Kirk session discipline

We know that both James Roy and Ann Peddie (and Ann's mother) appeared before the Auchtergaven Kirk Session in relation to their charge of fornication, but what were the implications of this for them? 

In both James and Ann's case, the kirk session record says that they were 'suitably rebuked by the Minister' and then 'absolved from the scandal of it'. There is no mention of any public rebuking, so I suspect that the rebuke (i.e. telling off or reprimand) was just done in the session house by the Minister and then announced publicly afterwards from the pulpit.  

This wasn't always the case, however. In earlier days, public rebuke was often the standard, with offenders having to appear before the congregation to confess, or being made to sit on 'the repentance stool' or 'the pillar' - the names given to the place within or outside the church where guilty parties had to stand or sit during a Sunday service (often three times for a first offence) to be publicly shamed before the congregation.1 

Even earlier, traditions such as the wearing of sackcloth, shaving of heads and  'jougs' were often used - 'jougs' was an iron ring or collar 'fastened to a church door, a tree in a churchyard, the post of a church gate, a market cross, or a market tron, or weighing post' and fastened around the neck of the culprit, designed to publicly shame the offender. 2

But it seems like James and Ann were absolved with just a private rebuke. 

However, that wasn't the end of the story. A check of the Auchtergaven Parish Accounts for 1811 shows that on May 12, 1811, a fine of 10 shillings was collected from 'a person guilty of fornication'.3

Auchtergaven kirk session, Accounts (1790-1827), CH2/22/4, Image No. 72.

This is the same day that James appeared before the kirk sessions, so it is likely that this fine was imposed on him. There is no similar entry on the day that Ann appeared, so I'm assuming that only James was fined. 

Looking back through previous years' accounts for the parish, 10 shillings was about an average amount to be fined for fornication. In 1805, there were instances of offenders being fined 1 pound each. The charge of ante-nuptial fornication (i.e. the offenders were found out after their marriage because their child was born within nine months4) seemed to attract a lesser fine. Some of those instances I found ranged from 2 to 5 shillings. 

Fines like these could be considered a form of tax - as the money went straight into the kirk funds which were then used to support the poor of the parish - often single mothers with illegitimate children. To put James' 10 shillings fine amount into perspective,  the collection from the entire congregation that  Sunday was only just over 11 shillings and on the payments page of the accounts, payments were made to the poor during May of between 3 to 8 shillings each. Indeed, the 1798 Statistical Account of Auchtergaven reported that, 'there are generally 6 or 8 paupers upon the list, who receive from 5s. to 10 s. per month, according to their necessities.  So the fine paid by James was sufficient to support one pauper for a month.5

What happened with James and Ann next? Did they eventually marry? Where was William Roy I raised, and who supported him? More questions to be explored in future posts! 

Confused about where these characters fit into the family tree? Or where this action is occurring?  You can always check The Family Tree and Map pages for visual clues.

Footnotes

1. Andrew Edgar, Old Church Life in Scotland: Lectures on Kirk-session and Presbytery Records, Alexander Gardener, Paisley & London, 1885, p.285.

2. William Andrews, Bygone Punishments, William Andrews, London, 1899, p.176,  https://electricscotland.com/history/02BygonePunishmentsScotland.pdf, accessed 12 February 2022. 

3. Auchtergaven kirk session, Accounts (1790-1827), CH2/22/4, Image No. 72.

4. Leah Leneman and Rosalind Mitchison, 'Girls in Trouble: The Social and Geographical Setting of Illegitimacy in Early Modern Scotland', Journal of Social History, Spring, 1988, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 483-497

5. Sir John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland, Auchtergaven, Perth, Vol. 17, Edinburgh: William Creech,  p. 551. University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow. (1999) The Statistical Accounts of Scotland online service: https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk:443/link/osa-vol17-p551-parish-perth-auchtergaven, accessed 12 February 2022.