Faces from Barlinnie’s Victorian past brought to life online

The tale of John Porter, a homeless teenager who was sent to Glasgow’s notorious Barlinnie prison 140 years ago, is just one of the thousands of forgotten stories which can now be followed through newly-released photographs.

Two thousand images and 180,000 prison records from the Victorian era have been unveiled by Scotland’s People, a family history website.

John Porter appears three times in the collection, from 1883 to 1885, with the photos providing a visual snapshot into his time spent in prison.

The records detail how he was first sent to Barlinnie at age 17, where he served 60 days for being a “rogue and vagabond”, under a law that criminalised begging and rough sleeping.

His third photograph in the digital archive shows his final appearance at Barlinnie, aged 18, looking noticeably more matured.

He was sentenced to three months hard labour – which for some prisoners involved breaking rocks from the local quarry.

Porter was sent to Barlinnie a total of five times from the age of 17 to 18, all of which were for short sentences.

Only some prisoners were captured on camera. The photographs show imprisoned people on the day of their release. Most served sentences of only a few days for petty offences.

The harsh social conditions of the time are evident in the photographs.

Barlinnie’s five accommodation halls were built in stages between 1882 and 1897.

Life in the Glasgow prison was tough, with prisoners nicknaming it “Bar-hell” and the “bighouse”.

Misbehaviour would often result in inmates being handcuffed and left in a canvas jacket through the night.

Although most inmates had only committed petty offences, such as minor thefts and drunkenness, more serious criminals were also housed at the prison.

These included 17-year-old Thomas Johnston, who murdered his step-father, John Wood during an argument over the quality of his breakfast.

The digital archive also showed that infamous criminal, Hugh Abernethy, was also held at Barlinnie.

It show Abernethy was sentenced to 12 months after he famously tried and failed to shoot his lover, Euphemia Hamilton, twice, when he discovered she was married with an illegitimate child.

Scotland’s People, which is run by National Records of Scotland, described the new images as a “fantastic resource for researchers” which will allow people to “put faces to names” in a way which is not possible for other records.