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                  Death records – Catholic

                  Registers of baptisms, marriages and deaths kept by Roman Catholic (RC) priests are generally held by RC parish churches or by RC archives (for example some registers for churches in the Glasgow area are held by the Archives of the Archdiocese of Glasgow) In many cases these predate civil registration (1855) and in a few cases date back to the early 1700s.

                  Digital copies of the RC registers held by the Scottish Catholic Archives are available through the ScotlandsPeople website.

                  A guide to the RC registers can be found on <https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20240326182438/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/catholic-parish-registers> [accessed 26 April 2024].

                  Photocopies of many of the surviving registers are held by the National Records of Scotland (ref RH21). Other records of the RC Church are held by Aberdeen University Special Collections <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/special-collections/about-79.php > [accessed 26 April 2024].

                  Death records – Other churches

                  The survival of death or burial registers for churches other than the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church is variable. They are sometimes held by the individual congregations themselves and sometimes by local archives services and sometimes by the National Records of Scotland. Details of the locations of these records may be held by the National Register of Archives Scotland (NRAS). Known locations are listed below:

                  United Free Church of Scotland – NRS (ref CH13)

                  Free Church of Scotland – NRS (ref CH16), Highland Council Archives

                  Society of Friends or ‘Quakers’ – NRS (ref CH10)

                  Methodist Church in Scotland – NRS (ref CH11), Stirling Council Archives, Glasgow City Archives, Highland Council Archives and other local archives services

                  Scottish Episcopal Church – NRS (ref CH12) Glasgow City Archives, Highland Council Archives and other local archives services. Most of the Scottish Episcopal burial registers are still be held by the congregation and recorded in the relevant NRAS survey. Some congregations have deposited theirs with University as well as local authority archives – this latter according to guidance laid down many years ago by the Episcopal Church – eg for Aberdeen, city parishes to Aberdeen City Archives and landward parishes to the University of Aberdeen Archives.

                  Congregational Churches – NRS (ref CH14) Glasgow City Archives, Highland Council Archives and other local archives services

                  Unitarians – NRS (ref CH15), Dundee City Archives, Glasgow City Archives

                  Baptist Churches – individual congregations, various local archives services including Glasgow City Archives, Highland Council Archives.

                  Court records

                  The records of Scotland’s higher courts, including the High Court of Justiciary and sheriff courts are held by the National Records of Scotland, where the records of the Lord Advocate’s Department are also held. For further details see the research guides on crime and criminals, High Court criminal trials, and Sheriff Court records on the National Records of Scotland’s website <https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20240326182456/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/a-z> [accessed 26 April 2024].

                  The records of burgh courts, police courts and district courts are usually held by the relevant local authority archives service.  Burgh court records are often the earliest surviving record of the burgh along with chartularies and protocol books and may cover the administration of the burgh as well as criminal and civil matters. The 19th and 20th century registers usually detail the name of the accused, the alleged offence, the date of trial and the outcome.  These registers are usually closed for up to 100 years because the offences are spent, even although trials would have been held in public and the trials may have been reported in the press.

                  Commissioners of Supply minutes

                  In the 18th century the minutes of the commissioners begin with lengthy sederunts, mainly of the substantial landed gentry of the county. The newly appointed commissioners would swear the oaths of allegiance and adjuration (to weed out any Roman Catholics or Jacobites) and would then elect a preses (or chairman). They would also appoint a collector of the cess, or land tax, with an annual salary. They might need to deal with objections to individual commissioners, for example on the grounds that they were wrongly designated in the commission, or that they had sold part of their lands and were no longer worth the required minimum sum per annum. Thereafter their business would be almost exclusively with the collection of the cess and in particular its allocation, for example where a property had been divided, and to a lesser extent with roads and bridges. They will occasionally be found carrying out other statutory duties, for example pressurising the heritors of a parish into appointing (and paying) a parish schoolmaster. In the 19th century they acquired other roles, especially the collection of rogue money and county policing, and diseases of animals. They would be required to appoint members to various other bodies, such as Prison Boards. They also acted as a sounding-board for local opinion and petitioned parliament in favour of or against proposed measures. These might be bills with local, or local government implications, but might be quite general.

                  Use of Commissioners of Supply Minutes

                  For researchers the main areas of interest are the history of local taxation, roads and bridges, policing, etc., within an individual county, but they have a more general interest in showing the views of the governing class on a wide range of issues. They are of some family history interest, at least for individual commissioners, but for the wealthier lairds, who formed the great majority of the commissioners, there are also many alternative sources.

