Looking for a Scottish Ancestor?
Records -> Edinburgh

Corstorphine records

Lookup searches – Access records in Scottish archives for ancestors in this parish (e.g. Kirk Session Records). Available from £1 a name a year.

Poor Law appeals – Indexed Poor Law appeals with the option to order images of records.

Asylum records – Index to the General Register of Lunatics in Asylums

School records – Index to School Leaving Certificate Examination results

Anatomy Registers – Index to the records of the Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland

Birth records with no father’s name – Hit a brick wall with no father named in a birth record? Help is at hand: see our list for this parish below.

Asylum records – Index to the General Register of Lunatics in Asylums

Male Heads of Families – Free transcripts of rolls of male heads of families from the 1830s

Kirk Sessions Index – Free extracts from Kirk Session records

Lookups

The records of the Kirk Session contain a variety of documents which detail many aspects of the daily lives of all types of people throughout Scotland from the 16th century onwards. We are pleased to be able to offer a search service in some of the records available for this parish. We will search for a given name in any of the record sets in the table below, and provide you with transcripts of any matching entries for just £1 per name per year.

Lookups available
Reference Title Dates Buy
CH2/124/2Corstorphine Kirk Session - Session minutes21 May 1692-1704Request lookup
CH2/124/3Corstorphine Kirk Session - Session minutes1 Jun 1704-1708Request lookup
CH2/124/4Corstorphine Kirk Session - Session minutes and report on books and accounts of kirk session.
Session minutes 1709-1784
Session minutes 1794-1801
Report on books and accounts of kirk session, 3 April 1814		1709-1814Request lookup
CH2/124/5Corstorphine Kirk Session - Session minutes1814-1866Request lookup
CH2/124/6Corstorphine Kirk Session - Accounts1710-1746Request lookup
CH2/124/7Corstorphine Kirk Session - Accounts1746-1797Request lookup
CH2/124/8Corstorphine Kirk Session - Poors Account1804-1824Request lookup
CH2/124/9Corstorphine Kirk Session - Session minutes1881-1914Request lookup
CH2/124/11Corstorphine Kirk Session - Proclamations1855-1861Request lookup
CH2/124/18Corstorphine Kirk Session - Mr Simpson's cash book for Corstorphine poor1824-1845Request lookup

Board of Supervision poor relief appeals

The Board of Supervision was established under the 1845 Poor Law Act. One of its tasks was to hear appeals by paupers against inadequate poor relief granted by Parochial Boards. These appeals were recorded in the Board of Supervision minutes. Cases were often heard over an extended period. The minutes may contain a variety of information, including about other family members, medical conditions and other circumstances. For more information about these records, see here.

We are pleased to be able to offer to obtain images of the minutes for each appeal, at the following rates:
  • £3 for a single minute
  • £6 for up to 3 minutes for a single case
  • £9 for any single case with more than 3 minutes (some cases have as many as 8 minutes)
We have indexed these records, and list the cases for this parish below. Just click on the Order images link to order images of the relevant minutes. Please note that as these minutes may need to be filmed specially, it may take up to a week before we can supply them.

Poor law appeals
NameAddressYear(s)/
minutes		Order imagesDeliverance
Elizabeth BAILLIE 1855 (2)Order imagesRefused
Widow Mary BAIRD or WAUGH 1856 (1)Order imagesRefused
Widow DENNY 1856 (1)Order imagesRefused
David GILLON 1850 (1)Order imagesRefused
David GRANT 1849 (1)Order imagesRefused
David GRANT 1850 (1)Order imagesRefused
Widow Margaret HORSBURGH 1849 (1)Order imagesRefused
Mary MACKENZIE 1853 (1)Order imagesRefused
William PEDEN 1858 (4)Order imagesDead
Robert SMITH 1856-1857 (2)Order imagesGround of complaint removed
James WALKER 1848 (1)Order imagesRefused

Sheriff Court paternity decrees

Single mothers often took the fathers of their children to court for child support. Such cases were known as filiation and aliment cases. The court could order the father to provide maintenance payments to the mother. If the mother won her case, the court would issue a decree, which would allow the mother to enforce payment of aliment. We have indexed all the records of such cases held by the National Records of Scotland from at least 1855 to 1880, and can provide digital images of the records. To order your copy, simply click on the Order now link in the table below.

