National Archives Scotlandfasrbean

Here is a prioritized list of sources recommended for finding a birth between 1855 and the present.

Spring 1999, vol. 1 By Greg Bradsher Late on the evening of March 22, 1945, elements of Lt. George Patton's Third Army crossed the Rhine, and soon thereafter his whole army crossed the river and drove into the heart of Germany. Advancing northeast from Frankfurt, elements of the Third Army cut into the future Soviet Zone and advanced on Gotha. Just before noon on April 4, the.

1. Get help with your research at The National Archives The National Archives is the UK government's official archive. Our main duties are to preserve Government records and to set standards in information management and re-use.
2. The National Register of Archives for Scotland (NRAS) was established by the National Records of Scotland (NRS), formerly the National Archives of Scotland (NAS), in 1946 to compile a record of.
3. Each collection of records held by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) has a catalogue or index to help you find the right material whether it's a file or a single document. Catalogues are lists of archives according to where they came from and when they were created (their provenance). Indexes by surname, placename or topic are sometimes.
4. The Scottish Archive Network website has digital copies of selected records from the NRS and other Scottish archives. The NRS Web Continuity Service enables us to archive selected websites of our.

• 1Civil Registration: Birth Certificate
• 2Census Records
• 3Civil Registration: Marriage Certificate
• 4Civil registration: Death Certificate
• 5Church records: Church of Scotland
• 6Church records: Nonconformist churches

Civil Registration: Birth Certificate[edit | edit source]

Civil registration is the government registration of births, marriages, and deaths beginning 1 January 1855. In these records you may find a child's name, sex, birth date and place, father's name and occupation, mother's name and maiden name, parents' marriage date and place (from 1861), and the name, residence, and relationship of a person present at the birth. Civil registration birth records cover most of the population and are indexed countrywide. Use the national index to identify and obtain a copy of a birth certificate.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

See Full List On Familysearch.org

The general indexes, and the records for the first twenty years, are available on film at the Family History Library. They are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under the place of Scotland and the topic of Civil Registration. The correct record title is 'Registers of births, marriages, and deaths, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891; and general index, 1855-1956.' Most of the records of marriages for 1855-1875 are indexed and can be searched in FamilySearch.org's historical records page; type 'Scotland' and click on 'Scotland Births and Baptisms 1564-1950'.

Indexes and images of records are also available on the ScotlandsPeople web site (per-use fee-based).

Census Records[edit | edit source]

A census is a count and description of the population. Government census records were taken every ten years starting in 1841. The 1841 through 1901 censuses are currently available. They are especially valuable because they list the majority of the population and are available at many repositories. In these records you may find names of the members of a household, and each person's age, gender, marital status, relationship to the head of the household, occupation, address, and place of birth. Census records can provide clues that may lead you to other records.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

Microfilmed copies of the census records for 1841-1891, and some indexes, are available at the Family History Library and are listed in the library's catalog. Do a 'Place search' for your parish of interest and the topics of 'Census' and 'Census-Indexes.' Indexes may also be found under the county name rather than the parish.

Information about census records for a particular parish can be found in the Wiki on that parish's information page. In the search field above and to the left, type in the name of the parish and click on Search.

Online indexes are available through several websites including these:

ScotlandsPeople (complete 1841-1901 indexes and images; use by purchasing credits)
Ancestry.co.uk (1841-1901 indexes only; annual membership fee-based website; available free at many libraries)
Censusfinder (free; starting in alphabetical order by county, the list is short but growing)
FreeCEN Scotland (free; almost every county has some years and some parishes indexed).

Civil Registration: Marriage Certificate[edit | edit source]

Civil registration is the government registration of births, marriages, and deaths beginning 1 January 1855. In these records you may find the names of the bride and groom; their ages (which you can use to determine a year of birth), marriage date and place, marital status, residences, occupations, fathers' names and occupations, and mothers' names and maiden names; whether they were married according to the forms of the Church of Scotland or another church; and the names of witnesses. Civil registration marriage records cover most of the population and are indexed countrywide. Use the general index to identify and obtain a copy of a marriage certificate.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

The general indexes, and the records for the first twenty years, are available on film at the Family History Library. They are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under the place of Scotland and the topic of Civil Registration. The correct record title is 'Registers of births, marriages, and deaths, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891; and general index, 1855-1956.' Most of the records of marriages for 1855-1875 are indexed and can be searched in FamilySearch.org's historical records page; type 'Scotland' and click 'Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910'.