                  Records concerning young people

                  Records of or about children and young people can be found in the records generated by fostering (boarding out) and adoption, the justice system, schools and nurseries and churches. Other voluntary organisations working with children may also have relevant records, such as sports clubs and youth clubs. Records which contain information about individuals are subject to closures under the Data Protection Act 2018.

                  Fostering and adoption

                  Registers relating to boarded out children may survive under the Infant Life Protection Act 1897 or the Children Acts from 1908 onwards.[1] The relevant records may include not only registers of guardians, but also of persons advertising for infants to nurse or adopt, or of a parent wishing to have a child adopted. Poor law separate children’s registers will contain records of destitute and orphaned children and there may also be cards and case files on boarded out children.   

                  Part II of the 1908 Act strengthened the criminal law on cruelty to children and young persons, leading to the creation of registers of prosecutions. Other possible survivals are records of the actual boarding-out process, and in particular of the inspections of the homes where the children were boarded.

                  Legal adoption in Scotland dates only from the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1930.[2] Local authorities became increasingly involved as adoption agencies and their records may include adoption petitions, registers of applications by mothers (or expectant mothers) to have children adopted, registers or other records of those wishing to become adoptive parents and related material.

                  Most registers relating to boarded out/foster children and adoptions can be found in local authority archives. Their survival across Scotland is very patchy: there are extensive poor law records covering Glasgow and the surrounding areas, but in some other areas nothing survivesAdoptions dealt with by the Court of Session are held by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

                  Justice system

                  Registers of juvenile offenders and registers of juvenile cases may be found among the records of police courts in police and parliamentary burghs and the records of sheriff courts. Police forces may also have kept registers. Registers of juvenile cases generally contain the name of complainer, name of child, age of child, nature of offence, plea and court decision.

                  Records of industrial schools, reformatory schools and ragged schools may include registers or lists of children along with annual reports, accounts and correspondence.

                  Police court records and school records are usually held by local authority archives. Sheriff court records are held by NRS.

                  Schools and nurseries

                  School admission registers are an important source of information on individual pupils in Scottish schools in the late 19th century and 20th century. There is a separate Knowledge Base entry on these records.

                  Churches

                  Most Christian churches maintain registers of baptisms which are predominantly of infants or children but note that baptism may occur at any time of life and in some churches is restricted to people old enough to declare belief. Many churches also maintain cradle rolls, whether or not they practice infant baptism. They may also maintain records of confirmation, which may record children as young as 6. These records can be found either in local authority archives or in NRS.

                  Related Knowledge Base entries 

                  Care of children, young people and families 

                  Young offenders and children in the justice system 

                  Poor relief – Children’s separate registers (1865-1948) 

                  Poor relief – General registers of poor (1865-1948) 

                  School admission registers 

                  References

                  [1] Infant Life Protection Act 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c.57); Children Act 1908 (8 Edw. VII c.67).

                  [2] Adoption (Scotland) Act 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. V c.37).

                  Cess Rolls

                  Cess Rolls were compiled by the Commissioners of Supply in order to identify the land-owners responsible for paying the land tax and the basis for the amount due.

                  The word ‘cess’ is a shortened and corrupted form of ‘assess’, and when used as a verb means to impose a tax or assess the value of property for taxation. In Scotland the term was used as a noun to mean a tax, in particular the land tax, which was a permanent tax levied from land rent from the 17th century onwards.

                  Cess rolls for the land tax were compiled irregularly, as and when required. Most earlier rolls have little information, often only giving the name of the landholding without even the name of the landowner. By the mid-18th century, the cess roll for each parish contains a list of landowners with a valuation of the land. By the early-19th century cess rolls sometimes have the names of tenants. It has been estimated that cess rolls contain the names of only about 3% of the population.

                  Surviving cess rolls for each county can be found among Exchequer records in the National Records of Scotland (NRS), and/or with the records of the Commissioners of Supply. Records of commissioners of supply are mainly held by local authority archives services but for some counties are held by NRS. Rolls for each county for the year 1771 (or the year of the nearest surviving roll to 1771) have been transcribed, indexed and published in Lorretta R Timperley, A Directory of Land Ownership in Scotland, c.1770 (Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society, 1976). Further information on land tax rolls and other tax records can be found at the NRS website. <https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20240326182516/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/research-guides/research-guides-a-z/taxation-records> [accessed 26 April 2024]

                  Censuses and Quasi-Censuses

                  This entry in the Knowledge Base refers to census questions by terms used at the time. This terminology is now obsolete and its use in this entry is limited to quotations.

