ScotlandsPeople adds Valuation Roll for 1940

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has added the 1940 Valuation Roll for Scotland to its site. Here's the blurb:

National Records of Scotland have published valuation rolls from 1940 on our online research service, ScotlandsPeople, adding more than 60,000 new digital images.

You can now search over 2.8 million new indexed names and addresses for owners, tenants and occupiers of properties throughout Scotland.

Valuation rolls were created to help with collection of taxes, recording details of buildings, properties and their value, and the names of their owners and tenants.

They are a valuable tool for local history research and can be used to add foliage to your family tree by searching for people and properties between census years.

(Original story at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-valuation-rolls-1940-go-online)

Chris

My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts May 13th 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

ScotlandsPeople releases 1935 Valuation Rolls online

The ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has released the 1935 Valuation Rolls for the Scotland, which includes more than 2.7 million names. The full news release is available at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-valuation-rolls-1935-go-online.

With this release the available rolls on the site cover the years 1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1930 and 1935 - though please note that the rolls are in fact annual from 1855-1989, with many others available for consultation at the National Records of Scotland, and local archives across the country.

A guide detailing how they can be used is available at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/valuation-rolls.

(NB: The database at the ScotlandsPeople Centre and at other family history centres hosting the same system also has the 1935 rolls up and running - I was using them earlier today at the Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock!)

Chris

My next 5 week long Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course commences Nov 6th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

1930 Scottish valuation roll goes online

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has released the 1930 Scottish valuation rolls on its site, which notes landholders, landlords and tenants within their pages. This now means that the rolls for 1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920, 1925 and 1930 are currently accessible on the site, although it should be noted that the rolls were in fact annual between 1855 and 1989.

From my book, Discover Scottish Land Records:

Prior to 1855 valuation rolls were kept on an irregular basis around the country, and few have survived, but following the Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act of 1854 a new annual system was introduced for both burghs (the forerunners of towns) and counties which continued until 1989. These recorded the names of the tenant or occupier, and the proprietor, the annual rental value and any feu duties owed, as well as the duration of any leases etc. Each roll covers the financial year following the term day of Whitsun (May 25th), and is arranged either by parish or electoral ward, and then by street name and number, rather than by a tenant’s or proprietor’s name. Prior to 1884 the properties listed included the tenants’ names only if the annual rental value was worth £4 a year or more, and if their lease was for at least a year in length.

For more on the latest release, which highlights amongst those named the last inhabitants of Hiort, St. Kilda, visit the NRS press release at http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2016/the-last-st-kildans-valuation-rolls-for-1930-go-online

For details of how to get hold of a copy of my land records book, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html

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/.

Scottish 1855 valuation roll online

ScotlandsPeople has released the 1855 valuation rolls for Scotland, the first year for which the records are available. The following is the announcement:

The great, the good and the humble of Victorian Scotland have been digitally captured in the latest release of Valuation Rolls on ScotlandsPeople.

Over one million indexed names and addresses from 1855 are now available to search for FREE* as an introductory offer. Fully searchable by name and address, the new records provide a detailed snapshot of Scotland in a time of industrial expansion and economic growth, and offer a fascinating window into the lives of Victorian Scots. Find out more about Valuation Rolls 1855.

*Index for Valuation Rolls 1855 free to search until 13 October 2015 and 1 credit per page of 25 results thereafter. Images can be viewed for 2 credits per record.


Scotland's leading lights in 1855

Among the 1855 Valuation Rolls are many notable figures, including Professor James Young Simpson, Hugh Miller, David Octavius Hill, and Sir David Brewster. Humbler people include the shoemaker father of the future missionary, Mary Slessor, and the landlady of the lodgings where Pierre Emile L’Angelier died, allegedly at the hand of Madeleine Smith, the Glasgow socialite who was notoriously tried for his murder in 1857. 

The records are accessible via www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

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/.

Free access to Scottish Valuation Rolls online

From ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk):

For the 12 days of Christmas, the Valuation Rolls are completely FREE to search!

From now until 6th January 2015, you can browse the index searches for Valuation Rolls 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920 and the newly-released 1925 free of charge.

Have fun!

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!

