Recent ScotlandsPeople website updates

The ScotlandsPeople website at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, which hosts many Scottish vital records, censuses and other materials. and which was recently relaunched in a new form that was clearly not properly tested in advance, continues to have a vast amount of improvement work to get it back up to scratch. The most recent updates, announced on May 5th, are outlined at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/what-we-are-working-on.

For future developments, the site has stated that work on the 1935 Valuation Roll is currently under way, and an additional batch of Other Church Registers of baptisms, marriages and burials will be added to the site soon. Future releases will also include records such as kirk session material and other legal records.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

ScotlandsPeople Centre to re-open on Monday

The ScotlandsPeople Centre (www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/visit-us/scotlandspeople-centre), which has been closed for over a week due to a virus infection on its main computer system, will re-open again on Monday. Here's the NRS announcement (www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2016/customer-notice):

Our ScotlandsPeople search rooms will reopen from 9.00 am on Monday 4 April. We apologise for any inconvenience the closure may have caused and thank you for your patience. Please call 0131 314 4300 for any seat booking enquiries.

Whilst it is great that it will be open, I am unclear as to whether the ScotlandsPeople computer system itself has been sorted out, or if there might be an alternative arrangement in place, perhaps using the previous DIGROS system or microfiche to access records. On the phone yesterday to one of the satellite centres across the country running the same ScotlandsPeople centre system, I was informed that access next week was still looking doubtful due to an attempt to solve the issue in Edinburgh on Thursday not succeeding.

The NRS announcement is fairly vague, and it may well be that the system is now back up and running across the country, the problems having been resolved. But my advice to those trying to access the system at a centre beyond Edinburgh next week is to perhaps call the venue before you go to make sure in advance!

UPDATE: Thanks to Anne Slater at the NRS for clarifying that the system is back up and running, and so should be available at all centres running the ScotlandsPeople service.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

ScotlandsPeople Centre dealing with computer virus

Some major updates from my earlier post on the ScotlandsPeople Centre (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/scotlandspeople-centre-computer-system.html).

The Scotsman newspaper story has reported at http://www.scotsman.com/future-scotland/tech/hacking-fears-at-national-records-of-scotland-1-4086146 that the centre has been closed due to a possible attempt to hack into birth, marriage and death information last week from the system. The BBC has run a much more comprehensive story, noting that a ransomware computer virus has in fact shut down the system - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-35928037.

Quite what the repercussions might be for future access are as yet unknown, but the centre has again announced a further closure tomorrow (Thursday) - see http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2016/customer-notice

As previously noted, the online ScotlandsPeople website at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk is unaffected.

(With thanks to Kirsty Wilkinson via Facebook)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Help shape the 2021 Scottish census

The National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk), which incorporates the work of the General Register Office for Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland, has the responsibility to carry out the next decennial census in 2021. As such, it is now planning which questions should be asked and how it is to be carried out.

To help fulfil its obligations, the NRS is currently running a consultation to seek the views of the public and of organisations across the country.

Here's oor Tim to say a wee bit more...! (Tim Ellis, Registrar General!):

To access the consultation, please visit https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/national-records-of-scotland-survey/scotlands-census-2021-topic-consultation.  Note that before answering any questions you will first need to read the consultation document at https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/national-records-of-scotland-survey/scotlands-census-2021-topic-consultation/supporting_documents/Topic_Consultation.pdf.

The consultation deadline is 15 JAN 2016.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Access to Scottish divorce records to be restricted

Some fairly bad news for Scottish family historians, relating to the access of records and privacy.

Last week I posted a blog post concerning a request I had made to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service about the proposed closure of Scottish court records from the Court of Session, a request in which I outlined several questions for which I have yet to receive an answer (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/closure-on-historic-scottish-divorce.html).

However, I have just received an email from the National Records of Scotland's Head of Public Services, Anne Slater, who kindly offered at last week's Scottish Genealogy Network CPD event in Edinburgh to provide an update from the NRS on the developments, as soon as the archive was able to work out its position and obligations under the rule change.

Unfortunately, the new rules also include restricting access to divorce records from the Sheriff Court, which has had responsibility for divorces since 1984. There is therefore a knock on effect for the GROS Register of Divorces which was established at that point, and which until now was accessible at the ScotlandsPeople Centre (www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk) in Edinburgh. Here is the body of Anne's letter:

Following our discussion on the availability of the digital images of the Register of Divorces at your recent CPD event I am writing to let you know that NRS are reviewing the Register of Divorces (RoD) as a result of a recent case and that, because of our statutory and legal obligations under the Human Rights and Data Protection Acts, we are going to limit access to the RoD with immediate effect, while we work through the legal issues.

