Genealogy and Family History in Scotland - Blog

it's deja vu all over again

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 18:01:54 GMT

Six years ago, when the Scotland's People website was relaunched with an entirely new interface, there were serious problems when it went live. I wrote about these problems on a number of occasions. (here, here, here and here). Over the course of the next six months or so, the developers gradually fixed some of these problems (see here and here).

Obviously, when a major new website is launched, you can expect some minor problems, but it was clear that many of the problems should have been picked up during testing before the new site was launched. It was also clear that some problems could also have been detected had there been proper engagement with site users.

So it's more than a little dispiriting, if perhaps not entirely surprising, to find ourselves back in the same situation with another "upgrade" to the website. In the last few years, the National Records of Scotland have not done themselves any favours in terms of public relations, with what could charitably be described as a reluctance to engage with users, which led me to prepare an open letter - signed by over a hundred genealogists, researchers and historians - to the head of NRS, Paul Lowe, to which the response was underwhelming to say the least.

On Wednesday, the Scotland's People site was down (and the centres closed) for a new upgrade. Communication about this was typically poor. I'm aware of one person who had a booking at one of the satellite centres who, when they contacted the centre to rearrange their visit, was told that the centre knew nothing of this down time!

So it was with a degree of trepidation that I visited the revamped website on Thursday when it came back online. And the problems were not hard to find.

One common technique Scottish researchers use is to search for the death of a married woman under two surnames, her maiden name and her married name. This makes it much easier to identify the correct record before you pay for it. And this was a major problem in 2016. So I searched for a death I knew was there - Margaret Carstairs died in Crail in 1857 age 49. This was the result:

Now I knew that Margaret's married name was Graham, so I repeated the same search changing only the surname:

Notice that the reference details are identical - so this is the same record, indexed under both Carstairs and Graham. So if I searched the records using both surnames, I should get this record again. Here's what happens though:

When they relaunched the site in 2016, this search was also broken, but in a different way - if you searched for a death with two surnames, it returned all results with either surname (a Boolean OR) rather than results with both surnames (a Boolean AND). This time round, the search fails altogether.

This is far from the only issue though. The SP home page has a big friendly box to get you started, where you can enter a name and a date range and search across all the records

Running that search shows the following results summary:

If you then click through to the any of the results for Old Parish Registers, it passes the date range as 17010101 to 17100101 (in other words 1 January 1701 to 1 January 1710). What that means is that any events recorded from 2 January 1710 to 31 December 1710 will be missed, even though they are there.

In 2016, I wrote about the strange results for Coupar Angus. This bug was fairly easy to explain - for some reason Coupar Angus had been assigned to the county of Forfar, whereas all other parishes in the same county were assigned to Angus. (Angus and Forfarshire are two different names for the same county). A minor issue, but one that is simply down to the way the data was recorded.

So I was curious to see if Coupar Angus was behaving itself. I searched for deaths in Coupar Angus between 1855 and 1900, and this is what was returned:

I'm sure we'd have heard if the good folk of Coupar Angus had discovered immortality, so this result seemed unlikely. So I removed the date range to see if that made any difference and suddenly the deaths were revealed:

But even that's not the end of the problems for Coupar Angus. I repeated the search removing the sort order and got the following results:

Last time I checked, Auchterarder and Perth were not Coupar Angus, so quite why those results appeared there is beyond me.

One issue with the original launch was the way filenames were assigned to saved images. Back then, when you saved an image, the files were simply given a datestamp as the filename - not very useful if like me you have thousands of images downloaded from Scotland's People. Five months after the relaunch, this was fixed so that images were automatically given meaningful filenames that allowed you to identify the record type, the year, registration district and so on.

Unfortunately, that problem is back - now the default filename is "ScotlandsPeople_imagenameraw", which is not very helpful at all, and would rapidly become unmanageable if you save large numbers of files.

At the bottom left of each search results page is a list of handy links to other record sets in the same category (Statutory Registers, Church records and so on). Every single one of these links was initially broken, although they now appear to be working. Although this problem has now seemingly been resolved, checking for broken links is a basic feature of pre-launch testing, but clearly it wasn't done.

A search for Carstairs births in Crail 1926-1950 produces 217 results, none of which are from Crail.

