Pilots Returns for Aberdeen 1854-1910

As many of my family were Footdee pilots (at the port of Aberdeen) I am interested in finding out more about them and their way of life. My research led me to the parliamentary papers of 1854, where there are returns for pilotage of all the British ports - including the names and ages of the registered pilots and their assistants. I have identified several family and possible family members here - and thought it would be useful to those who do not have access to the Guildhall Library in London to make the transcripts available on the internet. All of these transcripts were from the Guildhall Library, Manuscripts section, Manuscript Reference 30189.

Please note that the ages are not always accurate - as you trace the pilots through the years you will see some variances from year to year. The records are transcribed as they are, spelling mistakes and date discrepancies as recorded - but I have made notes where I think the records are wrong. The dates are however a very useful indication of the birth year of the men. I have also managed to trace the year of retirement of some of my pilots from these records.

This was also obviously a very strongly family-orientated profession in Aberdeen, as the same family names keep occurring, and I think most of the same surnames were related to each other. One day (perhaps with others who have relatives listed here) I may try to establish the relationships between the various pilots. If you would like to talk to me about this, please email me. My known family names are MAIN, BRANDS and BAXTER.

I will not have the time in London to transcribe all of the records, but below have the transcripts for 1854 to 1870. Due to family commitments and my imminent emigration to Australia I will not be able to visit the Guildhall again. If anyone else is interested and has access to the records, I will very happily code their transcripts and post them to this site as well. Please email me if you can add to these records, or have any comments. I hope you find this useful and enjoy it.

Alex Rogers

Either browse the reports by year using these links, or else use the "Find" facility of your browser to look for a surname which interests you. 1870 is below the table, and the rest can be jumped to by clicking the date below. If this does not succeed, wait for the page to load fully before trying again.

8 Feb 1871 - Captain Pilot William Clarke

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
George	Allan	65
John	Allan	45
William	Allan	30
Alexander	Baxter	51
John	Baxter	33
Andrew	Fowler	51
John	Mitchell	37
William	Morrice	40
Kenneth	Robertson	67
Thomas	Walker	23

25 Feb 1870 - Captain Pilot William Clarke

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
George	Allan	64
William	Allan	29
Alexander	Baxter	50
John	Baxter	32
Andrew	Fowler	50
John	Mitchell	36
Kenneth	Robertson	66
John	Smith	33
William	Walker	28
Thomas	Walker	22

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
George	Allan	63
William	Allan	28
Alexander	Baxter	49
John	Baxter	31
Andrew	Fowler	49
Alexander	Guyan	36
John	Mitchell	35
Kenneth	Robertson	65
John	Smith	32
William	Walker	27

1 June 1868 - Captain Pilot William Clarke

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
George	Allan	62
William	Allan	27
Alexander	Baxter	48
John	Baxter	30
Andrew	Fowler	48
John	Fowler	30
John	Mitchell	34
John	Morrice	44
George	Morrice	23
Kenneth	Robertson	64
John	Smith	32
John	Smith	31
William	Walker	26

4 June 1867 - Captain Pilot William Clarke

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
George	Allan	61
William	Allan	26
Alexander	Baxter	47
John	Baxter	29
Andrew	Fowler	47
John	Mitchell	33
John	Morrice	43
George	Morrice	22
Kenneth	Robertson	63
John	Smith	31

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 12 - 1865 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

The Pilots mentioned in Parliamentary Paper, No. 243 of 1865, p.71, are still acting. Omit the names of George Allan and William Smith and add that of John Smith, aged 30

6 April 1866 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gauld

(The following table is my extrapolation based on the above figures - AJR)

Pilot's Name		Age last Birthday
Alexander	Allan	31
John	Caie	44
Alexander	Fowler	50
George	Fowler	44
William	Guyan	41
John	Guyan	33
John	Main	30
Alexander	Morrice	59
Alexander	Morrice	52
William	Morrice	46
John	Morrice	41
George	Morrice	33
Alexander	Paterson	30
James	Robertson	45
William	Smith	59
Charles	Smith	55
Alexander	Smith	38
John	Smith	30
William	Smith	30
Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	65
Alexander	Baxter	46
Anthony	Baxter	46
Andrew	Fowler	46
Robert	Hunter	38
John	Mitchell	32
James	Morrice	32
Alexander	Morrice	26
Kenneth	Robertson	62
John	Walker	26

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 11 - 1864 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

5 June 1865 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gauld

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	64
Alexander	Baxter	45
Anthony	Baxter	45
Andrew	Fowler	45
Robert	Hunter	37
John	Mitchell	31
James	Morrice	31
Alexander	Morrice	25
Kenneth	Robertson	61
John	Walker	25

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 10 - 1863 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

The Pilots mentioned in Parliamentary Paper, No. 264 of 1863, p.93, are still acting

Captain Pilot Alexander Gauld

The table below is thus an extrapolation of the previous figures - AJR

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	63
Alexander	Baxter	44
Andrew	Fowler	44
John	Guyan	31
Robert	Hunter	36
John	Mitchell	30
Alexander	Morrice	57
James	Morrice	30
Robert	Morrice	29
Kenneth	Robertson	60

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 9 - 1862 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

Dated 28 May 1863 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gould

* Should be Caie

Note - the ages do not follow from last year's so either they are inaccurate or were taken at a different time.