The images will be taken down from the ScotlandsPeople Network this evening. The index to the Register of Divorces will continue to be made available and should you require information from the Register beyond what is available in the index please email: enquiries@scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk. Alternatively should you require an extract from the Register of Divorces please use our extract service: http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/how-to-order-an-official-extract-from-the-registers.

I will provide a further update in due course and please let me know if you have any queries.

This is an undesirable change of policy, not from the National Records of Scotland or the ScotlandsPeople Centre, but from the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, which has forced the NRS to take this position. I am still unclear as to what precipitated the changes in the first place, but it is now not possible to see the Register of Divorces images on the terminals at the ScotlandsPeople Centre (and the satellite access points across the country), only the index entries - that, at least, will still indicate if a divorce took place. For the moment, some form of access is, however, still available to the original records through the extract service.

More on this when I get it...

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Closure on historic Scottish divorce records?

Last week I was alerted by a colleague to the fact that there seems to have been a development on access to historic records of Scottish divorces implemented by the Court of Session from September 29th 2015, something that was seemingly partially confirmed by an NRS contact at the weekend. From what I can gather, it seems that access is to be restricted to historic cases for the last one hundred years. This is clearly something that will be of concern to Scottish based genealogists, for whom the records have previously been accessible.

I have just spoken with a contact at the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (www.scotcourts.gov.uk) and have sent a subsequent email to ask for clarity on the following questions:

1) Can you confirm if a closure period has indeed been enacted by the SCTS on historic cases of divorces in the Scottish courts?

2) If so, are all divorce case records, including Sheriff Court cases post-1984, now subject to a one hundred year closure period for privacy reasons, or simply those of the Court of Session?

3) If a closure period is now in place, can I ask on what basis the closure has been implemented, i.e. for what reason? For example, was there a trigger case where a privacy concern was raised that sought a change to the access?

4) Are there exemptions to these restrictions - for example, for those directly involved in the cases seeking copies of papers?

5) I have been unable to find any formal announcement on this online, but if there has been one, could you perhaps direct me to the link?

The press officer I spoke to has indicated that he has indeed heard something on this, but has requested a few days to try to get some answers. Once I have those, I will pass them on.

Historic records from the Court of Session are deposited with the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk), and from what I can gather this seems to have caught them as much by surprise as anyone. However, it is imperative to point out that any restriction, if it has been implemented, is not one that the NRS has put in place - but if confirmed, may affect how such records are accessed at the facility.

I'll keep you updated if, as and when I hear anything.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Scotland's 2021 census topics consultation

The National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) has announced a topics consultation for the 2021 census:

Scotland's Census 2021 - Topic Consultation

As announced last year, NRS are planning for a census in 2021. To help inform this planning, we will be conducting a consultation from October that will help determine the topics to be included... 

If you have any events between now and the end of the year that you think we might usefully contribute to regarding this consultation, please e mail us on scotlandscensus@nrscotland.gov.uk

Further updates and news on the consultation will be available in due course via www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk.

(With thanks to the NRS)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Recording Angels - Scottish Registrars since 1855 exhibition

From the ScotlandsPeople Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ScotlandsPeople)

A new display at National Records of Scotland tells the human story behind the millions of documents that record the lives of every person in Scotland. 'Recording Angels - Scottish Registrars since 1855' is a free exhibition marking 150 years of the Association of Registrars in Scotland.

The display is on show at General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh, from 19 May until 26 June 2015, Monday - Friday 9:00 - 4:30.

Don't forget my book Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records book which may also be of interest - in the UK it is available from My History for £7, available at www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Scottish-Civil-Registration-UTP0284.html#SID=876 - it can also be obtained in ebook format at www.gen-ebooks.com. To obtain it in Australia or Canada, please see the Books section of this blog!

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Recent UK death indexes released on Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has released a couple of interesting, if not somewhat bewildering, death indexes on its site, as follows:

Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2013
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60631

England and Wales, Death Index, 2007-2013
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60630

The source has simply been listed as 'Various sources', however, genealogist Karen Cummings (@CummingsPFH) has contacted Ancestry via Twitter to ask what the source is, to which they have responded "The source of this collection is GreyPower Deceased Data, compiled by Wilmington Millennium". Wilmington Millenium appears to be this company online at www.wilmingtonmillennium.co.uk, noted as offering "intelligent consumer data suppression and lead generation products created in conjunction with leading industry partners". There is no mention of a partnership with Ancestry on its site however.

