he concept of the Burgess oath belongs - Aberdeen City Council

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.