                  The word ‘census’ was originally a Latin term for a valuation (from the verb censere, meaning to value, count, enrol or tax). In Roman times the census was a registered statement of the particulars of each person’s property for taxation or military purposes – an enumeration and register of Roman citizens and their property. This original idea of a census is much close to the idea of cess rolls or valuation rolls (see below for Knowledge Base entries for these), which have been used in Scotland to record the value of the property of certain individuals for the purposes of national and local taxation from the 17th century until the present day. Perhaps the earliest list of the inhabitants of Scotland, although it was limited to landowners, churchmen and burgesses, was the Ragman Roll, ordered by Edward I of England in 1296.[1] Since the 19th century the term ‘census’ has come to mean an enumeration of the inhabitants of a state, or part of it, taken by order of its legislature, primarily to aid the calculation of official statistics and the formation of central and local government policy. Two forms of record produced in census taking are of use to historians and other researchers: the statistics themselves, which are normally published, and the census enumerators’ schedules for each household.

                  Statistics

                  Many countries in Europe began taking censuses and publishing national statistics in the mid-18th century. A bill in the Westminster parliament proposing a census of Britain was defeated in 1753, but the compilation of population statistics was begun shortly afterwards on a commercial basis, most notably by Rev Alexander Webster, who published a ‘census’ in 1755, based on returns made by Church of Scotland parish ministers.[2] A more ambitious project was the Statistical Account of Scotland, compiled from ministers’ returns by Sir John Sinclair between 1791 and 1799. Later statistical accounts were compiled in the mid-19th century and mid-20th century.

                  The Population Act 1800 was passed as a result of growing anxieties about the availability of food in Britain.[3] In March 1801, the first modern census was undertaken. The information collected allowed an estimate to be made of the rate at which the population was growing. Since this date, a census has been undertaken every 10 years in the first year of each decade. However, the returns for 1811 to 1831 only give statistical data concerning population numbers rather than specific information relating to individuals.

                  Schedules

                  The Population Act 1840 resulted in a new approach to the collection of population information and the census of the following year was the first national census to name individuals and give their occupations, ages and places of birth.[4]

                  From 1841 onwards, a schedule of questions has been answered by the head of each household during each census. This records the names and various other details of each person resident in the household on the night of the census. No schedules were returned centrally, only statistics. A few of the lists of households compiled by schoolmasters survive in private hands or in the NRS or local archives, often being held with kirk session records.

                  The census took place on one day across the country. Scotland was divided into what were called enumeration districts based on the existing parish boundaries. Larger parishes were then subdivided to enable the officials to gather the information within the day.

                  Before 1841, parish schoolmasters were responsible for compiling the censuses, and did so in 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831. They delivered schedules to the houses in the area they covered on the day before Census Day. The completed forms were then collected the following day, checked and the details copied into the enumerator’s book. The information that we access today is taken from these notebooks, not from the original forms, which were destroyed. At the beginning of each enumeration district in the census volumes there is usually a description of the area that may give detailed information about the route taken by the enumerator and other geographical information.

                  Years and Information Given

                  The census took place on:-

                  • 6th June 1841
                  • 30th March 1851
                  • 7th April 1861
                  • 2nd April 1871
                  • 3rd April 1881
                  • 5th April 1891
                  • 31st March 1901
                  • 2nd April 1911

                  The returns give a snapshot of all the people in a household on the night the census was undertaken including any visitors in the household at the time.

                  As the 1841 and 1851 census’ happened before the beginning of civil registration in 1855, the information given is particularly valuable as it allows cross checking with other records dating from this period such as church registers.

                  The information recorded is different for different census years as the instructions given to the enumerators changed. Details are as follows: –

                  1841

                  • Head of the household is not indicated.
                  • Ages are rounded down to the nearest 5 years for those aged 15 and over.
                  • Places of birth are not specified beyond Scotland, England, Ireland or ‘foreign’.
                  • Occupations are given as abbreviations.

                  1851

                  • Each household is given a schedule number making it easier to tell the extent of each one.
                  • The head of the family is given along with the relationship of each other member to the head.
                  • The precise age of each person is given.
                  • The place of birth is more detailed with the parish given as well as the country.
                  • Marital status is indicated.
                  • A column is present to record if individuals are blind, deaf or dumb.