A typical search yields the following info - name, gender, age, birth date (variously reported as a year or with the full date), death date, residential place at death, and a postal code district.

Without a decent provenance for the source, i.e. any understanding of what it is, I would suggest that any entries on this be treated simply as a finding aid that should be pursued via the usual sources through the three respective General Register Offices of the UK. These are as follows:

Scotland - records can be ordered via www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (£12 each)
Northern Ireland - via www.nidirect.gov.uk/general-register-office-for-northern-ireland (£15 each)
England and Wales - via www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content (£9.25 each)

Scottish finds can be partially corroborated online via ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk), which does index death records within the last 50 years, but does not provide the digitised register images, as with earlier records. (All records, including up to the present day, can be accessed at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh, or at other centres in Scotland providing access to the same database, for £15 unlimited access). No online GRO indexes are available for Northern Ireland in this period, nor for England and Wales.

I have read many reports from users saying that the databases are not complete. Scotland seems to be better covered than Northern Ireland, and my own mother's death, in Manchester, England, in November 2013, is not included. I have found my grandmother's death in Carrickfergus - her date of death is given as 22 JUL 2011, and her birth year as 1922, both correct. her name is simply given as Mrs Martha Graham though - her full name was in fact Martha Jane Elizabeth Watton Bill Smyth, so don't be expecting too much in the detail!

So it is an interesting resource, one that needs handling with caution, but potentially useful. But no substitute for the placing of indexes online by the English, Welsh and Northern Irish GROs, as has been done by Scotland via ScotlandsPeople.

Chris

For details on my range of genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.

ScotlandsPeople website to be overhauled

The National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) is advertising a service contract for a consultancy to redesign the ScotlandsPeople platform at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, which has been running since 2002 under the care of Dundee based DC Thomson Family History (previously Brightsolid). The new site and service is intended to go online to the public in September 2016, with the new service contract running for 4 years, and with an option to extend it by two more (2 x 12 month extensions).

From the tender:

NRS wishes to appoint a service provider to deliver a flexible service which we anticipate will be developed and expanded over the course of the contract. The service provider will deliver web design, application development, search functionality, e-commerce, testing, secure web hosting, infrastructure, website management (including further expansion) and support for the replacement service to support internet access to the official ScotlandsPeople online service (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk). The replacement service must go live to public users on 1.9.2016, when the current contract expires.

It is expected the new service provider will begin design and development of the new service from August 2015 with all testing phases completed and signed-off by the end of July 2016 in readiness for the new website service to go live on 1 September 2016, ensuring the ScotlandsPeople service to the public is seamlessly maintained from the ‘Go live' date.

The deadline for applicants is January 20th 2015. Full details for the NRS requirements can be viewed at http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:426525-2014:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0

(With thanks to Design Week at www.designweek.co.uk/latest-opportunities/scottish-family-history-service-to-be-overhauled/3039564.article)

Chris

Stuck for a Christmas gift?! I have a series of genealogy books available in the UK, Australia and Canada, on Scottish, Irish and British based subject areas. Further details at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. Santa approves!

Are NRS buildings going up for sale?

I've been hearing over the last week that staff at the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) in Edinburgh are being advised that a meeting is apparently to be held there later this month to discuss the possibility that some of their assets, namely buildings such as New Register House and General Register House, may be put up for sale to raise money for the UK Treasury. This is apparently in line with UK Government thinking outlined in a Treasury Green Book, and its April 2013 supplementary entitled Value for money and the valuation of public sector assets, available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-book-supplementary-guidance-asset-valuation.

There are apparently a few options being potentially considered by the NRS - to maintain the status quo with regards to its asset holdings, to perhaps sell off some of their assets and retain others, or to sell them all off completely, and then perhaps take up residence in the future at a rented purpose built, or already existent, premises to deliver NRS services from there.

Interestingly, at an archive conference in Dundee last year I jokingly suggested to a high ranking NRS member that I would personally be happy to see the present buildings of the NRS knocked down and something more purpose built erected there instead. I have commented before that I find many of the NRS provisions antiquated and not really as fit for purpose as its equivalents in London and Belfast (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/comparing-uks-three-national-archives.html). The serious response I got was that the NRS had in fact previously looked into the option of selling off its buildings, but had decided against it at that stage.

If the buildings are to be sold off and something more purpose built erected, that would actually be a great thing in my view. But if it is decided that the buildings are to be sold off and the money sent to the UK Treasury, and not reinvested in an alternative facility here, how will such new premises, if decided upon, be funded? I don't often get political on this blog, but if that is indeed the case, that sounds to me a bit like asset stripping.

