In honor of the holiday, this months spotlight on an accountant in history we are going to look
at the 16th century British town of Aberdeen.
During the reign of King James VI there was a spike in witch trials in
Aberdeen, going from 1 or 2 a year to 31 in 1597. So why is this worthy of
mention in an accounting blog? One of the town's elected officials, the Dean of
Guild, anticipated the rise in witch hunts and stock piled the necessary
supplies needed to burn a person at the stake.
The Dean of Guild
itemized all his purchases during this time, giving us a chance to see the £
178 cost of the witch burnings broken
down. The dean of guild, a pioneer in
job costing, listed the costs of execution by defendants. He is even able to take what we normally consider overhead, and assign the cost of heating during the trials to specific "witches".
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| Actual itemized records from 1597 |
As a last note, while the name of the Dean of Guild during this time was lost, we do have the name of the executioner: John Justice. This has to be the greatest name for an executioner ever.
Sources:
- Kennedy, William. "Annals of Aberdeen" 1818
- Hain, H. P. "Some Burning Matters" Journal of Accountancy. April 1972