Indexes and images of records are also available on the ScotlandsPeople web site (per-use fee-based).

A marriage record can provide an age, parents names, and a locality for your ancestor so you are better able to search for him/her in other records.

Civil registration: Death Certificate[edit | edit source]

Civil registration is the government registration of births, marriages, and deaths beginning 1 January 1855. In these records you may find the name of the deceased; his or her cause of death, death date and place, rank or profession, marital status, sex, age (from which you can estimate a year of birth), spouse's name, father's name and rank or profession, and mother's name and maiden name; and the signature, relationship, and residence of the informant. Civil registration death records cover most of the population and are indexed countrywide. Use the general index to identify and obtain a copy of a death certificate. Deaths were not indexed by FamilySearch.org.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

The general indexes, and the records for the first twenty years, are available on film at the Family History Library. They are listed in the Catalog/frameset_fhlc.asp FamilySearch Catalog under the place of Scotland and the topic of Civil Registration. The correct record title is 'Registers of births, marriages, and deaths, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891; and general index, 1855-1956.'

Indexes and images of records are also available on the ScotlandsPeople web site (per-use fee-based).

A death record can provide an age, parents names, and a locality for your ancestor so you are better able to search for him/her in other records.

Church records: Church of Scotland[edit | edit source]

The Church of Scotland was the 'state' or 'established' church in Scotland from 1690 onward. It was Presbyterian in form. Individual church units are called parishes. Parish church records fall into two primary categories: parish registers and Kirk session records (see below).

Parish registers are the christenings or baptisms, marriages, and burials recorded in registers by church officials at the time of an event. Christening records usually give the name of the child, christening date, names of parents (including the mother's maiden name), place of residence, and father's occupation. Sometimes the child's birth date and the names of witnesses are recorded.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

The Family History Library does not have many post-1855 records of Church of Scotland parishes. Check the library's catalog for your place of interest to see what may be available.

Some church records are still in the hands of the churches. It may be necessary for you to engage the services of a researcher in Scotland and have them find and search the records for you. Click here for a list of researchers.

Church records: Nonconformist churches[edit | edit source]

Anyone who did not adhere to the teachings of the Established Church of Scotland was considered a nonconformist or a dissenter or one who absented self from attendance in the established church (Church of Scotland). Usb to irda driver. Dissenters could also include people who belonged to religious organizations that broke from the Established church. Dissenter groups mostly kept separate records but often are irregularly kept. In these records you may find baptisms, marriages, minutes of meetings, communion rolls, and other records such as their version of kirk session records which can be of great value.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

Not many nonconformist church records are available on microfilm and therefore are not in the collection of the Family History Library. Those records that are will be listed in the library's catalog under the town or parish of interest and the topic of 'Church records.' Some of the few records available at the library are included in the various indexes to church records. Read about them in the article on Church Records.

Information about extant Kirk session records for a particular parish can be found in the Wiki on that parish's information page. FamilySearch in more recent years has digitized almost the entire National Archives of Scotland collections of kirk session records. Search Family History Library online catalog under the name of the parish, then click 'Church Records' and then click 'Kirk sessions records'.

Most nonconformist church records are held in the collection of the National Archives of Scotland or other repositories in Scotland. Other repositories can include regional archives, denominational archives, or individual churches. Contact information for other archives may be found in the directory of the Scottish Archives Network.

If you find that the records are available at an archive, you will need to visit in person or you may wish to hire a professional researcher to search the records for you. The Remote Research page of the NAS website provides a list of researchers.

Return to the strategies page.

National Records of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It is responsible for civil registration, the census in Scotland, demography and statistics, family history and the national archives and historical records.^[1]

National Records of Scotland was formed from the merger of the General Register Office for Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland in 2011, and combines all the functions of the two former organisations.^[2] The offices of Registrar General for Scotland and Keeper of the Records of Scotland remain separate, but since 2011 both have been vested ex officio in the Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland, currently Paul Lowe.

Location[edit]

National Records of Scotland is based in HM General Register House on Princes Street in the New Town in Edinburgh. The building was designed by Robert Adam for the Register House Trustees, and was opened to the public in 1788.

Edinburgh City Archives | The National Archives

History[edit]

For earlier history, see Lord Clerk Register, General Register Office for Scotland and National Archives of Scotland .