There are however 9 results from Dunfermline, which is at least in the same county - Fife - as Crail. However, if you then search for Carstairs births in Dunfermline in the same period, you get the following results:

So there are Carstairs births in Dunfermline in this period, but you can't find them by searching for, well, Carstairs births in Dunfermline.

There are other issues, but I think by now you're getting the picture, and this post is long enough as it is. It's abundantly clear that once again, the NRS have launched an update that is not fit for purpose. It's hard to see how these bugs could have slipped through a properly designed testing regime. The implication is that the testing regime was at best inadequate. Some at least of these problems could readily have been avoided had there been advance consultation with users. As someone who's used Scotland's People and its forerunner Scots Origins since it was first launched in 1998 - I was one of the first 100 people to register with the site - I've previously offered to test updates free of charge. One of the key demands of our open letter was the establishment of a meaningful user group, something that the NRS management do not seem inclined to agree to. Perhaps this latest avoidable fiasco could change their minds.

For users, my advice would be not to trust any negative results and either postpone your research until they fix these problems, or else think creatively when searching - or be prepared for long trawls through irrelevant results.

PS None of this bodes well for the much-delayed launch of the 1921 census, which according to the NRS' own deadline is due to launch in the next 35 days. Fingers crossed they don't mess that up as well.

What to expect from the 1921 census

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 09:10:45 GMT

Work is well advanced for the release of the 1921 census records later this year and we are confident we will publish the census before the end of the year. We know customers are eagerly waiting this exciting release and we will provide a release date as soon as we can. pic.twitter.com/nxCUu5fmcw
— NatRecordsScot (@NatRecordsScot) August 31, 2022

Today the National Records of Scotland broke radio silence on the much-delayed publication of the 1921 census. I won't go into the details of the sorry saga surrounding the release of these records - suffice to say this has not been the NRS' finest hour. Indexing is about 60% complete. The contract was signed in January, and the NRS are now saying they are "confident" they will publish before the end of the year, whereas a few months ago they were saying they "will" publish in the second half of this year, it seems likely we'll have to wait a few months yet before we can finally see the first census after World War One.

It seems opportune therefore to set out what to expect when the census is eventually released. From the first census in 1801, the amount of information gathered increased regularly, making the census returns more useful for historians and genealogists alike. The 1921 census continued that process, including more information than its 1911 counterpart.

The individual household schedules are not being published - instead, what we will see are the enumeration books. It's important to understand the difference - the household schedules were filled in by the residents, usually by the head of household. The enumeration books are transcriptions of those schedules carried out by enumerators - individuals employed by the census office. So unlike the English equivalent, you won't be able to see your ancestors' handwriting.

Field	Notes
Schedule number	As in previous census, a sequential number for the household within the Enumeration District
Address	The address of the house or building. Standard abbreviations may be used, as may dittos
House rooms	The number of rooms in the house as a whole
House persons	The number of people in the house as a whole
Holding rooms	The number of rooms in the house occupied by the individual household/family group
Holding persons	The number of people within the household/family group
Name	Full name of each person in the household. 'Ditto' or 'Do.' may be used.
Relationship to head of household	Self-explanatory. Abbreviations to be used: Head - head of household Daur - daughter Rel - relative G-son - grandson G-daur - granddaughter Vis - visitor Serv - servant Br - boarder Lr - lodger
Age	Given in years and months
Marriage / orphanhood	An extension from previous census, with the following abbreviations used: S - single M - married W - widowed D - divorced BA - both parents alive FD - father dead MD - mother dead BD - both parents dead
Birthplace	For people born in the UK, county followed by burgh or parish. For people born outwith the UK, country followed by province or state. (Examples given in instructions: Canada, Quebec; India, Bengal; France, Charente)
Nationality	For people born in the UK, no entry required For people born in the British Empire, but outwith the UK Vis for visitor, or Res for resident For people born outwith the British Empire: Vis - visitor, or Res - resident and Born Brit - British subject by birth, or Nat Brit - British subject by naturalisation, or 'French', 'United States citizen', 'Chinese', 'Pole', 'Czecho-Slovakian' etc etc as the case may be
Gaelic	Left blank except for people aged 3 and upwards who can speak Gaelic. Options are: G - Gaelic only G&E - Gaelic and English
Occupation	Abbreviations discouraged, except for H D - Household duties
Value	Employment status. Options are: E - employer W - worker (employee) OA - own account (i.e. self-employed) Ret - retired OW - out of work People describing themselves as retired and out of work were to be recorded as retired only.
Employment	Name of the employer, if any, and a description of the business. For domestic servants (including such workers as gamekeepers), the word Private is to be recorded
National health insurance	If the person has national health insurance, the letter M or F to indicate that they are male or female If the person does not have national health insurance, column to be left blank
Dependent children number	Number of dependent children
Dependent children ages	Ages of dependent children. Boxes for each age 1-15, with an x placed in each applicable column. If there are two or more dependent children in the same age band, the xs are to be placed one above the other.

