The earliest Scottish directory, 'Williamson's Directory for the City of Edinburgh, was published in 1773. However, it was not until 1820 that a directory appeared covering the south-western counties of Dumfries and Galloway - this was 'The Commercial
Directory of Ireland, Scotland and the four most Northern Counties of England', published in Manchester by J.Pigot & Co.
This was followed in 1825 by Pigot & Co.'s 'National Commercial Directory of the Whole of Scotland and the Isle of Man', and a further edition of this was published in 1837. There were no further editions of Pigot's directory, but a new directory of Scotland began publication in 1852 - 'Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory and Topography of Scotland' - and 20 editions of this were published between 1852 and 1928 (the last two editions, in 1921 and 1928, being published as 'Kelly's (Slater's) Directory of Scotland'). |
The general pattern of the earlier directories is a topographical arrangement by counties, within which towns and groups of rural parishes are dealt with in alphabetical order. For each unit, there is an introductory text dealing with the topography and history of the place, and its local government, institutions, commerce and industry; followed by a classified list of merchants and tradesmen. There is usually a list of the local nobility, gentry and clergy.
Progressively, coverage expanded in later editions, which included fuller lists of private residents and professional people, alphabetical lists of businesses, street directories of the major cities, and lists of farmers in the rural areas. Even the later editions, however, were far from comprehensive, especially as regards private residents - the 1928 edition of 'Kelly's (Slater's) Directory of Scotland', for instance, lists only about 850 householders in Dumfries and Maxwelltown. |