The first official tasked with the care and administration of the public records was first recorded in the role of Clericus Rotulorum (Clerk of the Rolls) in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1286.^[3] Registers, rolls and records were kept in Edinburgh Castle from about the 13th century.^[4] The role of the Clerk of the Rolls eventually became known as the Lord Clerk Register, the oldest surviving great offices of state in Scotland.^[5] However, records held by the Scottish Crown did not typically include personal data such as birth, death and marriage records. Instead, the clergy and other officials of the Church of Scotland kept parish records, which recorded personal data such as baptisms and marriages, but only for their own church members so parish records were limited in scope. In 1551, a council of Scottish clergy enacted that all parish ministers should keep a record of baptisms, burials and marriages.^[6] However, in 1801, the first national Census found that, out of the 850 parishes in Scotland, not more than 99 had regular registers.^[7] This was in part due to sporadic recording keeping and accidental destruction of registers.^[8]

In 1806, a Royal Warrant established the office of Deputy Clerk Register,^[9] effectively reducing the record keeping duties of the Lord Clerk Register to an honorary title with no day-to-day management of the Registers and Records of Scotland. However, personal data continued to be managed by the clergy, now largely ministers of the Church of Scotland. The Industrial revolution radically changed the population demographics of Scotland, with central belt parishes being swamped by migrants from the Highlands and Lowlands which also contributed to the poor record keeping in registers.^[10] A bill came before the United Kingdom Parliament in 1829 and several others in subsequent years to introduce a system of state registration, following the similar introduction of public registration in England & Wales in 1837, but the bills were unsuccessful.^[11] One of the main reasons they were unsuccessful was the opposition, including the Church of Scotland, to attempts in the bills to reform the Scots laws of marriage, which had historically been very informal as The Scotsman newspaper describes:

'Everybody knows that, by the law of Scotland, the marriage ceremony can be performed with as perfect legal effect by a blacksmith as by a clergyman'^[12]

However, the proposals for reform were dropped and in 1854,^[13] the Deputy Clerk Register's duties were also extended to the care of the records of births, deaths and marriages in the role of Registrar General under the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854, which established the General Registry Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The 1854 Act also provided that the Registrar General should produce an annual report to be forwarded to the Home Secretary to be laid before Parliament, containing a general abstract of the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered during the previous year. The first general abstract (relating to 1855) was submitted in 1856. By the time of his first annual detailed report, published in 1861, the first Registrar General for Scotland, William Pitt Dundas, claimed that: 'there is good reason for believing that very few births indeed now escape registration.'^[14]

In 1855 and 1860, two further Acts, the Registration (Scotland) Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict., c.29) and the Registration (Scotland, Amendment) Act, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict., c.85), were passed which amended some of the sections of the 1854 Act. The 1854 Act had placed considerable burdens on the sheriffs of the Scottish counties, who had already played a role in the taking of decennial censuses. The amending Acts reduced their responsibilities by appointing registration district examiners to inspect the registers. They also made revised provision for the transmission of the parochial registers up to the year 1820 to the General Register Office Scotland (GROS), and the registers for the years 1820–1855 to the custody of the local registrars. These registers were to be retained by the local registrars for 30 years, after which they were to be sent to the GROS.^[14]

In 1879, The Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 further provided that the office of Lord Clerk Register would remain as a ceremonial Great Officer of State,^[15] with all record keeping duties passing to the Deputy Clerk Register.^[16] In 1909 by Sir James Patten McDougall was appointed as Deputy Clerk Register, the last holder of the combined offices of Registrar General and Deputy Lord Clerk Register.^[17] The Registrar General (Scotland) Act 1920 provided for the appointment by the Secretary of State for Scotland of a full-time Registrar General, separate from the Deputy Clerk Register.^[18] The recording of personal data was in effect severed from the Deputy Clerk Register, who continued to maintain the records and registers of Scotland.^[19] Dr James Crawford Dunlop, who had served as medical superintendent of statistics since 1904, held the office of Registrar General from 1921 to 1930. The 12 subsequent Registrars General were drawn from the civil service in Scotland and headed the General Register Office for Scotland independently from the Deputy Clerk Register.^[20]

Information about census records for a particular parish can be found in the Wiki on that parish's information page. In the search field above and to the left, type in the name of the parish and click on Search.

