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68-714: Fatel Razack ( Fath Al Razack , Victory of God (Allah) the Provider , Arabic: قتح الرزاق ) was the first ship to bring indentured labourers from India to Trinidad . The ship was built in Aprenade for a trader named Ibrahim Bin Yussef, an Indian Muslim merchant in Bombay . It was constructed from teak and had a carrying capacity of 415 tons. When the British decided they were going to bring Indians to Trinidad in 1845, most of

136-610: A better life. An American law passed in 1833 abolished the imprisonment of debtors, which made prosecuting runaway servants more difficult, increasing the risk of indenture contract purchases. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , passed in the wake of the American Civil War , made involuntary indentured servitude illegal in the United States. Through its introduction,

204-471: A change in Peter's fortunes. At the age of 24, Williamson married the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and was given a dowry of 200 acres of land close to the frontier of Pennsylvania , where he settled down to live as a farmer. On the night of 2 October 1754 his farm was attacked by Cherokee Indians and he was taken prisoner. The house was plundered and burned to the ground. Williamson related that he

272-585: A collection of drawings of Edinburgh characters of the time. Some time before 1774 Williamson introduced a postal service in Edinburgh. This is evidenced in his Edinburgh Directory of that year, where he draws the public's attention to the fact that "the publisher" (i.e. himself) is willing to dispatch letters and packages up to 3 pounds in weight to any place within one mile of the city's mercat cross , as well as to properties in North and South Leith . The service

340-428: A fabrication; including possibly his marriage, his age at the time of his first kidnapping from Aberdeen, and most significantly his capture by Native Americans. Whilst Williamson's tale is "not to be trusted as an account of Indian Captivity," it is an interesting example of the popular literature genre Timothy J. Shannon has called "narratives of unfortunates." It is also a good example of anti-French propaganda during

408-569: A major reception centre for indentured Indians from India who came to work on plantations following the abolition of slavery. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948) declares in Article 4 "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms". More specifically, it is dealt with by article 1(a) of

476-433: A much higher rate than men due to the high population of men already in the colonies. However, women had to prove their status as single and eligible to emigrate, as married women could not leave without their husbands. Many women seeking escape from abusive relationships were willing to take that chance. The Indian Immigration Act of 1883 prevented women from exiting India as widowed or single in order to escape. Arrival in

544-654: A parent's consent. Such differences in social classes would ensure that alliances between the two groups would not lead to revolts towards plantation owners and managers. As well, during periods of mass indentured servitude of Irish peoples in the Caribbean, certain Irish individuals would use enslaved labour to profit financially and climb the ladder of social class. Historians Kristen Block and Jenny Shaw write that: "the Irish - by virtue of their European heritage - gained […] greater social and economic mobility." An example

612-472: A period of seven years to a fellow Scot, Hugh Wilson. Wilson had himself been kidnapped as a boy and sold into indentured servitude, but, like many indentured servants, had earned his freedom. He may have therefore sympathised with Peter's situation. Williamson said Wilson treated him kindly, and when the latter died in 1750, just before the end of the indenture, he bequeathed the boy £120 plus his best horse and saddle and all his clothes. This helped bring about

680-976: A sign worded, Peter Williamson, Vintner From The Other World , in allusion to his time in North America. A wooden figure of him in Delaware Indian costume stood at the head of the close to advertise its location. In 1769 Williamson opened a printing shop in the Luckenbooths between St Giles High Kirk and the north side of the Royal Mile . He taught himself the craft of printing using a portable press purchased in London. He then invented his own portable printing press and travelled to exhibitions and fairs to promote his new product. He also invented waterproof ink for stamping linen which withstood both boiling and bleaching. In 1773 Williamson compiled

748-556: A small gratuity of six shillings to help him. He set off to walk from Plymouth back to Aberdeen (almost exactly 1000 km). Arriving penniless in York his stories aroused the interest of some "honourable and influential men" who encouraged him to write about his exploits. With their backing he published his account under the title French and Indian Cruelty, exemplified in the Life and various Vicissitudes of Fortune of Peter Williamson, who

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816-518: A statement stating that his claims were false, fined five shillings and banished from Aberdeen as a vagrant . Williamson then headed for Edinburgh where he settled for the remainder of his life. Here he opened a coffee house under Parliament House which became a favourite resort of Edinburgh lawyers and their clients. Robert Fergusson devoted a verse of his poem The Rising of the Session to this popular establishment: This vacance [vacation]

