C.A. Logan Author

This month, the blog is part one of a longer story, because I need to testify. Yes testify … to the remarkable life of Archibald Sloss, born in Stirlingshire in 1830. Archie, alias Archie Baird, the ex-Duke of Portland Prison, Old Dad Sloss, or “The Burglar with the Blue Scar” was my grandmother’s grandfather’s older brother. I had never heard of Archibald Sloss until I started my genealogy research on the internet.

It’s more accurate to say that Archie found me. In every search engine, this digital Jack-in-the-box popped up. Two versions of Archie competed for attention, one a convict, the other a reformer. I tried to ignore him, or both of him, for a year, convinced that this outstanding character wasn’t part of my family. I searched for a more mundane Archibald Sloss, tracing all the Archibald Slosses, forever grateful that the surname isn’t Macdonald. It was half-past two on a wintry Saturday morning when I conceded, by Sherlockian deduction — “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” — that this Archie, this crazy Archie, and both versions of him, this Jack-in-the-box, was my Archie.  

Archie Sloss, the ex-burglar and brilliant storyteller, spun tales with his vivid imagination, quick wit, and wry, self-deprecating sense of humour. All he needed was an audience. Imagine finding Archie, sitting in a pub, talking about his criminal adventures and escapes from prisons throughout the world. He might try to pick your pocket. That would be before Archie became famous.

Here’s a taste of Archie in his own words. Archie was serving a sentence of hard labour in the Royal Navy’s Bermuda Dockyard prison. Yellow Fever, nicknamed “Yellow Jack”, rampaged through the colony. Archie recounted, “Well, Jack gets worse an’ worse. There was none lef’ to tend the sick. The commander of the hospital ship comes ashore and calls for volunteers. ’Hallo, Archie!’ says I to myself. ‘Here’s a chance for a change. Lots o’ grub and smokes all day long. Ye may as well die here as anywheers else. So I holds up my hand and cries, ‘I’m one.’”

He described the horrors of Yellow Fever as he tended to the officers. Luckily, Archie did not catch the fever. For his good deed, the authorities pardoned him and sent him home. So Archie, with humour, remembered “Yaller Jack” as his liberator and a friend.  

Archie arrived back in Glasgow. Did he reform? No, he did not. The court handed him a sentence of fourteen years in Australia’s Fremantle Prison, and some rich storytelling material, including many escapes, only a few of them successful, and one when he voluntarily re-admitted himself to prison. If you believe him.

One of Archie’s favourite tales involved cattle stealing with Nat the Stockman and Bob the Duffer. They hid in a secret cave with their stolen supplies and gold. The police raided the site when he was away. He returned to find his companions gone, the contents upturned and splattered blood everywhere. He took the hidden gold and vanished. His fellow criminals, Nat and Bob, went back to jail. The police sought Archie Sloss; his head was worth £200.

How did Archie escape Australia?

If you want to find out how Archie returned to Britain — Archie’s version, of course — tell me in the comments section below. I’ll continue with part two next month.

Title image created using AI by CA Logan, 2025

Carole