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As the Records Show
150 Years of Civil Registration in Scotland
by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot
On January 1, 1855, civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began in Scotland. This was eighteen years later than in England and Wales and nine years before civil registration began in Ireland.
There was an Established Church, the Church of Scotland, and it had required each parish to keep a register of baptisms and marriages from the later 1500s. By 1800 it was becoming apparent these records could never meet the growing needs of a changing society and were very inadequate. Some people were without official birth records, many parishes had no burial records; in fact, the percentage of churches keeping proper records was small. The legislation of 1854 was passed to transfer the recording and keeping of information to the government--or as it was stated, "to provide for the better registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland."
150 Years on
Since the civil registration of vital events began, the population of Scotland has doubled and the methods of collection and analysis have changed dramatically. It was all laboriously done by hand in the beginning, and now Scotland is a leader in digitizing vital records. The website of the General Register Office Scotland (GROS) has a new look that reflects the use of computers, the many uses for population statistics, and even shows the importance given to considering the needs of family historians (www.gro-scotland.gov.uk).
Indexes to birth, marriage, and death records have been accessible online at a pay-per-view site for several years, and images of the registers themselves have become available more recently (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk).
The GROS also holds Scottish census records and the registers of the Church of Scotland; indexes and images to these also are appearing at the ScotlandsPeople website.
Back at the GROS website all sorts of practical material can be found, such as a series of articles on ordering certificates, and another on visiting New Register House in Edinburgh. In addition, there is interesting information on the frequency of surnames over the past 140 years and the most popular given names. Modern names for boys and girls are quite different from the 1850s and seem to reflect fashion rather than Scottish roots--Lewis, Emma, Ryan, and Chloe being some of the top favorites. As for surnames, the top three have remained unchanged since the beginning in 1855: Smith, Brown, and Wilson. Those of you with Mc or Mac names to research can see what a significant part of the population they comprise.
Don't Forget the Good Old Ways
Attractive as all this technical stuff sounds, sometimes the methods we used for years can be as good or better. Copies of the civil registration indexes to Scottish births, marriages, and deaths are in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and can be ordered into Family History Centers. Many centers have collections of the copies from the beginning to well into the twentieth century. Also, remember that the International Genealogical Index includes entries for births and marriages for the first twenty years, and the library holds film copies of the registers 1855-75, plus the years 1881 and 1891.
Not all indexes work the same way, and we all know the problems created by human error. There are still occasions when I find that the old familiar alternatives are the most effective way of making a search. If you want to read more about the indexes and the registers and using their online and other in your research, I refer you to my book Scottish Ancestry: Research Methods for Family Historians.
Make the Most of a Great Resource
The Scots have done this better, no matter which way you choose to access the information. Register entries are more informative than their counterparts in England and Wales or Ireland. Visit these two websites, do some background reading, and go in search of Scottish vital records.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English and Scottish family history. She is the author of Your English Ancestry (2d ed, 1998) and Your Scottish Ancestry (1997), and she is a regular contributor to several journals including Genealogical Computing. Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online for the family history program of Vermont College and has lectured at conferences in Canada, the United States, and Australia. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
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