Online indexes are available through several websites including these:

ScotlandsPeople (complete 1841-1901 indexes and images; use by purchasing credits)
Ancestry.co.uk (1841-1901 indexes only; annual membership fee-based website; available free at many libraries)
Censusfinder (free; starting in alphabetical order by county, the list is short but growing)
FreeCEN Scotland (free; almost every county has some years and some parishes indexed).

Civil Registration: Marriage Certificate[edit | edit source]

Civil registration is the government registration of births, marriages, and deaths beginning 1 January 1855. In these records you may find the names of the bride and groom; their ages (which you can use to determine a year of birth), marriage date and place, marital status, residences, occupations, fathers' names and occupations, and mothers' names and maiden names; whether they were married according to the forms of the Church of Scotland or another church; and the names of witnesses. Civil registration marriage records cover most of the population and are indexed countrywide. Use the general index to identify and obtain a copy of a marriage certificate.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

The general indexes, and the records for the first twenty years, are available on film at the Family History Library. They are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under the place of Scotland and the topic of Civil Registration. The correct record title is 'Registers of births, marriages, and deaths, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891; and general index, 1855-1956.' Most of the records of marriages for 1855-1875 are indexed and can be searched in FamilySearch.org's historical records page; type 'Scotland' and click 'Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910'.

Indexes and images of records are also available on the ScotlandsPeople web site (per-use fee-based).

A marriage record can provide an age, parents names, and a locality for your ancestor so you are better able to search for him/her in other records.

Civil registration: Death Certificate[edit | edit source]

Civil registration is the government registration of births, marriages, and deaths beginning 1 January 1855. In these records you may find the name of the deceased; his or her cause of death, death date and place, rank or profession, marital status, sex, age (from which you can estimate a year of birth), spouse's name, father's name and rank or profession, and mother's name and maiden name; and the signature, relationship, and residence of the informant. Civil registration death records cover most of the population and are indexed countrywide. Use the general index to identify and obtain a copy of a death certificate. Deaths were not indexed by FamilySearch.org.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

The general indexes, and the records for the first twenty years, are available on film at the Family History Library. They are listed in the Catalog/frameset_fhlc.asp FamilySearch Catalog under the place of Scotland and the topic of Civil Registration. The correct record title is 'Registers of births, marriages, and deaths, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891; and general index, 1855-1956.'

Indexes and images of records are also available on the ScotlandsPeople web site (per-use fee-based).

A death record can provide an age, parents names, and a locality for your ancestor so you are better able to search for him/her in other records.

Church records: Church of Scotland[edit | edit source]

The Church of Scotland was the 'state' or 'established' church in Scotland from 1690 onward. It was Presbyterian in form. Individual church units are called parishes. Parish church records fall into two primary categories: parish registers and Kirk session records (see below).

Parish registers are the christenings or baptisms, marriages, and burials recorded in registers by church officials at the time of an event. Christening records usually give the name of the child, christening date, names of parents (including the mother's maiden name), place of residence, and father's occupation. Sometimes the child's birth date and the names of witnesses are recorded.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

The Family History Library does not have many post-1855 records of Church of Scotland parishes. Check the library's catalog for your place of interest to see what may be available.

Some church records are still in the hands of the churches. It may be necessary for you to engage the services of a researcher in Scotland and have them find and search the records for you. Click here for a list of researchers.

Church records: Nonconformist churches[edit | edit source]

Anyone who did not adhere to the teachings of the Established Church of Scotland was considered a nonconformist or a dissenter or one who absented self from attendance in the established church (Church of Scotland). Usb to irda driver. Dissenters could also include people who belonged to religious organizations that broke from the Established church. Dissenter groups mostly kept separate records but often are irregularly kept. In these records you may find baptisms, marriages, minutes of meetings, communion rolls, and other records such as their version of kirk session records which can be of great value.

Accessing the records[edit | edit source]

Not many nonconformist church records are available on microfilm and therefore are not in the collection of the Family History Library. Those records that are will be listed in the library's catalog under the town or parish of interest and the topic of 'Church records.' Some of the few records available at the library are included in the various indexes to church records. Read about them in the article on Church Records.

Information about extant Kirk session records for a particular parish can be found in the Wiki on that parish's information page. FamilySearch in more recent years has digitized almost the entire National Archives of Scotland collections of kirk session records. Search Family History Library online catalog under the name of the parish, then click 'Church Records' and then click 'Kirk sessions records'.

