Record of Boarders and Obligants Books

One volume, Record of Boarders, 1839-1912; 36 volumes of Obligants Books, 1884-1983. These volumes give varying levels of detail about persons responsible for the payment of board for patients. All volumes list the name of the Obligant and most include the rate of board. Additional information is recorded from 1916 when the format of the volumes alter from headed columns to printed proformas and the volumes are split into male and female volumes. There are some date overlaps as volumes were created at different periods and in some cases every few years. The names of patients still resident when a new volume was created were transferred from the old to the new volume; therefore some patient names appear in multiple volumes. All volumes are compiled alphabetically by patient surname, except DGH1/5/27/1, Record of Boarders which has been compiled by date of admission. Cover dates relate to the dates the volumes were created, except for Record of Boarders, DGH1/5/27/1, for which dates relate to date of admission and Obligant Books-Males and Females Discharged, DGH1/5/27/15- DGH1/5/27/36, for which cover dates refer to date of discharge or death.

1839-1983

36 volumes

At the opening of Crichton Royal Institution the various scales of rates of board on offer were £30 to £350 for private patients and £15 to £18 for pauper patients. The rate of board was set by the Board of Trustees and Directors and was increased every few years. The person responsible for the payment of board was the Obligant or Cautioner, in most cases this was a relative or friend of the patient and in some cases the patient them self. In the case of pauper or rate-aided patients their board was paid by the local parish or, after 1929, the local authority. After Crichton Royal Hospital became part of the National Health Service in 1948 the rates of board were altered, with private patients being referred to as Section 4 or 5 patients and rate-aided patients being Section 3 patients.

Enquiries for reproduction for commercial purposes should be directed to the Archivist, Dumfries and Galloway Archives and Local Studies

The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.