Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
GUILDRY, n. Also †gildrie, -y. The incorporation of merchants in a burgh, the merchant Guild, q.v. Also attrib. Comb. †gildryman.Mry. 1705 Rec. Conv. Burghs (1880) 396:
Tuo deacons are to be chosen by the counsell conforme to the trades their contract with the gildrie.Ags. 1725 Miscellany B.R.S. (1881) 279:
Ane act of councill, . . . for establishing a dean of gild and gildrymen within the same [Arbroath], after the modell and with the lyke powers and priviledges that the burghs of Pearth, Dundee, St Andrews or Brechin, doe enjoy.Slg. 1781 Miscellany B.R.S. (1881) 269:
Making in all twenty one members, fourteen of whom were of the guildry or merchants and the other seven of the incorporated trades.Fif. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XIII. 431:
A council of 22; consisting of 12 guildry or merchant-councillors.Sc. 1817 Blackwood's Mag. (Nov.) 234:
The guildry are to meet with the Dean to-morrow, when the books, papers, and funds, are to be delivered over to them.Ags. 1872 A. Warden Burgh Laws Dundee 89:
The mercantile body was called “The Guildry,” and the handicrafts, such as Bakers, Fleshers, Weavers, Tailors, Shoemakers and others, each of which was distinct in itself, formed “The Trades.”Sc. 1890 C. Gross Gild Merchant I. 225:
The history of the Scotch Gild Merchant or Gildry thus differs from that of England in two important points, namely, in the inimical relations between the crafts and the Gild, and in the continuance of the Gildry as a separate but constituent part of the burghal administration down to the present day.Ayr. 1951 Stat. Acc.3 553:
Old institutions like the Guildry of Ayr, Shoemakers' Incorporation and the Whipmen's Society, descendants of ancient trade guilds and benefit societies are still flourishing in the twentieth century.