Definitely one to keep an eye on...

UPDATE: Just read a tweet that says that as NRS is a Scottish Government asset, money could not go to UK Treasury. That's what I thought also - would be good to have some clarification from the NRS.

UPDATE: NRS has kindly responded - see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/more-on-national-records-of-scotland.html

Chris

Stuck for a Christmas gift?! I have a series of genealogy books available in the UK, Australia and Canada, on Scottish, Irish and British based subject areas. Further details at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. Santa approves!

National Records of Scotland website expansion

Almost three and a half years ago the National Archives of Scotland and the General Register Office for Scotland merged to form a single body, the National Records of Scotland. Despite the merger, both institutions retained their respective websites, with only a limited portal website for the National Records of Scotland being established at www.nrscotland.gov.uk.

Today sees a major expansion of this NRS website, which will soon completely replace its predecessors at www.gro-scotland.gov.uk and www.nas.gov.uk. From today the GROS website will no longer be updated with any new content, and the catalogues and other content from the NAS site will soon also be made accessible via the National Records site.

(With thanks to Anne Slater at the NRS)

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And please consider purchasing the great new version of Caledonia by The Libations at 79p via www.caledonia2014.com - all profits go to help fund Scottish foodbanks

Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records - now on sale

I'm delighted to say that my latest Scottish genealogy themed book is now out from Unlock the Past in Australia. At present it is available in print form from the company via www.gould.com.au/Discover-Scottish-Civil-Registration-Records-p/utp0284.htm at AU$17 (inc GST) plus p&p. An e-edition, if you prefer to read it via your PC, Mac or tablet in PDF format, will be available in the next couple of days (http://www.gen-ebooks.com).

Here's a description of the contents, and what it's all about really!

Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records

This guide from family historian Chris Paton takes a look at the vast world of Scottish civil registration records. Scotland commenced the statutory registration of births, marriages and deaths within the country in 1855, second seventeen and half years after a similar process had already got underway in England and Wales. The information lost to the family historian by such a late start is, however, more than made up for by the fact that Scottish registration records are the most detailed of all those found within the British Isles.

But what was the law behind Scottish registration, and how did it differ to England, Wales and Ireland? Who was legally obliged to do what and when, what were the penalties for default, and how might such knowledge help with our ancestral research? Why were all the forms of Scottish irregular marriage not abolished in 1939, and what angered the country's doctors? Where are the records not found online via ScotlandsPeople, such as those for adoption, vaccination, civil partnerships and divorce - and what vital records does the General Register Office in England hold for Scots as far back at the 1760s, and far beyond Britain's shores?

The book is structured as follows:

Contents:
Introduction
Acknowledgements

Part 1. Civil registration in Scotland
Establishment of civil registration
Registration of births
- Illegitimacy
- Locating birth records
- Minor records of birth
- Stillbirths
- Adoption
Vaccination
- Locating vaccination records
Marriage
- Registration of regular marriage
- Irregular marriage
- Registration of irregular marriage
- Introduction of civil marriage
- Same sex marriage
- Locating marriage records
- Minor records of marriage
- Other marriage records
- Divorce
Registration of deaths
- Medical certificates
- Locating death records
- Minor records of deaths
Registers of Corrected Entries
The Book of Scottish Connections

Part 2. Registration in the British Isles
England and Wales
- Births
- Marriages
- Divorce
- Deaths
- Locating English and Welsh records
- British overseas and military records
Ireland
- Locating Irish records
Crown dependencies

Appendix 1. Glossary
Appendix 2. Further reading
Appendix 3. English and Welsh BMD indexes in Australia and New Zealand
- Australia
- New Zealand
Index

It's the latest in a series of more indepth guides that I have been producing in which I have been trying to find out what really makes the records used within Scottish genealogy tick, going well beyond ScotlandsPeople into aspects of law behind civil registration, record availability, and British generated documents found beyond Scotland's borders. Other titles produced so far include Discover Scottish Church Records, and Discover Scottish Land Records - and I'm already hard at work on the next one...!

Incidentally, if you are at the National Family History Fair this coming Saturday, in Newcastle, I believe some copies may be available there.

I hope you find it of some use - enjoy!

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

New Registrar General for Scotland advertisement

I don't have much on this just now, as I am overseas at present, but thanks to Ken Nisbet for letting me know that today's Scotsman newspaper is now advertising for a new Registrar General for Scotland, at a salary of £75,000. If you fancy a career change, I'm sure the GRO (now part of the National Records of Scotland), can help with more details!

Chris

Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)