Sheriff Court Filiation and Aliment decrees
Mother name and residenceDefender nameChild birthOrderCourt
Margaret BROWN
South Gale, near Corstorphine		James LUNN11 May 1881Order nowSelkirk
SC63/6/14
Ann DUFFY
Corstorphine		Daniel MCKELVIE2 Feb 1877
Corstorphine		Order nowEdinburgh
SC39/8/45
Elizabeth EWART
Kirkstyle House, Corstorphine, Edinburgh		Robert MITCHELL3 Jun 1883
Maternity Hospital, Edinburgh		Order nowEdinburgh
SC39/8/50
Jane HALL
Corstorphine		George BURNS12 Apr 1866Order nowEdinburgh
SC39/8/39
Rachel Marion MACKAY
Gogar Bank, Corstorphine, near Edinburgh
formerly Bath Street, Broughty Ferry		John ROBERTSON20 Aug 1884Order nowDundee
SC45/6/22

School Leaving Certificate Exams

This is an index to the registers of school leaving certificate examination results (NRS Reference ED36). We do not currently have any records for this parish.

Anatomy register

This is an index to the registers of the Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland (NRS Reference MH1/1-MH1/30). To order a copy of the record for your ancestor, just click on the Order record link.
Anatomy Registers
NameAgeLast residence and place of deathDate of deathOrder record
Margaret ANDERSON43Corstorphine, Convalescent Home28 Sep 1898Order record
David MCLEAN67Lived: Gogar Farm, Corstorphine
Died: Corstorphine		11 Jan 1913Order record
Janet POLLOCK40Lived: Corstorphine
Died: West Port		12 Oct 1857Order record

List of Births with no Father's name 1855-1874

Your research hit a brick wall when you discovered a birth record missing this vital name? Choose Find the Father by any birth below to start breaking down that barrier today with our FREE search service. Where we've already identified the father, click on the Father Found link to order a copy of the record naming the father. For births outwith this period, click here.

Find the father
Child nameDate of birthMother nameOrder
Ann AGNEW5 December 1863Ann Jane AGNEWFind the father
James Gemmell AITKEN17 January 1857Jane AITKENFather found
Mary Ann ARNOT29 May 1855Ann ARNOTFind the father
William BERTRAM26 September 1861Christina BERTRAMFind the father
Jessie BRIGNAL20 June 1869Emily Wentworth BRIGNALFind the father
John BROWN21 June 1859Jane BROWNFind the father
William CRICHTON5 March 1868Margaret CRICHTONFind the father
Hugh CUNNINGHAM1 June 1859Ann CUNNINGHAMFind the father
Jane CUNNINGHAM9 July 1863Jane CUNNINGHAMFind the father
John DOWNIE30 June 1866Mary Abercrombie DOWNIEFind the father
John FARRER30 June 1863Margaret FARRERFind the father
Charles Richard FLEMING22 July 1863Janet FLEMINGFind the father
Thomas GRAY20 December 1860Barbara GRAYFind the father
William GRAY18 July 1868Helen GRAYFind the father
George HALL12 April 1865Jane HALLFind the father
Peter HALLIDAY4 November 1873Mary HALLIDAYFind the father
Robert HENDERSON1 July 1864Janet HENDERSONFind the father
James HORNE29 July 1859Catherine HORNEFind the father
Mary IRELAND3 January 1858Elizabeth IRELANDFind the father
John IRONSIDE18 October 1855Barbara IRONSIDEFind the father
Isabella JAMIESON18 February 1856Agnes JAMIESONFind the father
John LAIDLAW13 November 1866Caroline LAIDLAWFind the father
Elizabeth Mariah LAING6 March 1863Allison LAINGFather found
James LAWRIE31 July 1859Euphemia LAWRIEFind the father
Elizabeth MASON18 August 1862Barbara MASONFind the father
James MCALISTER10 December 1857Lucy MCALISTERFind the father
James MCGUINNESS21 January 1870Mary MCGUINNESSFind the father
Margaret MCLENNAN13 November 1867Margaret MCLENNANFind the father
James MORTON15 June 1864Margaret MORTONFind the father
William Handcox MORTON9 March 1870Elizabeth MORTONFind the father
Janet MURRAY17 April 1856Janet MURRAYFind the father
William PAXTON18 May 1873Agnes PAXTONFind the father
John POTTER19 July 1865Jane Weir POTTERFind the father
Helen PREACHER26 December 1873Eliza PREACHERFind the father
John RAMAGE23 November 1861Ann RAMAGEFind the father
William RAMAGE23 November 1861Ann RAMAGEFind the father
Jessie Brown RUTHERFORD5 May 1870Agnes RUTHERFORDFind the father
George SHADE8 August 1873Jane SHADEFind the father
John SHADE29 October 1870Jane SHADEFind the father
Mitchell Rodger SHADE17 October 1874Margaret SHADEFind the father
James SHIELS20 December 1855Eleanor SHIELSFind the father
Anne Elmslie SIMPSON1 August 1858Barbara Balfour Forbes SIMPSONFather found
Daniel SOMERVILLE14 January 1870Helen SOMERVILLEFind the father
Catherine STEEDMAN14 November 1871Janet STEEDMANFind the father
Williamina Smith STEEDMAN25 September 1874Janet STEEDMANFind the father
Thomas TAYLOR28 March 1855Janet TAYLORFind the father
John THOMSON8 November 1855Agnes THOMSONFind the father
Jessie WHITE12 August 1873Jessie Walker WHITEFind the father
Catharine WHITEWRIGHT20 April 1857Agnes WHITEWRIGHTFind the father
Alexander WILSON13 February 1858Marion Wilson Or MILLERFind the father

