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Deaths (Pre-1855)
Deaths are sometimes noted in old parish
records, though not usually directly - they
tend to be found in mort-cloth lists
or in the session minutes, usually recording the
payment made for the burial.
Monumental Inscriptions
New Register House also holds a large collection of publications containing monumental
inscriptions from throughout Scotland, particularly for the pre-1855 period, which can help to
break through many brick walls in your research.
Census Entries (1841 - 1901)
A census was first taken in the United
Kingdom in 1801, and thereafter every ten
years to the present day, with the only
exception being 1941, during the Second
World War. The census returns for 1801
to 1831 are by and large of no use to
the family historian, as they merely
collated statistical returns for each geographic
area that was enumerated. There are exceptions
to this rule, in that some returns
from 1821 and 1831 did list inhabitants,
and can be found in some of the old
parochial registers held in the National
Archives, whilst others were recorded
in Kirk Session minutes, located at the
National Archives of Scotland. They are
few and far between, and the first
census of real use to the genealogist is that of 1841.
The Scottish census returns from 1841
to 1901 are held at the National Archives
of Scotland and contain valuable
biographical information for each person noted.
The 1841 returns contain the least amount
of information, in that the returns
do not indicate kinship, and the ages
of adults are rounded down to the nearest
five years. But after this, the records
are amazingly precise, and it is possible
to track a family's whereabouts and social
situation over a period of 50 years.
Census Entries (after 1901)
Returns in Scotland from 1911 onwards
are closed by the 100 years rule, and cannot
be viewed at present. However, there
are movements in the rest of the UK towards a
change in this policy. From January 2007
it will be possible to make an application to
the National Archives in England and
Wales for a record from 1911 to be released -
though at present this will be at the
extortionate charge of £45. They will be available
online at a cheaper rate from approximately
2009, three years earlier than originally
planned, due to a recent legal challenge.
Also, in Ireland, Northern
Irish and Southern Irish
census returns from 1911 can be viewed
in Dublin, in the Irish Republic, though ironically enough, they cannot be viewed in
Belfast. The census returns from 1841 to 1891 no longer exist in Ireland, due to both
official pulping of many of the records, and the notorious Four Courts fire of 1922,
that
saw many of the island's records destroyed).