The other change in terms of what the NRS are producing, is that once the indexing has been completed and the images published on Scotland's People, a complete transcription of all the fields will be produced as part of the contract. This is something academic historians have long been pushing for, as it makes all sorts of historical research possible in a way that isn't feasible with indexed images alone. As yet, though, it's not clear if this transcription will be made publicly available when it is eventually complete.

Open letter to NRS

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 18:05:32 GMT

Open Letter to Paul Lowe, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland

2022 is Scotland’s Year of Stories, but the tradition of historian-storytellers is in danger of being suffocated by an unacceptable lack of access to our national records.

As a group of historical and other researchers, ranging from senior academics to students, from professional genealogists and independent researchers to local and family historians, we share a love of Scotland’s history and of telling its stories to the world.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) is restricting access to Scotland’s national archive with significant negative impacts on Scottish culture, education, economy and tourism. While we understood the need for access restrictions during the height of the pandemic, our research endeavours and our small businesses continue to be negatively impacted by NRS restrictions.

The NRS’ restricted access policy has real life impacts:

Academic studies are being put on hold and students are unable to complete the work needed to progress their careers or move on to PhD or further study.
The already precarious position of junior university-based researchers has been exacerbated by the lack of access.
Authors are unable to complete work on books despite agreed deadlines with publishers and other institutions, with a direct impact on future funding and grant awards.
Professional researchers and genealogists – who have already endured significant economic hardship during the pandemic – remain unable to fulfil commissions or take on new projects leading to lost income and disgruntled clients. They are unable to operate on a profitable basis due to the scarcity of visiting slots.
Reputational damage to NRS and the Scottish archival sector. Scotland’s records system has previously been held in high regard by both domestic and international users. In contrast, The National Archives (TNA) in London and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) are operating normally, and we have spoken to numerous overseas researchers who are shocked at the restrictions we face.
NRS has failed to reinstate their photography service. One researcher based in Shetland explained the discriminatory effect this has on those who can’t access New Register House.

Fourteen months on from the partial reopening of the Historical Search Room and the Scotland’s People Centre in Edinburgh, access remains heavily – and unreasonably – restricted. NRS takes weeks to respond to enquiry e-mails, and visits must be booked weeks in advance, with the gap between visits currently anywhere between 5 and 8 weeks. This is unacceptable – the nature of historical research means researchers often have to follow a chain of records to a conclusion, with one source leading to another and another.

To view more than 12 documents one must book another slot, leading to weeks more of delays. This causes significant problems for research students, who are unable to progress their thesis timeously, with obvious consequences for their mental health. The policy effectively prohibits international research in Scottish history as no-one will travel to view only 12 documents. Academics are very unlikely to obtain funding for such limited research. This has the practical effect of reducing international interest in Scottish history.

Ancestral tourism – an important lucrative growth market fuelled by numerous TV programmes and recognised by both Visit Scotland and the Scottish Government – is also affected. Every year thousands of members of the Scottish diaspora make a once in a lifetime journey home to Scotland from all over the world to research their family history and visit their ancestral places. We are aware of visitors from Australia, Canada and the US who have been sorely disappointed to learn that their plans to research their personal history have been thwarted.

Meanwhile, public communication from the National Records of Scotland has been very poor. Only rarely are plans for reopening set out in advance. We are not aware of any meaningful engagement with stakeholders regarding plans to reopen the archives. We are left to scan thousands of words describing service status at the NRS to work out what, if anything, has changed.

TNA in London and PRONI in Belfast are operating normally. Significantly, both organisations work closely with active user groups to discuss issues affecting researchers and consult with them more generally. NRS has no equivalent group and any consultation with users is limited and opaque.