Most nonconformist church records are held in the collection of the National Archives of Scotland or other repositories in Scotland. Other repositories can include regional archives, denominational archives, or individual churches. Contact information for other archives may be found in the directory of the Scottish Archives Network.

If you find that the records are available at an archive, you will need to visit in person or you may wish to hire a professional researcher to search the records for you. The Remote Research page of the NAS website provides a list of researchers.

Return to the strategies page.

National Records of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It is responsible for civil registration, the census in Scotland, demography and statistics, family history and the national archives and historical records.^[1]

National Records of Scotland was formed from the merger of the General Register Office for Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland in 2011, and combines all the functions of the two former organisations.^[2] The offices of Registrar General for Scotland and Keeper of the Records of Scotland remain separate, but since 2011 both have been vested ex officio in the Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland, currently Paul Lowe.

Location[edit]

National Records of Scotland is based in HM General Register House on Princes Street in the New Town in Edinburgh. The building was designed by Robert Adam for the Register House Trustees, and was opened to the public in 1788.

Edinburgh City Archives | The National Archives

History[edit]

For earlier history, see Lord Clerk Register, General Register Office for Scotland and National Archives of Scotland .

The first official tasked with the care and administration of the public records was first recorded in the role of Clericus Rotulorum (Clerk of the Rolls) in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1286.^[3] Registers, rolls and records were kept in Edinburgh Castle from about the 13th century.^[4] The role of the Clerk of the Rolls eventually became known as the Lord Clerk Register, the oldest surviving great offices of state in Scotland.^[5] However, records held by the Scottish Crown did not typically include personal data such as birth, death and marriage records. Instead, the clergy and other officials of the Church of Scotland kept parish records, which recorded personal data such as baptisms and marriages, but only for their own church members so parish records were limited in scope. In 1551, a council of Scottish clergy enacted that all parish ministers should keep a record of baptisms, burials and marriages.^[6] However, in 1801, the first national Census found that, out of the 850 parishes in Scotland, not more than 99 had regular registers.^[7] This was in part due to sporadic recording keeping and accidental destruction of registers.^[8]

In 1806, a Royal Warrant established the office of Deputy Clerk Register,^[9] effectively reducing the record keeping duties of the Lord Clerk Register to an honorary title with no day-to-day management of the Registers and Records of Scotland. However, personal data continued to be managed by the clergy, now largely ministers of the Church of Scotland. The Industrial revolution radically changed the population demographics of Scotland, with central belt parishes being swamped by migrants from the Highlands and Lowlands which also contributed to the poor record keeping in registers.^[10] A bill came before the United Kingdom Parliament in 1829 and several others in subsequent years to introduce a system of state registration, following the similar introduction of public registration in England & Wales in 1837, but the bills were unsuccessful.^[11] One of the main reasons they were unsuccessful was the opposition, including the Church of Scotland, to attempts in the bills to reform the Scots laws of marriage, which had historically been very informal as The Scotsman newspaper describes:

'Everybody knows that, by the law of Scotland, the marriage ceremony can be performed with as perfect legal effect by a blacksmith as by a clergyman'^[12]

However, the proposals for reform were dropped and in 1854,^[13] the Deputy Clerk Register's duties were also extended to the care of the records of births, deaths and marriages in the role of Registrar General under the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854, which established the General Registry Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The 1854 Act also provided that the Registrar General should produce an annual report to be forwarded to the Home Secretary to be laid before Parliament, containing a general abstract of the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered during the previous year. The first general abstract (relating to 1855) was submitted in 1856. By the time of his first annual detailed report, published in 1861, the first Registrar General for Scotland, William Pitt Dundas, claimed that: 'there is good reason for believing that very few births indeed now escape registration.'^[14]

In 1855 and 1860, two further Acts, the Registration (Scotland) Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict., c.29) and the Registration (Scotland, Amendment) Act, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict., c.85), were passed which amended some of the sections of the 1854 Act. The 1854 Act had placed considerable burdens on the sheriffs of the Scottish counties, who had already played a role in the taking of decennial censuses. The amending Acts reduced their responsibilities by appointing registration district examiners to inspect the registers. They also made revised provision for the transmission of the parochial registers up to the year 1820 to the General Register Office Scotland (GROS), and the registers for the years 1820–1855 to the custody of the local registrars. These registers were to be retained by the local registrars for 30 years, after which they were to be sent to the GROS.^[14]