884-469: Is a former indentured servant in Barbados, Cornelius Bryan, would go on to own land and enslaved people himself, demonstrating the tiers between servant and slave classes. The Indian indenture system was a system of indenture by which two million Indians called coolies were transported to various colonies of European powers to provide labour for the (mainly sugar) plantations. It started from

952-648: Is a heavy doom   On Indian Peter's coffee-room For a' his china pigs are toom [bottles are empty]   Nor do we see In wine the soukar biskets soom [sugar biscuits swim]   As light's a flee Having read his book, some of the lawyers encouraged him to sue the Aberdeen magistrates. The case was heard in the Court of Session in Edinburgh and the judges found unanimously in Williamson's favour. The Provost of Aberdeen , four bailies and

1020-493: Is best seen here as women were still subjected to the control of the plantation owners as well as their newly assigned 'partner'. Indentured servitude of Irish and other European peoples occurred in seventeenth-century Barbados, and was fundamentally different from enslavement: an enslaved African's body was owned, as were the bodies of their children, while the labour of indentured servants was under contractual ownership of another person. Laws and racial hierarchy would allow for

1088-707: The American Colonies between the 1630s and the American Revolution came under indentures . However, while almost half the European immigrants to the Thirteen Colonies were indentured servants, at any one time they were outnumbered by workers who had never been indentured, or whose indenture had expired, and thus free wage labor was the more prevalent for Europeans in the colonies. Indentured people were numerically important mostly in

1156-546: The British Empire , transportation of Indian labour to the island gained pace. By 1838, 25,000 Indian labourers had been transported to Mauritius. After the end of slavery, the West Indian sugar colonies tried the use of emancipated slaves , families from Ireland , Germany and Malta and Portuguese from Madeira . All these efforts failed to satisfy the labour needs of the colonies due to high mortality of

1224-501: The Dean of Guild were forced to pay him £100 in compensation. Emboldened by this success, Williamson decided further to sue Bailie William Fordyce and others, who he believed were personally responsible for his kidnapping. The case went before James Forbes, Sheriff-Substitute of Aberdeenshire, acting as arbiter. It seems that the defendants wined and dined Forbes generously ahead of his final deliberations and he exonerated them. The decree

1292-575: The Ellice Islands (subsequently known as Tuvalu ). They became collectively known as " Kanakas ". Indentured labour existed in Papua New Guinea . It remains unknown how many Islanders the trade controversially kidnapped. Whether the system legally recruited Islanders, persuaded, deceived, coerced or forced them to leave their homes and travel by ship to Queensland remains difficult to determine. Official documents and accounts from

1360-570: The French and Indian War . In the following two years he rose to the rank of lieutenant. In a now repeating pattern he was captured by French troops and marched to Quebec . He was then granted status as an "exchange prisoner" and sent on a ship to Plymouth in England where he arrived in November 1756. Having a damaged left hand from being wounded, he was discharged from the army as unfit and given

1428-479: The Political Martyrs' Monument . Whilst the grave is unmarked, he is at least commemorated today by tour guides. His obituary in " The Scots Magazine " appeared soon after and praised Williamson and his various fortunes, good and bad. His Street Directory was taken over in 1800 by Thomas Aitchison who had a printworks on Fleshmarket Close in the old Town . The veracity of Williamson's captivity story

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1496-594: The Swan River area of Western Australia existed between 1829 and 1832. During the 1860s planters in Australia , Fiji , New Caledonia , and the Samoa Islands , in need of laborers, encouraged a trade in long-term indentured labor called "blackbirding". At the height of the labor trade, more than one-half the adult male population of several of the islands worked abroad. Over a period of 40 years, from

1564-488: The "indentured" and "slaves" to be treated differently, as well as their identities to be defined differently.   Barbados is an example of a colony in which the separation between enslaved Africans and "servants" was codified into law. Distinct legal "acts" were created in 1661 treating each party as a separate group. The British ruling class anxieties over Irish loyalties would lead to harsh policing of Irish servants' movements, for instance, needing "reason" to leave