Meanwhile, Scottish local archives, with far fewer resources, allow researchers to visit the archives with a minimum of fuss. Other national bodies, such as the National Library of Scotland (NLS), provide an excellent service to researchers. The frontline staff at NRS have been exemplary under very difficult circumstances, but the strategic operational decisions resulting in continued difficulties are incomprehensible. The NRS is lagging embarrassingly far behind its peers, both within and furth of Scotland.

Informal approaches and formal complaints to the NRS have not produced any meaningful improvement in the situation. This is unacceptable.

We therefore call on the NRS and, where appropriate, the Scottish Government:

To remove all restrictions on access to Scotland’s national archive
As a first step, to move immediately to improve access to the historical search room at Register House or provide alternative facilities to increase capacity.
To issue clear and prompt service status updates which allow service users to plan ahead
To allocate resources to enable NRS staff to respond to e-mails and other contacts in a reasonable timeframe
To agree to the establishment of a user-led forum for regular and meaningful consultation with a range of researchers and other stakeholders.

The historical records of Scotland are internationally renowned. They are part of our national heritage and tell a story which resonates with countless people within Scotland and beyond. It is a fundamental duty of the NRS, as the custodian of our heritage, to make those records available to all of us. At present, it is singularly failing in that duty.

Signatories:

Lynn Abrams, Professor of Modern History, University of Glasgow
Thomas Ahnert, Professor of Intellectual History, University of Edinburgh
Dr Barbara Ball, University of Strathclyde
Julie Belcher, postgraduate student, University of Strathclyde
Dr Amy Blakeway, Lecturer in Scottish History, University of St Andrews
Michelle D Brock, Associate Professor of History, Washington and Lee University
Michael H Brown, Professor of Scottish History, University of St Andrews
John W Cairns, Professor of Civil Law, University of Edinburgh
Ewen A Cameron, Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History, University of Edinburgh
Martin Chick, Professor of Economic History, University of Edinburgh
John Cleary, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
Margaret Connolly, Professor of Palaeography and Codicology, University of St Andrews
Dr Bryony Coombs, University of Edinburgh
Ashlyn Cudney, PhD student, University of Edinburgh
Tunji David Lees, postgraduate student, University of Strathclyde
Jack Davis, Genealogist, Thistle Heritage Services
Jane Dawson, John Laing Professor Emerita of Reformation History, University of Edinburgh
Juliette Desportes, PhD student, University of Glasgow
Jean Dickson, genealogist, Edinburgh
Dr Laura I Doak, Convenor, Economic and Social History Society for Scotland, University of Dundee
Irene Docherty, Genealogist, Bradford
Susie Douglas, Professional Genealogist, Historian and Writer at Borders Ancestry, Coldstream
Elizabeth Ewan, Professor of History and Scottish Studies, University of Guelph
Susan Fabbro, professional genealogist, Edinburgh
John Finlay, Professor of Scots Law, University of Glasgow
J D Ford, Professor of Civil Law, University of Aberdeen
Adam Fox, Professor of Social History, University of Edinburgh
Dr Ewan Gibbs, lecturer, Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow
Mark Godfrey, Professor of Legal History, University of Glasgow
Prof Julian Goodare, University of Edinburgh
Michael Graham, Professor of History, University of Akron
Kevin Hall, PhD student, University of Edinburgh
Philip A Hannay, managing director, Cloch Solicitors
Jane Harris, genealogist, Janealogy
Graham S Holton, Principal Tutor, Genealogical Studies, University of Strathclyde
Prof James Hunter, University of the Highlands and Islands
Prof Louise A Jackson, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Emma Jolly, genealogist and writer, Edinburgh
Dr Ciaran Jones, independent researcher
Dr Allan Kennedy, lecturer, University of Dundee
Dr Chloë Kennedy, Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law, University of Edinburgh
Kate Keter, Genealogist, Family Tree Tales
Lorna Kinnaird, Family History Researcher, Dunedin Links
Alice Krzanich, early career researcher in Scottish legal history, Edinburgh
Chris Langley, Reader in Early Modern History at Newman University, Birmingham
Dr Darren S Layne, Curator, The Jacobite Database of 1745
Harry Lewis, PhD student, University of Edinburgh
Penny Lewis, professional genealogist, Findo Gask
Dr Clare Loughlin, University of Stirling
