James Hanly shared this interesting screen grab from a TV show about Barlinnie prison. Though fleeting, it was noticed one of the prisoners photographed in 1883 was an Alexander Reid. I was able to help by researching and finding out the following story:
On the evening of Monday 18th September 1882, a joiner by name of Smith was returning to his home in Buchanan Buildings, Blantyre. Somewhat worse by drink, he was an easy target for a small group of men near Greenfield Foundry, Springwells, Blantyre.
Alexander Reid, George Gardiner and Archibald Russell, all miners, knocked Smith to the ground, took all his 7s money and robbed him of his boots. Drunken Smith, thinking he was being murdered, shouted ‘murder, murder’, attracting attention from neighbouring properties and the bully trio fled the scene.
A couple of days later the boots turned up in Blantyre Pawn on Glasgow Road, the young boy who brought them in admitting he got them from Gardiner. The police intervened and after questioning had their three men! Appearing in the police court at the end of September 1882, Baille Thomson decided that the case needed to be heard in a higher court, determined to serve the men a prison sentence. So the case was deferred to early 1883, whilst a slot could be obtained at the higher court.
Alexander Reid clearly was sentenced.
In the 1880s, prisoners sent to Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow (which officially opened the year before in 1882) were typically photographed upon arrival. By this decade, the practice of “mug shots” — frontal and profile photographs of criminals — was becoming standard across Britain. This was part of a broader move toward modern policing and record-keeping, intended to help with:
- Identification of repeat offenders
- Maintaining criminal records across regions
- Tracking movement between institutions
These type of photographs were often accompanied by written details like name, offence, height, distinguishing marks, and sentence length. Handed were photographed to show the number of fingers, tattoos or to identify features.