1632-586: The 140th anniversary of their arrival in 1845. Indentured labour Historically, in an apprenticeship , an apprentice worked with no pay for a master tradesman to learn a trade . This was often for a fixed length of time, usually seven years or less. Apprenticeship was not the same as indentureship, although many apprentices were tricked into falling into debt and thus having to indenture themselves for years more to pay off such sums. Like any loan , an indenture could be sold. Most masters had to depend on middlemen or ships' masters to recruit and transport

1700-534: The 1651 Battle of Worcester . King James II acted similarly after the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, and the use of such measures continued into the 18th century. Indentured servants could not marry without the permission of their master, were frequently subject to physical punishment, and did not receive legal favor from the courts. Female indentured servants in particular might be raped and/or sexually abused by their masters. If children were produced

1768-579: The 18th and early 19th centuries, children from the UK were often kidnapped and sold into indentured labor in the American and Caribbean colonies (often without any indentures). Indentured servitude was also used by governments in Britain for captured prisoners of war in rebellions and civil wars. Oliver Cromwell sent into indentured service thousands of prisoners captured in the 1648 Battle of Preston and

1836-848: The British introduced the Indian indenture system, resulting in a permanent Indian South African presence. On 18 January 1826, the Government of the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion laid down terms for the introduction of Indian labourers to the colony. Each man was required to appear before a magistrate and declare that he was going voluntarily. The contract was for five years with pay of ₹8 (12¢ US) per month and rations provided labourers had been transported from Pondicherry and Karaikal . The first attempt at importing Indian labour into Mauritius , in 1829, ended in failure, but by 1834, with abolition of slavery throughout most of

1904-576: The Caribbean (primarily the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean) before 1840. In 1838, with the abolition of slavery at its onset, the British were in the process of transporting a million Indians out of India and into the Caribbean to take the place of the recently freed Africans (freed in 1833) in indentureship. Women, looking for what they believed would be a better life in the colonies, were specifically sought after and recruited at

1972-741: The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery . However, only national legislation can establish the unlawfulness of indentured labor in a specific jurisdiction. In the United States, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 extended servitude to cover peonage as well as Involuntary Servitude. [REDACTED] Media related to Indentured servitude at Wikimedia Commons Peter Williamson (Indian Peter) Peter Williamson (1730 – 19 January 1799), also known as " Indian Peter ",

2040-599: The United States, but economic historians dispute its long-term impact. Sharon Salinger argues that the economic crisis that followed the war made long-term labor contracts unattractive. Her analysis of Philadelphia 's population shows that the percentage of bound citizens fell from 17% to 6.4% throughout the war. William Miller posits a more moderate theory, stating that "the Revolution...wrought disturbances upon white servitude. But these were temporary rather than lasting". David Galenson supports this theory by proposing that

2108-512: The availability or willingness of local tribesmen. Indentured Indians from India were imported, for such projects as the Uganda Railway , as farm labor, and as miners. They and their descendants formed a significant portion of the population and economy of Kenya and Uganda, although not without engendering resentment from others. Idi Amin 's expulsion of the "Asians" from Uganda in 1972 was an expulsion of Indo-Africans. The majority of

Fatel Razack - Misplaced Pages Continue

2176-633: The burial letters That they may pass with little cost   Fleet on the wings of penny-post In his final years Williamson returned to running a tavern, this time in the Lawnmarket , where he seems to have become an alcoholic. He died "of a decline" in January 1799, aged 74, and was buried on 22 January. He was buried in ground belonging to John Scott in the Old Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, 15 metres northeast of

2244-428: The colonial government, and inequality between the upper and lower class in colonial society. Indentured servitude was the primary source of labor for early American colonists until the rebellion. Little changed in the immediate aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion; however, the rebellion did cause a general distrust of servant labor and fear of future rebellion. The fear of indentured servitude eventually cemented itself into

2312-468: The colonies brought unexpected conditions of poverty, homelessness, and little to no food as the high numbers of emigrants overwhelmed the small villages and flooded the labor market. Many were forced into signing labor contracts that exposed them to the hard field labor on the plantation. Additionally, on arrival to the plantation, single women were 'assigned' a man as they were not allowed to live alone. The subtle difference between slavery and indenture-ship

