he concept of the Burgess oath belongs - Aberdeen City Council

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As the years of the Middle Agesunrolled so Aberdeen’s Burgessescontinued to enjoy their tradingprivileges. As in other large Scottishburghs, so in Aberdeen no one couldtrade in goods not of his ownmanufacture unless he was a Burgess ofGuild. Trade Burgesses, however, couldmanufacture and sell their products, butlittle more.As each new Burgess, of Guild or Trade,was admitted to the privileges of hisorder he had to pay to the Town Councila sum called his composition.These were then allocated by the TownCouncil to various accounts kept in theirbooks. To our modern eyes they bearunusually colourful titles such asCasualties, Arms’ Money, Guild Wine,Guild Box and Additional Fund to GuildBox.Arms’ Money replaced the weapon in thehand of the entrant Burgess, Guild Winewas in place of the payment for themedieval feast, and the Guild Box wasset up in 1600 to collect small paymentsfor the relief of poverty among Guildbrethren. The box was banded with irnehavend four lockis and four keyis heldby the Dean of Guild, the City Treasurerand two merchants.Income and expenditure fluctuated overthe years, but in 1710 the Dean of Guildwas in a position to invest £19,000 Scotsfrom the Guild Wine Fund in a halfshare in the first half of the Lands ofSkene, out of which the Lands of Cairnieremain, held today for the Guildrycharitable funds, the BridgeworksAccount and the Common Good.The Burgess oath underwent severalmodifications. One clause belatedlyinserted by the Town Council in 1678sought to impose a severe restriction onnon-Protestants. Such was the outcryagainst it that an order was obtainedfrom the Privy Council in Whitehall in1714 to rescind it.In 1819 the Convention of Royal Burghsvoted to abolish the oath, replacing itwith an undertaking by Burgesses todischarge every civil incumbent duty bylaw, the wording which remains on theBurgess ticket to this day.Burgess Oath before 1714
Although it was agreed that theGuildry’s charitable funds beadministered by the Town Council solelyfor the benefit of impoverished Guildbrethren, their widows, orphans andunmarried daughters, control of thesefunds has lain with successive localauthorities.On a number of occasions in the mid19th Century members of the Guildryfound their claim to ownership ofGuildry funds angrily rebuffed by theTown Council, all of whose memberswere, of course, members of the Guild.Possession being said to be nine-tenthsof the law, and the Guildry being anunincorporated body, the Council wereable to persuade the Court of Session oftheir rights to the funds labelled asGuildry funds.There had been earlier conflicts betweenGuild and Council. In 1782 and again in1817 Burgesses were involved in localagitation for political change, but it wasonly after the reform of Parliament in1832 that the Royal Burghs Reform Actof 1833 began the slow democratisationof local government.Aberdeen, still within its ancientboundaries, was made up of three wardsand councillors were elected by thevotes of all qualified electors withineach ward, men who were owners ortenants of property with an annual rentalof at least £10.This was, of course, a long way short ofthe democratic process we have come toknow, especially when we bear in mindthat until 1871 votes were not secret butrecorded by the Town Clerk’s staff invoting registers still preserved in cityarchives.With introduction of the Police Act of1871 the role of Burgesses was changedcompletely. No longer could they belooked upon as guardians of the burgh,and with removal of trading privilegestheir position no longer held therelevance of earlier days.Their numbers then also went intodecline and, with a considerablereduction in the role of their Dean,interest in the Burgess movementflagged over the years, so much so thatextinction looked possible.Membership of the Guildry has variedwidely over the years. As the privilegesand rights of Burgesses declined, andwith less need for their presence tosafeguard laws and customs of theburgh, their numbers decreased.At the start of the 19th Century, whenAberdeen had a population of about40,000, there were about 1,000Burgesses. In 1817, there were 820. By1867 the number was down to 337 and acentury later the number was much thesame, dropping to 300 in 1981 - and stillall men. But all that was soon to change,just as the city had changed with thediscovery of oil under the North Sea.
Page 2 and 3: he concept of the Burgess oath belo
Page 4 and 5: Dean and Assessors with the pre 182
Page 6 and 7: Detail from Plan of Aberdeen 1661
Page 8: We do not know who were the firstBu
Page 11: ut Guild members had to pay a furth
Page 15 and 16: BURGESS OF GUILDABERDEEN1214Left to
Page 17 and 18: Royal authority for the formation o
Page 19 and 20: The Dean in full regaliamaintains a
Page 21 and 22: Guildries of Scottish burghs. At a
Page 23 and 24: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother ad
Page 25 and 26: The Dean of Guild andCity Archivist
Page 27 and 28: chosen each year from those who had

he concept of the Burgess oath belongs - Aberdeen City Council

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