                  1861

                  • It is stated whether the children attend school.
                  • Rooms having one or more windows are indicated.

                  1891

                  • Gaelic speakers are indicated.

                  1911

                  • The number of years married is given.
                  • The number of children both born alive and still living is given.
                  • The industry or service associated with the occupation is given.
                  • It is indicated whether people are regarded as: 1) ‘totally deaf or deaf and dumb’, 2) ‘totally blind’, 3) ‘lunatic’, 4) ‘imbecile or feeble minded’.

                  The information gathered by each census is used to generate statistics and then access to the detailed data is closed, normally for 100 years. Once available for research the submitted schedules are a key resource for genealogists, demographers and social historians. The NRS holds the original schedules and those from the open censuses are available on a pay-per-view website,<www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk > [accessed 26 April 2024] or by visiting the ScotlandsPeople Centre or associated family history services for a daily fee. Microfilm copies of the schedules for 1841 – 1891 are available in local studies libraries, some local authority archives, and are held by some family history societies.

                  From 1861 onwards the gathering of census data was the responsibility of the General Register Office for Scotland, now National Records of Scotland (NRS). Statistics are published by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO). Census statistics for the 19th century can also be found in a variety of publications, most notably the Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland, published by Francis H Groome in 1884, 1896 and 1901.

                  Compiler: Pam McNicol (Stirling Council Archives, 2021)

                  Related Knowledge Base entries

                  Ragman Roll

                  Webster’s Census

                  Pre-1841 parish household surveys

                  1851 religious census

                  Cess Rolls

                  Valuation Rolls

                  Statistical Accounts

                  Links

                  ScotlandsPeople <https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/> [accessed 26 April 2024]

                  Bibliography

                  Chapman, Colin, Pre-1841 Censuses and Population Listings in the British Isles 4th edition (Lochin Publishing, 1994)

                  Gibson, Jeremy and Mervyn Medlycott, Local Census Listings 1522-1930: holdings in the British Isles 3rd edition (Federation of Family History Societies, 1997)

                  Higgs, Edward, A Clearer Sense of the Census: the Victorian censuses and historical research (HMSO, 1996)

                  Kyd, James Gray(ed), Scottish Population Statistics, including Webster’s ‘Analysis of Population 1755’ (Scottish History Society/T & A Constable, 1975).

                  Ruthven-Murray, Peter, Scottish Census Indexes: covering the 1841-1871 civil censuses 3rd edition (Scottish Association of Family History Societies, 1998)

                  Sinclair, Cecil, Jock Tamsons Bairns: a history of the records of the GROS (HMSO, 2000)

                   

                  References

                  [1] The National Archives (London) C 47/23/3 Ragman Roll, 1296.

                  [2] Alexander Webster Account of the Number of People in Scotland in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Five, (ms, 1755).

                  [3] Act for taking account of the population of Great Britain and of the increase or diminution thereof, 1800 (41 Geo. III c.15).

                  [4] Population Act 1840 (4 & 5 Vict. c.99).

                   

                  Why is my ancestor missing from the census?

                  If you find the correct family but one individual is not recorded, then the individual probably was not present in the household on the exact date of the census. It is hard to draw any firm conclusions without further research, and it is likely that you will not be able to find out exactly why someone is not there. Could they have been away travelling, for work or caring for sick or elderly relatives or visiting distant friends or other reasons? If the husband is absent, then can you find them at another address for that night and does their name continue to appear on the valuation rolls for the family address? If the wife is absent, look for them with known relatives. If they are a child or young person, could they be lodging with neighbouring family or could they be apprenticed to someone else? Try looking through the indexes to see if the name appears in another household. Check whether the age, place of birth and occupation match any other records you have of the individual and be careful not to assume you have found the right person without corroboration.

                  What date was each census taken?

                  From 1841 onwards the censuses were taken on the following dates:

                  • 1841 – 7 June
                  • 1851 – 31 March
                  • 1861 – 8 April
                  • 1871 – 3 April
                  • 1881 – 4 April
                  • 1891 – 5 April
                  • 1901 – 31 March
                  • 1911 – 2 April
                  • 1921 – 19 June

                  Was the census taken during the Second World War?

                  No, a census was not taken in 1941 in the UK.

                  Why are census schedules closed for 100 years?

                  The primary purpose of the census is to compile statistics. The information contained in census schedules is deemed to be confidential, as it consists of answers to personal questions.