2380-672: The daughter of John Wilson, a bookseller in Edinburgh. They divorced in 1788. The National Portrait Gallery in London has a print which appeared in The Grand Magazine in June 1759 showing Williamson in full "Delaware Indian" dress with tomahawk and scalping knife. The caricaturist John Kay drew him in Indian costume some time around 1768 and this drawing appeared in the preface of later editions of Williamson's autobiography. It also appears as portrait No.128 in Kay's "Original Portraits",

2448-482: The details regarding indentured labor varied across import and export regions and most overseas contracts were made before the voyage with the understanding that prospective migrants were competent enough to make overseas contracts on their own account and that they preferred to have a contract before the voyage. Most labor contracts made were in increments of five years, with the opportunity to extend another five years. Many contracts also provided free passage home after

2516-581: The dictated labor was completed. However, there were generally no policies regulating employers once the labor hours were completed, which led to frequent ill-treatment. In 1643, the European population of Barbados was 37,200 (86% of the population). During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , at least 10,000 Scottish and Irish prisoners of war were transported as indentured laborers to the colonies. A half million Europeans went as indentured servants to

2584-533: The eighteenth century, it remains true that a certain small part of the European colonial population of America was brought by force, and a much larger portion came in response to deceit and misrepresentation on the part of the spirits [recruiting agents]." One "spirit" named William Thiene was known to have spirited away 840 people from Britain to the colonies in a single year. Historian Lerone Bennett Jr. notes that "Masters given to flogging often did not care whether their victims were black or white." Also, during

2652-515: The end of slavery in 1833 and continued until 1920. This resulted in the development of a large Indian diaspora , which spread from the Indian Ocean (i.e. Réunion and Mauritius ) to Pacific Ocean (i.e. Fiji ), as well as the growth of Indo-Caribbean and Indo-African population. The British wanted local black Africans to work in Natal as workers. But the locals refused, and as a result,

2720-525: The first "post offices". Four uniformed postmen were employed to deliver from the Luckenbooths to the shops. Their hats were emblazoned with the words "Penny Post" and they were numbered 1, 4, 8 and 16 (giving the impression that the business was bigger than it was). The service was the first regular and continuous postal service in Scotland, and ran under Williamson's control for 30 years. In 1793, it

2788-443: The first Edinburgh street directory in conjunction with his idea of setting up a regular postal service in the city. This comprised a list of streets and closes with the addresses of lawyers, merchants, officials and other notable gentlemen. Addresses of shops and taverns were also included, thereby not only hugely aiding navigation in the city but creating what is now a very valuable historical source. The Directory cost one shilling and

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2856-638: The guise of a " Red Indian ". Williamson was born the son of James Williamson in a croft in Hirnlay near Aboyne . He described his parents as "reputable though not rich" and at an early age was sent to live with a maiden aunt in Aberdeen . Though little acknowledged in history, there was in those days a thriving trade in stolen children and others. Those engaged in kidnapping were called "spirits", and many of those who were spirited away were taken to North America. In January 1743, Williamson fell victim to

2924-588: The hearts of Americans, leading towards the reliance on enslaved Africans. This helped to ingrain the idea of racial segregation and unite white Americans under race rather than economic or social class. Doing so prevented the potential for future rebellion and changed the way that agriculture was approached. The American and British governments passed several laws that helped foster the decline of indentures. The UK Parliament's Passenger Vessels Act 1803 regulated travel conditions aboard ships to make transportation more expensive, and to hinder landlords' tenants seeking

2992-658: The immigrants were free to work for themselves or another employer. At least one economist has suggested that "indentured servitude was an economic arrangement designed to iron out imperfections in the capital market". In some cases, the indenture was made with a ship's master, who sold the indenture to an employer in the colonies. Most indentured servants worked as farm laborers or domestic servants, although some were apprenticed to craftsmen. The terms of an indenture were not always enforced by American courts, although runaways were usually sought out and returned to their employer. Between one-half and two-thirds of European immigrants to

3060-520: The labour would be extended by two years. Cases of successful prosecution for these crimes were very uncommon, as indentured servants were unlikely to have access to a magistrate, and social pressure to avoid such brutality could vary by geography and cultural norm. The situation was particularly difficult for indentured women, because in both low social class and gender, they were believed to be particularly prone to vice, making legal redress unusual. The American Revolution severely limited immigration to