General Register of Lunatics

This index shows patients from this parish admitted to asylums. We have not yet identified any patients from this parish.

Rolls of Male Heads of Families

In 1834, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passed the Veto Act, removing the absolute right of landowners to appoint ministers to their parish. The Act gave male heads of families who were communicants with the parish the right to veto the appointment of a new minister if a majority of them objected. To this end, the Assembly instructed kirk sessions to draw up rolls of the male heads of families in each parish. We have transcribed the surviving rolls, and are publishing them here. They are significant as they pre-date the earliest nominal census, which took place in 1841.

No Roll of Male Heads of Families has yet been found for this parish

Kirk Session Records Index

Use the name links below to go to the entries for the person you are interested in. We have selected 1832 as an example year for parishes across Scotland. If you would like more information about the existence of Kirk Session minutes for this or another parish or would like to search for particular people in the minutes please contact us.

Mr Thos Mackie

Mr James Nimmo

Mr Jas Nimmo

Rev Dr David Scot

Mr A Simpson

Mr Alexr Simpson

Mr Walter Wallace

Name: Mr Thos Mackie

Date: 03/06/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: elder

Address:

Role: present

Name: Mr Thos Mackie

Date: 29/12/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: elder

Address:

Role: present

Details: examined Cash accounts

Name: Mr James Nimmo

Date: 03/06/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: elder

Address:

Role: present

Name: Mr Jas Nimmo

Date: 29/12/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: Presbytery elder

Address:

Role: present, elected

Other parish: Edinburgh, Presbytery of

Details: elected Presbytery Elder

Name: Rev Dr David Scot

Date: 03/06/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: Minister

Address:

Role: moderator

Details: 'The meeting after distributing the Monthly Charity agreed to celebrate the Sacrament of the Lords supper on the last Sabbath of the present month'

Name: Rev Dr David Scot

Date: 29/12/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: Minister

Address:

Role: present

Details: 'Mr Mackie having previously examined the Cash account for the Current year, reported that he found the same correct.
The funds belonging to the Kirk Session consist of as follows
Cash in hands of Treasurer
Ditto at Interest £350.0..0
and Rent of almshouse, vizt twenty five and one half Becks of Barley annually
The Meeting examined and amended the List of Poor, and those to whom meal and coal are to be allowed
The meeting unanimously elected Mr James Nimmo Presbytery Elder to represent the Kirk Session of Corstorphine in Presbytery of Edinburgh for the ensuing half year.'

Name: Mr A Simpson

Date: 03/06/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: session clerk

Address:

Role: present

Name: Mr Alexr Simpson

Date: 29/12/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: session clerk

Address:

Role: present

Name: Mr Walter Wallace

Date: 03/06/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: elder

Address:

Role: present

Name: Mr Walter Wallace

Date: 29/12/1832

Case type: Official

Occupation: elder

Address:

Role: present