Births,
deaths, marriages, still-births, adoptions and divorces in Scotland,
Old parish registers (1553 to 1854)Births,
deaths, marriages, still-births, adoptions and divorces in Scotland,
Old parish registers (1553 to 1854)
Before the introduction of compulsory civil registration in 1855, the parish ministers or session clerks of the established Church of Scotland in some 900 parishes kept these registers, which record births & baptisms; proclamations of banns & marriages; and deaths & burials. The surviving registers, now approximately 3,500 in number, are far from complete. Though our oldest register relates to baptisms and banns at Errol in Perthshire in 1553, for some parishes the earliest register dates from the early 19th century, and for other parishes there are no registers at all. The standard of record-keeping also varied considerably from parish to parish and from year to year, and most entries contain relatively little information. We have an index on computer to all the registers of births & baptisms and of banns & marriages, and paper indexes to a few of the registers of deaths & burials.
A list of the indexed material is available in the Search Room. Consultation of the registers is from microfilm. We sell copies of the old parish registers - and of the 1841-1891 census returns mentioned below - in complete reels of 35mm roll microfilm up to 30m in length and also microfiche copies, by county, of the index of births and baptisms, banns and marriages. Suitable reading equipment is essential. For details and prices please write to our microfilm unit at New Register House.
Register
of neglected entries (1801 to 1854)
After statutory registration was introduced in 1855, the Registrar General compiled a register of births, deaths and marriages proved to have occurred in Scotland between 1801 and 1854 but which had not been entered in the old parish registers. Consultation of the registers is from microfilm. The entries are found at the end of the appropriate parish register entries.
Registers
of births, deaths and marriages (from 1855)
The statutory civil registers, which district registrars have compiled since 1 January 1855, constitute the main series of national records of vital events occurring in Scotland. At the end of each calendar year the district registrars despatch the register books to New Register House, where we compile a national index on computer for each of the three categories of events - births, deaths and marriages. The registers themselves become available for consultation in New Register House during the year following the year to which they relate, as soon as they have been copied. Consultation of the registers is from microfiche.
Register
of still-births (from 1939)
District registrars compile registers of still-births occurring in Scotland, but these are not open for public search and we issue extracts only in exceptional circumstances, eg for legal purposes.
Adopted
children register (from 1930)
The Registrar General keeps a register of persons adopted under orders made by Scottish courts. There are no entries relating to persons born before October 1909.
Register
of divorces (from May 1984)
The Registrar General keeps a register of divorces granted by Scottish courts. Extracts from the register show the names of the parties, the date and place of marriage, the date and place of divorce, and details of any order made by the court regarding financial provision or custody of children.
Births,
deaths and marriages outside Scotland
Marine register of births and deaths (from 1855) and Air register (from 1948). Records are held of births and deaths on British-registered merchant vessels at sea in any part of the world, and of births and deaths in any part of the world in British-registered aircraft, where it appears that one of the child's parents or the deceased person was usually resident in Scotland.
These include Army Returns of births, deaths and marriages of Scottish persons at military stations abroad during the period 1881-1959; Service Departments Registers which, since 1 April 1959, have recorded births, deaths and marriages outside the United Kingdom relating to persons ordinarily resident in Scotland who are serving in or employed by HM Forces, including the families of members of the Forces; and certified copies of entries relating to marriages solemnised by Army chaplains outside the United Kingdom since 1892, where one of the parties to the marriage is described as Scottish and at least one of the parties is serving in HM Forces.
Registers are held of the South African War (1899-1902), which records the deaths of Scottish soldiers; of World War I (1914-1918), which records the deaths of Scottish persons serving as Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers or Men in the Army or as Petty Officers or Men in the Royal Navy; and of World War II (1939-1945), which comprises incomplete returns of the deaths of Scottish members of the Armed Forces.
Consular
returns of births, deaths and marriages (from 1914)
Certified copies are held of registrations by British consuls relating to persons of Scottish descent or birth. Records of births and deaths date from 1914, records of marriages from 1917.
High
Commissioners' returns of births and deaths (from 1964)
Records are held from certain Commonwealth countries relating to persons of Scottish descent or birth. Some earlier returns are available for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ghana, and some returns are available also for marriages in certain Commonwealth countries.
Register
of births, deaths and marriages in foreign countries (1860-1965)
Until the end of 1965 the Registrar General compiled a register of the births of children of Scottish parents and of the marriages and deaths of Scots, the entries being made on the basis of information supplied by the parties concerned and after consideration of the evidence of each event.
Certified copies are held of certificates (with translations) relating to marriages of persons from Scotland in certain foreign countries according to the laws of these countries, without the presence of a British consular officer.
Enumerators' transcript books (from 1841). The Registrar General holds records of the decennial census of the population of Scotland for 1841 and every tenth year thereafter (with the exception of the wartime year of 1941 when no census was taken), and of the quinquennial sample census in 1966. The records of censuses taken after 1891 are still confidential and are not available for searching or extracting and the only records open to the public to see relate to the censuses held on 7 June 1841; 31 March 1851; 8 April 1861; 3 April 1871; 4 April 1881 and 5 April 1891. The records are transcript books prepared by the census enumerators after collection of the census schedules from households, and contain such particulars as name, age, marital state, occupation and birthplace of every member of a household present on census night. The books are not indexed, and in order to trace any particular family one needs to have some knowledge of the address they were at when the census was taken. Street indexes are available for certain urban areas. A microfiche index is available for the 1881 census and a computer index for the 1891 census will be completed during the year. Consultation of the census records themselves is from roll microfilm.
Advice
in compiling a family tree
Work backwards in time. Start with a person whose full name you know, together with identifying details such as place and date of birth, marriage or death. You will usually find tracing a Scottish line of descent back to 1855 fairly straightforward using the indexes on our computer and the microfiche of the statutory register pages, but back beyond 1855 it can become more difficult. Other sources of information not held by the Registrar General may be helpful to you, and books on genealogy and compiling family trees are widely available in bookshops and libraries. Your local librarian may be able to offer helpful advice. We hold some of these books and publications at New Register House and allow a customer making a general search to use them for reference.
Page last updated: 25th March 1997