Lorna MacBean, Doctoral Researcher, University of Glasgow
Dr Alan MacDonald, Associate Dean for Quality and Academic Standards, University of Dundee
Alasdair F Macdonald, Teaching Fellow, Genealogical Studies Postgraduate Programme, University of Strathclyde
Alastair Macdonald, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Aberdeen
Neil D M MacLeod, Solicitor, Edinburgh
Hector L MacQueen, Emeritus Professor of Private Law, University of Edinburgh, Vice-President, The Stair Society
Dr Rebecca Mason, University of Glasgow
Tony Mathieson, postgraduate student, University of Strathclyde
Tahitia McCabe, PhD student and Course Director, Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies, University of Strathclyde
Catherine McFarlane, postgraduate student, University of Strathclyde
Holly Mckenna, postgraduate researcher, School of Law, University of Glasgow
Dr Carol McKinven, genealogist and archival researcher, Scottish Kin
Dr Esther Mijers, Senior Lecturer in Scottish History, University of Edinburgh
Dr Graeme S. Millen, ECR/Associate Staff, University of Dundee
Prof Steve Murdoch, Swedish Defence University, Stockholm
Stana Nenadic, Professor of Social and Cultural History, University of Edinburgh
Trisha O’Reilly, postgraduate student, University of Strathclyde
Chris Paton, genealogist, ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Morag Peers, writer, genealogist and postgraduate student, University of Strathclyde
Dr Alasdair Raffe, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Edinburgh
Ieuan Rees, independent researcher
Dr Jamie Reid-Baxter, Hon Research Associate, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow
Michael Riordan, Independent Historian, Edinburgh
Richard Rodger, Emeritus Professor, University of Edinburgh
Calum M Ross, Solicitor, Edinburgh
Sian Salt, Freelance TV Producer and genealogist
The Scottish Historical Review Trust
Fergus Smith, independent researcher, OldScottish.com
Janice Smith, genealogist and family historian, Roslin Roots
Laura A M Stewart, Professor of Early Modern British History, Head of the Department of History, University of York
Lorraine Stewart, Genealogist, Kincardineshire Ancestors
Dr Siobhan Talbott, Reader, Keele University
Tania Taylor, postgraduate student, Strathclyde University
Prof Annie Tindley, Head of the School of History, Classics & Archaeology, Newcastle University
Dr Sally Tuckett, University of Glasgow
Sarah van Eyndhoven, historical linguistics PhD student, University of Edinburgh
Kirsty F Wilkinson, research manager, AncestryProGenealogists
Charles W J Withers, Professor Emeritus of Historical Geography, University of Edinburgh, Geographer Royal for Scotland
Prof David Worthington, Head, Centre for History, University of the Highlands and Islands
Scott Wortley, Lecturer in Private Law, University of Edinburgh
Dr Kathrin Zickermann, lecturer in history, University of the Highlands and Islands

Now there really is no excuse

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 17:35:56 GMT

I've long been an evangelist for the idea that family historians should study the law. I don't mean that every would-be genealogist should go to law school, but simply that an understanding of the law as it stood when our ancestors lived is often as important as a general understanding of the social history of the era in question. Not just because the way our ancestors lived, worked and loved were all to some degree governed by law, but more importantly, because so many of the records we use as family historians to research the lives of our ancestors were creations of law.

Take the fundamental records we use to start researching our ancestry - the core records that allow us to build a bare bones family tree and allow us to do genealogy proper (as opposed to family history): birth, death and marriage records. The very existence of these basic building blocks is a matter of law: in Scotland civil registration was introduced from 1855 under An Act to provide for the better Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Scotland, better known as the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act of 1854.

Schedule (A) of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854.

Take the birth record so familiar to any Scottish genealogist and available from Scotland's People. The format and contents of such records were laid out in detail in the 1854 Act, as shown by the example entry given as Schedule (A) shown above. But more importantly, the rules governing the creation, content and management of these records are also laid down by the Act. Understanding these rules is key to understanding what the records are telling us, and how we can use this information in our research.