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 8 - 1861 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

The Pilots mentioned in Parliamentary Paper, No. 243 of 1861, p.85, are still acting

Dated 19 April 1862 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gould

The table below is my extrapolation of the figures from the year before - AJR

* Morris should almost definitely be Morrice

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	62
Anthony	Baxter	45
John	Caie	41
John	Caie	36
Andrew	Fowler	43
John	Guyan	30
John	Main	27
John	Mitchell	29
William	Morrice	42
Kenneth	Robertson	59

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 7 - 1860 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

Dated 29/3/1861 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gould (sic)

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	61
Anthony	Baxter	44
John	Caie	40
John	Caie	35
Andrew	Fowler	42
John	Guyan	29
John	Main	26
John	Mitchell	28
William	Morrice	41
Kenneth	Robertson	58

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 6 - 1859 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

The Pilots mentioned in Parliamentary Paper, No. 244 of 1859, p.88, are still acting

Dated 14 April 1860 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gauld

The table below is from my extrapolation of the preceding figures

* Alleen should be Allan

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	60
Andrew	Baxter	43
John	Brands	42
John	Caie	39
John	Caie	34
Andrew	Fowler	41
John	Guyan	28
John	Main	25
John	Mitchell	27
Kenneth	Robertson	57

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 5 - 1858 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

Dated 29/4/1859 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gauld

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	59
Anthony	Baxter	42
John	Brands	41
John	Caie	38
John	Caie	33
Andrew	Fowler	40
John	Guyan	27
John	Main	24
John	Mitchell	26
Kenneth	Robertson	56

Guildhall ref 30189 Vol. 4 - 1857 Aberdeen Pilot's Return

Dated 27/3/1858 - Captain Pilot Alexander Gauld

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday
William	Allan	58
Anthony	Banter *	41
John	Caie **	32
Andrew	Fowler	39
Alexander	Guyan	38
John	Guyan	26
John	Main	23
John	Mitchell	25
Robert	Morrice	26
Kenneth	Robertson	55

* Should be Anthony Baxter I think

1856 Return of Pilots for Aberdeen

Source - Guildhall Library - Manuscript Section - Reference 30189 Vol. III

NAMES and AGES of all PILOTS etc acting for the above Port

George	Allan	52
Alexander	Allan	23
George	Baxter	46
Alexander	Baxter	33
John	Brands	39
Alexander	Fowler	42
George	Fowler	36
William	Guyan	33
Robert	Hunter	30
Alexander	Main	64
Andrew	Main	52
Alexander	Morrice	51
Alexander	Morrice	44
John	Morrice	34
James	Robertson	37
Charles	Smith	47

Names of the Assistants employed by the Licensed Pilots of the Port:

William	Allan	57
Andrew	Fowler	38
John	Guyan	25
John	Masson	26
George	Morrice	26
Pearson	Morrice	25
Kenneth	Robertson	54
William	Smith	26

---

1855 Return of Pilots for Aberdeen

Source - Guildhall Library - Manuscript Section - Reference 30189 Vol. II

Return of the NAMES and AGES of all PILOTS and ASSISTANTS Licensed or Authorised to act by the Harbour Commissioners of Aberdeen and of all Pilots of Assistants acting mediately or immediately under such Commissioners, whether so Licensed or not, with the service for which each Pilot or Assistant is Licensed, for the Year ending 31 December 1855.

The following Pilots and Assistants have since ceased to act as such:

George	Caie	50
John	Forbes	38
Alexander	Guyan	43
William	Main	50
William	Main	51
John	Mitchell	26

The following Pilots have been Licensed and Apprentices taken since the date of the previous Parliamentary Return.

Pilot's Name		Age last Birthday	Whether Licensed or Authorised	Service for which Authorised to Act	Apprentices?
Andrew	Main	46	Yes	Pilotage of the Port or Harbour of Aberdeen	See Below
Alexander	Morrice	48
John	Morrice	26

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday	Whether Licensed or Authorised	Service for which Authorised to Act	Apprentices?
George	Morrice	30	Employed by the Licenced Pilots of the Port	Pilotage of the Port or Harbour of Aberdeen	None
Person*	Morrice	26
John	Masson	20

* "Person" should be Pearson, I think - AJR

---

Parliamentary Papers - Return of Pilots 1854 - Aberdeen

Source - Guildhall Library - Manuscript Section - Reference 30189 Vol. I

Return of the NAMES and AGES of all PILOTS and ASSISTANTS Licensed or Authorised to act by the Harbour Commissioners of Aberdeen and of all Pilots of Assistants acting mediately or immediately under such Commissioners, whether so Licensed or not, with the service for which each Pilot or Assistant is Licensed, for the Year ending 31 December 1854.

Pilot's Name		Age last Birthday	Whether Licensed or Authorised	Service for which Authorised to Act	Apprentices?
William	Allan	48	Yes	Pilotage of the Port or Harbour of Aberdeen	None
George	Allan	45
Alexander	Baxter	32
John	Brands	38
George	Caie	50
John	Forbes	38
Alexander	Fowler	40
George	Fowler	30
Alexander	Guyan	43
William	Guyan	33
Robert	Hunter	30
Alexander	Main	56
William	Main	50
Alexander	Morrice	44
James	Robertson	35
Charles	Smith	41

Assistant's Name		Age last Birthday	Whether Licensed or Authorised	Service for which Authorised to Act	Apprentices?
Alexander	Allan	22	Employed by the Licensed Pilots of the Port	Pilotage of the Port or Harbour of Aberdeen	None
George	Baxter	33
William	Baxter	35
Andrew	Fowler	36
John	Guyan	28
William	Main	51
John	Mitchell	26
Kenneth	Robertson	48

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