3128-578: The late 18th century, indentured servitude was common in British America . It was often a way for Europeans to migrate to the American colonies: they signed an indenture in return for a costly passage. However, the system was also used to exploit many of them, as well as Asians (mostly from India and China) who wanted to migrate to the New World. These Asian people were used mainly to construct roads and railway systems. After their indenture expired,

3196-573: The mid-19th century to the early 20th century, labor for the sugar-cane fields of Queensland , Australia included an element of coercive recruitment and indentured servitude of the 62,000 South Sea Islanders . The workers came mainly from Melanesia – mainly from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu – with a small number from Polynesian and Micronesian areas such as Samoa , the Gilbert Islands (subsequently known as Kiribati ) and

3264-599: The new arrivals and their reluctance to continue working at the end of their indenture. On 16 November 1844, the British Indian Government legalised emigration to Jamaica , Trinidad and Demerara ( Guyana ). The first ship, Whitby , sailed from Calcutta for British Guiana on 13 January 1838, and arrived in Berbice on 5 May 1838. Transportation to the Caribbean stopped in 1848 due to problems in

3332-445: The numbers of British indentured servants never recovered, and that Europeans of other nationalities replaced them. Indentured servitude began its decline after Bacon's Rebellion , a servant uprising against the government of Colonial Virginia. This was due to multiple factors, such as the treatment of servants, support of native tribes in the surrounding area, a refusal to expand the amount of land an indentured servant could work by

3400-647: The period often conflict with the oral tradition passed down to the descendants of workers. Stories of blatantly violent kidnapping tend to relate to the first 10–15 years of the trade. Australia deported many of these Islanders back to their places of origin in the period 1906–1908 under the provisions of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 . A significant number of construction projects in British East Africa and South Africa , required vast quantities of labor, exceeding

3468-609: The plantations from which they were employed. Similarly, the laws regarding slavery would prevent enslaved Africans from doing the same. While enslaved Africans - and for a period, free Africans - were not allowed to use the court system in any manner, even to act as a witness, Barbados would allow "white servants" to go to court if they felt that they had received poor treatment. Additionally, children of African descent were offered no supplementary protection, while children of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh extraction who were sent to Barbados as indentured servants could not work without

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3536-483: The population of Mauritius are descendants of Indian indentured labourers brought in between 1834 and 1921. Initially brought to work the sugar estates following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire an estimated half a million indentured laborers were present on the island during this period. Aapravasi Ghat , in the bay at Port Louis and now a UNESCO site, was the first British colony to serve as

3604-399: The region from Virginia north to New Jersey . Other colonies saw far fewer of them. The total number of European immigrants to all 13 colonies before 1775 was about 500,000; of these 55,000 were involuntary prisoners. Of the 450,000 or so European arrivals who came voluntarily, Tomlins estimates that 48% were indentured. About 75% of these were under the age of 25. The age of adulthood for men

3672-541: The sugar industry and resumed in Demerara and Trinidad in 1851 and Jamaica in 1860. This system of labour was coined by contemporaries at the time as a "new system of slavery", a term later used by historian Hugh Tinker in his influential book of the same name. The Indian indenture system was finally banned in 1917. Although the system was officially suspended, those who were serving indentures at that time were required to complete their terms of service, thereby extending

3740-708: The system into the early 1920s. According to The Economist , "When the Indian Legislative Council finally ended indenture...it did so because of pressure from Indian nationalists and declining profitability, rather than from humanitarian concerns." Convicts transported to the Australian colonies before the 1840s often found themselves hired out in a form of indentured labor. Indentured servants also emigrated to New South Wales . The Van Diemen's Land Company used skilled indentured labor for periods of seven years or less. A similar scheme for

3808-405: The trade when he was kidnapped while playing on the quay at Aberdeen. His autobiography gives his age as eight at the time. Some of the Aberdeen bailies were suspected of colluding with the traffickers; an estimated 600 children disappeared from the port when the trade was at its height between 1740 and 1746. Williamson was taken to Philadelphia and sold for £16 as an indentured servant for

3876-513: The traditional British ship owners did not wish to be involved. The confusion as to the proper name possibly stems from the name "Futtle Razak", which was on the ship's manifest . The ship was originally named Cecrops , but upon delivery it was renamed to Fath Al Razack . The ship left Calcutta on 16 February 1845 and landed in the Gulf of Paria on 30 May 1845, with 225 immigrants. The day of landing has been celebrated as Indian Arrival Day since