The 77 Sections of the Act set out the rules for the operation of the system of civil registration. Moreover, Section 57 required the Registrar General to maintain indexes to all the register entries from across Scotland, and to make those indexes available for the public to search. This laid the foundations for a system that almost 150 years later would lead to the Scotland's People website and centres, without which modern Scottish genealogical research would be unimaginable.

Another core record used by every Scottish genealogist is of course the census. Take for instance the 1861 census. The rules for the operation of the 1861 census in Scotland were set out in Section 5 of the Census (Scotland) Act of 1860, which also stipulated the information to be provided:

Section V of the Census (Scotland) Act 1860

It's clear that the format and content of the census records as we see them are defined by the legislation setting out the operation of the census. It also clarifies the intended significance of the second-last column in the 1861 census - whether children attended school the week before - so strictly speaking, a school-age child who had been too ill to attend school in the previous week should not be marked as attending school, a situation I have encountered on a couple of occasions in my research.

Other Acts have even more direct influence on the records we use. Anyone who's ever read through the Sheriff Court Registers of Deeds will be familiar with the image below:

Cupar Sheriff Court, Register of Deeds, Second Series, SC20/34/1

The Public Records (Scotland) Act of 1809 introduced a number of changes "for better regulating the Publick Records of Scotland", as the Long Title of the Act puts it. One reform was to simplify the system of registering deeds, or probative writs, by reducing the number of authorities which were able to record them. Burgh, Barony, Regality and Commissary courts were ordered to stop registering deeds. Moreover these lower courts were required to deliver their existing records to the Sheriff Clerks (or to the Lord Clerk Register in the case of Edinburgh Commissary Court). Section 8 of the Act stipulated that Sheriff Clerks were only to record deeds in register books supplied to them by the Lord Clerk Register, and marked on the first and last leaves (as shown above). So this Act affected both the nature of the physical records we use today, and their preservation.

It's a truism of genealogical research that, in order to truly understand a record and interpret what it can tell us about our ancestors and their lives, we have to understand the context in which the record was produced, and the purposes for which it was created. In many cases, this context is provided by the legislation underpinning the creation of the records. The legislation can often set out the purposes for which the records were created, the rules for creating them, and indeed the physical form and preservation of the records themselves.

So if you're now convinced you should start studying historical legislation, where do you go? Well we've recently published a comprehensive index to all Public General Acts passed in the UK parliament between 1801 and the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. This index gives both the short and long titles of the laws, the standard citations used for them, and - crucially - links to digitised images of the texts of the laws themselves.

They say that ignorance of the law is no excuse - well now there really is no excuse for family historians to be ignorant of the law. We hope you have fun exploring these laws. If you find anything interesting, feel free to let us know in the comments, or contact us with any mistakes (there are over 10,600 acts in the index, so there's bound to be the odd error).

History talks and events 15-21 October 2018

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 16:11:06 GMT

Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 15 - 21 October 2018

Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.

Monday, October 15 2018, 7.30pm

The Erskine Project

Heather Church

Venue: Gilchrist Theatre, Kelvinside Academy

Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society

Monday, October 15 2018, 7.30pm

A Line Through Edinburgh. Archaelogical Investigations along the Edinburgh Tram Route.

John Lawson, Archaeology Officer, CECAS

Venue: Gibson Craig Memorial Hall, Lanark Road West, Currie

Currie & District Local History Society

Monday, October 15 2018, 8 pm

St Cecilia's Hall and its Musical Collection

Sarah Deters, University of Edinburgh

Venue: Dreghorn Loan Hall, Colinton, EH13 0DE

Colinton Local History Society

Wednesday, October 17 2018, 7 pm

Growing up in Edinburgh: schooling, sport and social life through the lens of the Scottish Screen Archive

Ruth Washbrook

Venue: Augustine Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh

The Old Edinburgh Club

Wednesday, October 17 2018, 7.30pm

Bridgescapes: Scotland’s Bridge Building Heritage

Bruce Kettlewood

Venue: Falkirk Trinity Church

Falkirk Local History Society

Thursday, October 18 2018, 7.30 pm

Leaving Nothing but the Plague: Survivors Guide to the Siege of Haddington

Jon Cooper

Venue: Haddington Town House

Haddington's History Society

Thursday, October 18 2018, 7.30pm

Poor Law Records, Renfrewshire

Angela Ronald

Venue: 9 High Street, Paisley PA1 2AE

Renfrewshire Family History Society

Thursday, October 18 2018, 7.30pm

The Broch and the Empire: Re-assessing the Work at Leckie, Stirlingshire, in the 1970’s

