dependent on anywhere else. The local archive for the Scottish Borders is the Heritage Hub in Hawick:

http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/collections/source/tracingsbancestors.pdf

but for burgess records I think you will have to visit the National Archives in Edinburgh.

Regards,
Lesley

[Matt R]

Thanks for your replies Philip and Lesley.

Obviously all the indications are that William was involved with the cloth industry and one baptism shows he had some connection to the Deacon of the Taylors [sic].

I'll phone NAS tomorrow and see what they have. If not...I may have to make a brief detour and head to Hawick next month. WHAT a shame

Thanks again for your help!

Matt.

[Skoosh]

Try the archive Matt,

http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/

Re' "Walker/Waulker", a fuller of cloth, beating newly woven cloth. A waulking mill had a battery of water-powered hammers for this.

Skoosh

[rockhopper]

Gabriel Newton born 1694 was the person of that name who I think was Deacon of the Taylors and Council Deacon in 1736. He is in my direct Ancestry. I have found no family connection so far with him and William Rae.

[rockhopper]

Gabriel Newton 1694 may have had been a Deacon of the Tailors until the early 1740’s