3944-401: The workers, so indentureships were commonly sold by such men to planters or others upon the ships' arrival. Like slaves, their prices went up or down, depending on supply and demand. When the indenture (loan) was paid off, the worker was free but not always in good health or of sound body. Sometimes they might be given a plot of land or a small sum to buy it, but the land was usually poor. Until

4012-716: Was 24 years (not 21); those over 24 generally came on contracts lasting about three years. Regarding the children who came, Gary Nash reports that "many of the servants were nephews, nieces, cousins, and children of friends of emigrating Englishmen, who paid their passage in return for their labor once in America." Several instances of kidnapping for transportation to the Americas are recorded, such as that of Peter Williamson (1730–1799). Historian Richard Hofstadter pointed out that "Although efforts were made to regulate or check their activities, and they diminished in importance in

4080-532: Was a Scottish memoirist who was part-showman, part-entrepreneur and inventor. Born in a croft in Aberdeenshire, he was forcibly taken to North America at an early age, but succeeded in returning to Scotland where he eventually became a well-known character in 18th century Edinburgh . He adopted the pseudonym "Indian Peter" due to his time spent with native Americans and his self-exploitation of this in an autobiography and by touring Scotland and England in

4148-620: Was carried off from Aberdeen in his Infancy and sold as a slave in Pennsylvania . A thousand copies of the book were sold, earning Williamson a profit of £30, which allowed him to continue his journey to Scotland in comparative ease. As he travelled northwards, Williamson took to dressing as a " Red Indian " and giving displays of Indian life, e.g. demonstrating war-cries and dancing, to help sell further copies of his book which he carried around with him. In June 1758 he finally returned to Aberdeen, some 15 years after his kidnapping. While he

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4216-458: Was challenged almost as soon as it was first printed, and the work has always been seen as suspect among professional historians. In a 1964 article for the quarterly journal Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies , J. Bennett Nolan qualified Williamson as "one of the greatest liars who ever lived." Whilst Bennett's statement may be slightly harsh, recent scholarship speculate that large parts of Williamson's narrative are in fact

4284-653: Was forced to march many miles acting as a pack-mule for the Cherokees and that, whilst with them, he witnessed many murders and scalpings . After several months he escaped and made his way back to his father-in-law's home, where he learnt that his wife had died in his absence. He was called before the State Assembly in Philadelphia to pass on any information he had acquired during his captivity. Whilst there, he enlisted in an army regiment raised to combat in

4352-530: Was integrated into the General Post Office and Williamson received £25 for the goodwill of the business and a pension of 25 shillings per year. The penny post was formalised by Act of Parliament in 1799 following Williamson's death. The poet Robert Fergusson again referred to Williamson in Codicile to Robert Fergusson's Last Will : To Williamson, and his resetters   Dispersing of

4420-424: Was published regularly with relevant updates until 1796. In 1776 he launched a weekly magazine, The Scots Spy or Critical Observer but this ran only from 8 March until 30 August 1776. It was issued each Friday and contained articles and local gossip. He tried to revive this in 1777 under the title The New Scots Spy but this second venture ran only from 29 August until 14 November 1777. In 1777 he married Jean

4488-666: Was read out at the mercat cross the next day. However, the case was referred to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, and after Williamson produced hard evidence of the defendants' involvement, the Court reversed the Sheriff-Substitute's decision in December 1763. Williamson was awarded £200 damages plus 100 guineas legal costs. Williamson's new-found wealth enabled him to open a tavern in Parliament Close bearing

4556-412: Was run from his premises in the Luckenbooths every hour on the hour and cost one penny. However, from its outset until 1776 Williamson's postal service ran in rivalry to the official postal service, only in 1776 did Williamson take over the official role as Postmaster, in a penny post system. Seventeen local shopkeepers spread throughout the city were paid to receive the letters, thus effectively creating

4624-410: Was selling copies of his book in Aberdeen, the authorities charged Williamson with libel in relation to his accusations of their involvement in his original kidnapping. Since the same magistrates he was accusing were also judging him, a guilty verdict was perhaps inevitable. Surplus copies of his book were seized and burned publicly at the mercat cross by the common hangman. Williamson was made to sign

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