Euan MacKie

Venue: Boyd Orr Building, University Avenue

Glasgow Archaeological Society

Thursday, October 18 2018, 7.30pm

The Troon War Memorial

Nan McFarlane

Venue: Portland Church hall

Troon & Ayrshire Family History Society

Saturday, October 20 2018, 2.30 pm - 4.30 pm

The Aberdeen Suffragettes

Prof Sarah Pedersen

Venue: Unitarian Church Centre

Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society

History talks and events 10-16 September 2018

Tue, 04 Sep 2018 17:36:25 GMT

Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 10 - 16 September 2018

Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.

Monday, September 10 2018, 7 pm for 7.30 pm

Wojak, the Bear who Went to War

Aileen Orr

Venue: Drummond Community High School, Bellevue Place, Edinburgh

Broughton History Society

Tuesday, September 11 2018, 7.30pm

Talks and Walks around Aberdeenshire

Fiona Jane Brown

Venue: Buchan Hotel, Ellon

Ellon and District Heritage Society

Tuesday, September 11 2018, 7.30pm

Banishment and Transportation along with an exhibition/photos of some of the stories from the Kalendar of Convicts by Andrew Campbell

Ken Nisbet

Venue: Volunteer Hall, Galashiels

Fife Family History Society

Wednesday, September 12 2018, 7 pm for 7.30 pm

Perthshire - a wellspring of Early Photography

Dr Paul Philippou

Venue: Innerpeffray Library, Innerpeffray, by Crieff, Perthshire

Friends of Innerpeffray Library

In 1839, the world woke up to the amazing new invention of photography. This revolutionary medium created a gold rush of eager practitioners. Victorian Perthshire, in common with most areas of Britain, produced its own adepts of what was called the ‘Black Art’. Dr Paul S. Philippou, co-author of The Early Photographers of Perthshire will offer a glimpse of the contribution made by these photographers and make the case that Perthshire, though not the birthplace of Scottish photography, produced several pre-eminent early photographers amongst whom are included: David Octavius Hill, ‘one of the finest calotypists in photographic history’; Jessie Mann and Lady Kinnaird, ‘rivals for the accolade of Scotland’s first female photographer’; ‘outstanding local photographer’ Magnus Jackson; and Hugh Lyon Playfair who helped to make St Andrews the ‘Headquarters of the Calotype’.
Lady Eastlake, a well-known Victorian art critic and art historian, wrote in The Quarterly Review in 1856 “Photography made but slow way in England; and the first knowledge even of her existence came back to this country from across the Border. It was in Edinburgh, where the first earnest, professional practice of this art began, and the calotypes of Messrs. Hill and Adamson remain to this day the most picturesque specimens of the new discovery."

Wednesday, September 12 2018, 7.45 pm

What Mary Did Next (Mary Queen of Scots)

Elspeth Crockett

Venue: RAF Club, Ardgowan Square, Greenock

Inverclyde Historical Society

Friday, September 14 2018, 7.30pm

The Eriskay Diary of Fr Allan Macdonald

Alasdair Roberts

Venue: Eden Court, Bishops Rd, Inverness IV3 5SA

Gaelic Society of Inverness

Saturday, September 15 2018, 2.30 pm - 4.30 pm

Canon Alexander Galloway – The Renaissance Mannie Fae Inverurie

Prof Ray Mcaleese

Venue: Unitarian Church Centre

Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society

History talks and events 3-9 September 2018

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:22:26 GMT

Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 3 - 9 September 2018

Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.

Tuesday, September 4 2018, 7.30pm

Empire Exhibition and the Capelrig Path

James Winnett

Venue: Fairweather Hall, Barrhead Road, Newton Mearns, G77 6BB

Mearns History Group

A double bill. The first half celebrates the 80th anniversary of the 1938 Bellahouston Empire Exhibition and the second half describes the Capelrig Stones, a series of local carvings by our artist speaker.