Scottish 1925 Valuation Rolls now online

The ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has now added the 1925 Valuation Rolls to its website. The rolls first commenced in 1855 on an annual publication basis. To dare, the rolls for 1875, 1885, 1895, 1915, 1920 and 1925 are now available.

For further infirmation visit http://nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2014/the-duke-and-the-tattooist-–-the-1925-valuation-rolls

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!

More on Scottish Valuation Roll from 1875

A quick note from Ken Nisbet of the Scottish Genealogy Society (www.scotsgenealogy.com), concerning the 1875 Valuation Roll on ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk):

Hi Chris, as you are aware the 1875 valuation rolls index is free to use. As you know the index does not tell you who owned the property if your relative was a tenant, a good way to do this is to go to the box marked Place and put the name of the street or farm name etc. in, this will tell you who owned the property

For example I know my relatives lived at Broomhill in the Parish of Cawdor Nairnshire. I got to the county, put in Nairnshire, then parish Cawdor, and Place Broomhill. It states there are 5 entries. I then click to access the index and it tells me that Earl Cawdor owned all the properties and the the names of the tenants including my relative Charles Macarthur who rented the farm.

(With thanks to Ken)

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

1895 Scottish Valuation Roll now online

The following is from ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) - the records should be available online before lunchtime on Tuesday (update - now there!). There's further coverage also by the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22683687:

Scottish property valuation rolls for 1895 go online

New records reveal a colourful picture of Victorian society in Scotland

The names of more than two million Scots from the late Victorian age will be published today, as records of Scottish properties and their owners and occupiers in 1895 are released on ScotlandsPeople, the government’s family history website.

Called the Valuation Rolls, the records give an insight into Scottish society during that period, and will be a major resource for genealogists.

The records comprise more than two million indexed names and over 75,000 digital images, covering every kind of building, structure or property in Scotland that was assessed as having a rateable value.

The Valuation Rolls include people from right across the social spectrum, from the wealthiest proprietors to the humblest property owners and tenants of Scotland’s urban housing.

Some fascinating aspects of social history in Scotland during the late Victorian age are revealed in the Rolls, including the growth of tea rooms, the opening of Scotland’s first crematorium and the provision of housing for workers, such as shale miners and prison staff.

Researchers at the National Records of Scotland have also identified many ‘tee-names’ in the Rolls, the names used in some communities in the north-east and elsewhere to distinguish people of the same name.

Every one of the Valuation Rolls on the website is fully searchable by name and address, with the records listing the names of owners, tenants and occupiers of each property - in many cases occupations are also included.

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the Scottish Government, said:

“ScotlandsPeople is an incredible resource that enables Scots, those of Scottish descent and anyone with an interest in Scotland to find out more about our nation’s fascinating history, heritage, people and built environment. The release of the Valuation Rolls for 1895 is a welcome development that will strengthen the rich resource available in Scotland’s national archive.”

Tim Ellis, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland, said:

“The release of the Valuation Rolls for 1895 will prove invaluable for family and local history research, enabling people to discover much more about who their ancestors were and how they lived. Reading an entry for a single building can provide a fascinating insight into local life at the time – adding to the information people can obtain from census records taken around that period.

“This forms part of the National Records of Scotland’s commitment to improving our service to the public and providing researchers with the resources that they need.”

Chris van der Kuyl, the CEO of Brightsolid, the company that runs the ScotlandsPeople website on behalf of the National Records of Scotland, said:

“We're very pleased to add a third set of Valuation Rolls indexes and images to the ScotlandsPeople website, bringing our total number of index entries to a remarkable 92 million. As part of an on-going digitisation project, the Valuation Rolls are an excellent historical resource and will help to bridge the gap between the 1891 and 1901 censuses”.

The 1895 Valuation Rolls are available on the ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk), and at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh.

NB: Loosely linked to theme of censuses and valuation lists, I've made a recent census discovery which may be of interest - two surviving examples of the 1851 Religious Worship Census for Scotland, for Speymouth and Gartmouth (virtually all of the census returns have been destroyed) - see http://walkingineternity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/1851-religious-census-of-scotland.html.

(With thanks to Grant Millar)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers, starts May 15th - see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-oprs-starts.html. Time to smash a few brick walls...!