                  How can I find out which censuses have been indexed?

                  Complete indexes for the open censuses are available on the Scotland’s People website. Online access to the indexes is free but there is a charge for downloading the schedules: for further details see the Scotland’s People website. Alternatively, there is a daily charge for in-person visits to the ScotlandsPeople Centre or to one of the local family history centres, which covers access to all the information: for more details on see the Scotland’s People website.

                  Indexes to the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses have been compiled by family history societies, other bodies and individuals for most Scottish counties or parishes. Some microfilm copies are available for sale. For a full list of what is available, arranged by county and parish, consult Peter Ruthven-Murray, Scottish Census Indexes: covering the 1841-1871 civil censuses (Scottish Association of Family History, 3rd edition, 1998), or contact the family history society for the area concerned.

                  Why might a place ‘disappear’ between one census and another?

                  The most likely explanation for this is that the place concerned has been affected by a boundary change. Changes to parish, county and burgh boundaries were made throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, but the principal changes were made by Boundary Commissioners set up after the 1889 Local Government (Scotland) Act. Over 3000 settlements in Scotland were affected by either parish or county boundary changes, or both, in the period 1890-91. In addition, many suburban settlements were annexed by burghs between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. If a place appears to have ‘disappeared’ between censuses (or, indeed, between years in other records, such as valuation rolls) you should check Francis H Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland (1896 or later editions), which contains information derived from the Boundary Commissioners reports. If the place itself is not mentioned because it is quite small, check under the parish concerned to see if it was affected by a boundary change. Alternatively check the General Register Office for Scotland’s Index of Scottish Placenames from the 1971 Census (HMSO, 1975) or Index of Scottish Placenames from the 1981 Census (HMSO, 1985) – both of which give the civil parish and county for settlements with a population of 100 or more.

                  How do I find population statistics etc for a particular place?

                  The statistics compiled during each census are published, currently by HMSO. These are available online at http://www.histpop.org [accessed 26 April 2024]. Reference libraries and some university libraries hold the original published volumes, but not necessarily for every census. If your local reference library does not hold census reports for the census or area of Scotland that you want, you should try one of the major reference libraries such as the Mitchell Library, Glasgow or the National Library of Scotland, in Edinburgh. 19th century population figures for towns and many other settlements, as well as parishes and counties in Scotland can also be found in a variety of publications, most notably the Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland, published by Francis H Groome in 1884, 1896 and 1901.

                  Census – Webster’s Census

                  Alexander Webster’s Account of the Number of People in Scotland in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Five is generally taken to be the earliest attempt to calculate the population of Scotland accurately. Each parish minister in Scotland was circulated with a request to calculate the population of the parish and to determine how many were Protestants and how many were Roman Catholics. Webster’s original Account is preserved in the National Library of Scotland. It has been republished as Scottish Population Statistics, including Webster’s ‘Analysis of Population 1755’ ed. by James Gray Kyd, (Scottish History Society/T & A Constable, 1975).

                  Census – Ragman Roll

                  The collection of documents known as the Ragman Roll or ‘list of names of magnates and others of Scotland who did homage to Edward I’ in 1296 is held by The National Archives in London (references C47/23/3 and E39/4/10). These list the names of the Scots magnates, burgesses and senior churchmen who promised (or were compelled to promise) fealty to Edward I of England in 1296. For further details consult the Discovery website and search for ragman rolls.<https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/> [accessed 26 April 2024]

                  Bibliography

                  Bain, Joseph (ed), Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland preserved in Her Majesty’s Public Record Office, London (Edinburgh, 1884) II pp. 193-214 has a transcription.

                  McAndrew, Dr Bruce, ‘The sigillography of the Ragman Roll’ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 129 (1999), pp. 663-753 discusses the seals appended to the Ragman Roll.

                  Census – Pre-1841 household surveys

                  Parish schoolmasters were responsible for compiling the censuses in 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 and no schedules were returned centrally, only statistics. A few of the lists of households compiled by schoolmasters survive in private hands or in the National Records of Scotland or local archives, often with kirk session records, probably because schoolmasters frequently filled the office of session clerk.

                  Bibliography

                  Chapman, Colin, Pre-1841 Censuses and Population Listings in the British Isles 4th edition (Lochin Publishing, 1994)

                  Gibson, Jeremy and Mervyn Medlycott, Local Census Listings 1522-1930: holdings in the British Isles 3rd edition (Federation of Family History Societies, 1997)