Tuesday, September 4 2018, 7.30pm

250th Anniversary Of The Perambulation Of Hawick Common

Frank W.Scott

Venue: Hawick High School Lecture Hall, Buccleuch Street, Hawick TD9 0EG

Hawick Archaeological Society

Tuesday, September 4 2018, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Regular Meeting

Venue: Lanthorn Community Centre

West Lothian Family History Society

Welcome to new members and intro to the Society. Existing members feel free to bring any queries you have and we will have a look at them.

Thursday, September 6 2018, 7.30 pm

Scottish Routes to Flodden 1513

David Caldwell

Venue: Haddington Town House

Haddington's History Society

Saturday, September 8 2018, 10 am - 12 pm

Beginners

Ken Nisbet

Venue: Scottish Genealogy Society Library, 15 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL

Scottish Genealogy Society

This module is just what it says - for beginners. Ken Nisbet, who has many years experience in researching family history will take this class.

Saturday, September 8 2018, 2 pm - 4 pm

Members day, topic TBA

Venue: Royal Scots Club, Abercromby Place, Edinburgh

Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society

History talks and events 30 April - 6 May 2018

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 16:22:41 GMT

Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 30 April - 6 May 2018

Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.

Monday, April 30 2018, 7.30 pm

Scottish Caribbean Historical Connections

Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, OBE

Venue: Millennium Room, Cramond Kirk Hall

Cramond Heritage Trust

Tuesday, May 1 2018, 7 pm - 9 pm

The deidis latterwills and legacies - lifting the veil on past lives

Margaret Fox

Venue: Lanthorn Community Education Complex, Kenilworth Rise, Livingston EH54 6JL

West Lothian Family History Society

Wednesday, May 2 2018, 7.30 pm

AGM and Poor Relief in Falkirk

Ian Scott

Venue: Smith Museum and Art Gallery

Central Scotland Family History Society

Thursday, May 3 2018, 7 pm

Scottish and Manx Stevenson Lighthouses

Ian Cowe

Venue: The 252 Memorial Hall, Betson Street, Markinch

Markinch Heritage Group

Free to members and £2 for non members

Saturday, May 5 2018, 10 am - 12 pm

Beginners

Ken Nisbet

Venue: Scottish Genealogy Society Library, 15 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL

Scottish Genealogy Society

Beginners: This module is just what it says - for beginners. Ken Nisbet, who has many years experience in researching family history will take this class.

History talks and events 23-29 April 2018

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 17:08:31 GMT

Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 23 - 29 April 2018

Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.

Monday, April 30 2018, 7.30 pm

Scottish Caribbean Historical Connections

Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, OBE

Venue: Millennium Room, Cramond Kirk Hall

Cramond Heritage Trust

Tuesday, May 1 2018, 7 pm - 9 pm

The deidis latterwills and legacies - lifting the veil on past lives

Margaret Fox

Venue: Lanthorn Community Education Complex, Kenilworth Rise, Livingston EH54 6JL

West Lothian Family History Society

Wednesday, May 2 2018, 7.30 pm

AGM and Poor Relief in Falkirk

Ian Scott

Venue: Smith Museum and Art Gallery

Central Scotland Family History Society

Thursday, May 3 2018, 7 pm

Scottish and Manx Stevenson Lighthouses

Ian Cowe

Venue: The 252 Memorial Hall, Betson Street, Markinch

Markinch Heritage Group

Free to members and £2 for non members

Saturday, May 5 2018, 10 am - 12 pm

Beginners

Ken Nisbet

Venue: Scottish Genealogy Society Library, 15 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL

Scottish Genealogy Society

Beginners: This module is just what it says - for beginners. Ken Nisbet, who has many years experience in researching family history will take this class.

History talks and events 16-22 April 2018

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:09:09 GMT

Upcoming family history talks and events in Scotland, 16 - 22 April 2018

Note that there may be a small charge for some of these events, and some may be for members only. We will be publishing lists of upcoming talks and events regularly - if you are organising a talk or event relating to Scottish genealogy or history, please let us know and we will be happy to add your events to our list.

Tuesday, April 17 2018, 7 pm

Leith Built Ships During WWI

David Seaton

Venue: Newhaven Parish Church Hall

Newhaven Community History Group

Occasional visitors welcome at £2 per meeting

Wednesday, April 18 2018, 7.30 pm

AGM followed by The Orry

Susan Hunter

Venue: Best Western Eglinton Arms Hotel, Eaglesham

Eaglesham History Society

Members free, non-members £3 at the door