In 1879, The Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 further provided that the office of Lord Clerk Register would remain as a ceremonial Great Officer of State,^[15] with all record keeping duties passing to the Deputy Clerk Register.^[16] In 1909 by Sir James Patten McDougall was appointed as Deputy Clerk Register, the last holder of the combined offices of Registrar General and Deputy Lord Clerk Register.^[17] The Registrar General (Scotland) Act 1920 provided for the appointment by the Secretary of State for Scotland of a full-time Registrar General, separate from the Deputy Clerk Register.^[18] The recording of personal data was in effect severed from the Deputy Clerk Register, who continued to maintain the records and registers of Scotland.^[19] Dr James Crawford Dunlop, who had served as medical superintendent of statistics since 1904, held the office of Registrar General from 1921 to 1930. The 12 subsequent Registrars General were drawn from the civil service in Scotland and headed the General Register Office for Scotland independently from the Deputy Clerk Register.^[20]

In 1928, the office of Deputy Clerk Register itself was abolished by the Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Act 1928, becoming the Keeper of the Registers and Records of Scotland. However, it came to be recognised that the keeping of records and the keeping of registers was too cumbersome a task to be entrusted to a single department.^[21] In 1948, the Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 provided that the Registers of Scotland and Records of Scotland were to be split into two separate government organisations with two separate officials: (1) the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and (2) the Keeper of the Records of Scotland. The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland was given the duties to maintain and preserve the General Register of Sasines, the Register of Hornings, the Register of Inhibitions and Adjudications, the Register of Deeds and other chancery and judicial registers.^[22] The Keeper of the Records of Scotland, was given the duties to preserve the public registers, records and rolls of Scotland.^[23]

From 1949, the Keeper of the Registers headed the Department of the Registers of Scotland. The Keeper of the Records of Scotland headed the Records Office, later called the National Archives of Scotland. This left three departments and their respective officials managed the following:

• Personal Data: The Registrar General and the General Register Office for Scotland.
• Records: The Keeper of the Records of Scotland and the Records Office, later the National Archives of Scotland.
• Registers: The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and Registers of Scotland.

Recent Mergers[edit]

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) was created on 1 April 2011 by the merger of the General Register Office for Scotland and National Archives of Scotland and is a non-ministerial government department of the Scottish Government. NRS is part of the National Collections of Scotland and falls with the ministerial portfolio of the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs. The Registers of Scotland remain a separate organisation and fall within the ministerial portfolio of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance. Proformas.com.

Services and Collections[edit]

NRS supports research in a number of ways, through guides, websites and training. ^[24] The Scotland's People website, the official Scottish Government site for searching government records and archives, is maintained by NRS in partnership with the Court of the Lord Lyon. ^[25] NRS provides training in palaeography, the study of historical writing such as secretary hand, which is necessary to read some of its records; it maintains training material on its Scottish Handwriting site. ^[26][27]

They collect and publish Scottish statistics and data relating to registers, for example Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland: the source for data provided on the Scottish Government's Covid-19 dashboard. ^[28][29]

NRS maintains the Scottish Register of Tartans. ^[30]

It aims to be a leader in archival practice and acts a source of guidance to records managers and archivists in Scotland. ^[31]

The NRS Web Continuity Service launched on 20th November 2017. A web archive of sites belonging to organisations who deposit records with NRS, the service ensures that previous versions of pages and files can be accessed, while being clearly distinguishable from live content. ^[32]

References[edit]

1. ^'What we do'. National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
2. ^'National Records of Scotland' (Press release). Scottish Government. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
3. ^'Our history'. Registers of Scotland. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
4. ^'Our history'. Registers of Scotland. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
5. ^A L Murray 'The Lord Clerk Register' 53 Scot Hist Rev 2 No 156, pp 124–156 (October 1974)
6. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
7. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
8. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
9. ^Royal Warrant 1906: National Archives of Scotland C3/24, No 184.
10. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
11. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
12. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
13. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
14. ^ ^abHiggs, Edward, The development of the General Register Office (Scotland) Retrieved 26 March 2016
15. ^Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 (c 44), ss 1, 2.
16. ^Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 (c 44), section 6.
17. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
18. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
19. ^'Registers of Scotland Manuals'. rosdev.atlassian.net. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
20. ^'Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition'. www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
21. ^Report by the Committee of the Scottish Records Advisory Council, July 1943 (National Archives of Scotland HH1/1832)
22. ^Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 s.1(2)
23. ^Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 s.1(3).
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