Sons of Scotland

Sons of Scotland is based in the town of Cumbernauld, situated in the Central Belt of Scotland, 12 miles from Glasgow, and 30 miles from Edinburgh.

We have over 15 years experience researching the records contained in New Register House. This building in the heart of Edinburgh holds the following documents.

Since 1855 it has been compulsory to register all births, marriages and deaths occurring in Scotland. Although Scotland was relatively late in introducing this law (England had introduced it in 1837), it more than made up for this in the amount of information contained in the certificates.

Birth certificates generally provide the childs name, date & place of birth, parents names and home address if different from the birthplace, fathers occupation, parents marriage date & place, and the name of the informant to the Registrar.

Marriage certificates generally provide the names, ages, addresses and occupations of both parties, as well as their parents names, fathers occupation, and the names of the witnesses.

Death certificates generally provide the persons name, age, occupation, date/place/cause of death, address (if different from place of death), parents names, fathers occupation, and name of the informant to the Registrar.

Since 1841, and every 10 years since, a census has been taken in Scotland, giving details on the whereabouts of every person in Scotland on a given night. There is a 100 year closure on viewing the census returns, so currently those available are 1841, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, and 1901. The amount of information supplied varied from census to census (the 1841 census is particularly sparse), but generally they will show a given address and give details on every adult and child living there. They include name, age, marital status, relationship to the head of the family, occupation, and birthplace. Other details provided on particular years include whether or not the person spoke English, Gaelic or both; the number of windowed rooms at the given address; whether the person was blind, deaf/dumb, or lunatic/imbecile/feeble-minded (a fine distinction !)

Prior to 1855 it was the responsibility of the Established Church to record events. Each parish minister kept a log book in which (theoretically) he registered all births and marriages within his parish. However, while there was social pressure on individuals to comply, it was not compulsory to do so. As well as this, some ministers were not as dedicated as others in maintaining the records, and many events went unrecorded. The ravages of time have also resulted in some register books not surviving. Despite all of this, the vast majority of births and marriages (not deaths) were recorded, and the OPR's remain an invaluable source for finding the earlier records.

As gravestones fall victim to erosion, some individuals and family history groups have undertaken to transcribe as many of the older gravestones as possible. New Register House holds copies of many of these transcription books, indexed by parish, and they are extremely useful in pinpointing death dates and establishing relationships for a time (pre-1855) for which we have otherwise few resources for finding deaths.

 Contact us at  sonsofscotland@blueyonder.co.uk