I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago that you can now register with the National Library of Scotland, to which many have responded that this has been available for some time. I called Veronica Denholm at the NLS this morning to clarify what is actually new.
The changes centre around the fact that in the past you had to go to the NLS in Edinburgh to register and then receive separate passwords for many databases. Now you can simply register from home, hence why they will now post out a validation letter which needs to be dealt with in three weeks, to confirm that you actually do indeed live in Scotland. Also, more databases have been made accessible, and more will be added in future, making it a truly exciting development.
In the past, with many national resources being based in Edinburgh, this created many privileges for those based in Edinburgh who could gain easy access. Thankfully these advantages are slowy being whittled away for the benefit of all Scots, whether in Stornoway, Castlebay, Kirkwall, Perth, Dumfries or Montrose.
Hopefully the plans to extend the ScotlandsPeople Centre computer system via regional centres across the country will also help to further democratise access to Edinburgh based national resources in a likewise manner in the very near future!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
Monday, 4 October 2010
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Guest Post - Scottish Infanticide
Time for another guest post, and this time it is from the wonderful Evelyn McCulloch. Evelyn is a moderator on the ScotFamTree forum, and at the recent ScotFamTree forum AGM in Dumbarton, gave a talk on infanticide in Scotland, which was so impressive I asked if she wouldn't mind doing a guest post - and bless her cotton socks, she did!
If you can't find that elusive child, read on, but be warned - it isn't going to be pleasant...!
CHILDREN SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD
Many Scottish children who should be playing a part in our history were neither seen nor heard.
Infanticide is a gruesome subject, but one which cannot be ignored. Today's modern woman will be horrified at the mere thought, but, it was actually often interpreted as a primitive form of birth control - but who are we to judge? Many of these women were in desperate circumstances with nowhere else to turn. In Scotland, particularly in the 19th Century, there were more Scots mothers convicted of killing their children, than there were people convicted of murder.
Illegitimacy and infanticide - these subjects appear to go hand in hand with each other. That's not to say it didn't happen within a marriage, it did but to a much lesser extent. Unmarried women who got pregnant were socially excluded(but never the man who got them pregnant in the first place) abortion was illegal, backstreet abortions were dangerous, but it was either that or abandon your child - or worse...
There were many infanticide cases written about in the local rags. The Edinburgh Observer reported such a case in 1822 entitled 'HUMAN ATROCITY'. A young woman from Sunnybrae, Parish of Saline, had recently given birth to an illegitimate child. The newspaper reported that an old woman who lived through the wall from the young woman "was surprised on finding a very disagreeable smell issuing from the fire, and after repeatedly interrogating the sick female, without obtaining any satisfactory answer, turned up the coals, and to her unspeakable horror, found in the midst of them, the half-consumed remains of the unnatural parent's inhumanity."
The newspaper goes on to report that the young woman made good her escape, and "every exertion had been made to discover her, but as yet without success. Her parents are alive and respectable". The last sentence perhaps says it all.
The onset of motherhood without a source of regular financial support, must have been crippling for most of these women, but it was thought better for the parish to support the family, than incur the expense of prosecuting the parent who deserts his offspring, i.e. the father!
These women were mostly offered the poorhouse, but many refused to enter, or remain, which meant they were depriving themselves of all formal support. It was pointed out however, in 1877, by a Sheriff-substitute in Aberdeen, that putative fathers were enabled with impunity to neglect their children because Parochial Boards would not now prosecute them in terms of the poor law act. I say - GIVE THAT MAN A MEDAL FOR POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS!
Evelyn McCulloch is a moderator on the ScotFamTree discussion forum at http://scotfamtree.11.forumer.com, and maintains her own family tree at http://evelynmcculloch.tribalpages.com.
Many thanks Evelyn!
If you can't find that elusive child, read on, but be warned - it isn't going to be pleasant...!
CHILDREN SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD
Many Scottish children who should be playing a part in our history were neither seen nor heard.Infanticide is a gruesome subject, but one which cannot be ignored. Today's modern woman will be horrified at the mere thought, but, it was actually often interpreted as a primitive form of birth control - but who are we to judge? Many of these women were in desperate circumstances with nowhere else to turn. In Scotland, particularly in the 19th Century, there were more Scots mothers convicted of killing their children, than there were people convicted of murder.
Illegitimacy and infanticide - these subjects appear to go hand in hand with each other. That's not to say it didn't happen within a marriage, it did but to a much lesser extent. Unmarried women who got pregnant were socially excluded(but never the man who got them pregnant in the first place) abortion was illegal, backstreet abortions were dangerous, but it was either that or abandon your child - or worse...
There were many infanticide cases written about in the local rags. The Edinburgh Observer reported such a case in 1822 entitled 'HUMAN ATROCITY'. A young woman from Sunnybrae, Parish of Saline, had recently given birth to an illegitimate child. The newspaper reported that an old woman who lived through the wall from the young woman "was surprised on finding a very disagreeable smell issuing from the fire, and after repeatedly interrogating the sick female, without obtaining any satisfactory answer, turned up the coals, and to her unspeakable horror, found in the midst of them, the half-consumed remains of the unnatural parent's inhumanity."
The newspaper goes on to report that the young woman made good her escape, and "every exertion had been made to discover her, but as yet without success. Her parents are alive and respectable". The last sentence perhaps says it all.
The onset of motherhood without a source of regular financial support, must have been crippling for most of these women, but it was thought better for the parish to support the family, than incur the expense of prosecuting the parent who deserts his offspring, i.e. the father!
These women were mostly offered the poorhouse, but many refused to enter, or remain, which meant they were depriving themselves of all formal support. It was pointed out however, in 1877, by a Sheriff-substitute in Aberdeen, that putative fathers were enabled with impunity to neglect their children because Parochial Boards would not now prosecute them in terms of the poor law act. I say - GIVE THAT MAN A MEDAL FOR POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS!
Evelyn McCulloch is a moderator on the ScotFamTree discussion forum at http://scotfamtree.11.forumer.com, and maintains her own family tree at http://evelynmcculloch.tribalpages.com. Many thanks Evelyn!
Fife Militia database
More from David McNay's Scottish Military Research blog at http://scottishmilitary.blogspot.com/2010/10/fife-military-history-project-update.html - news that Richard Dickens has now uploaded over 3000 entries to his Fife Military History Project, in a database of militiamen from Fife from 1803-54.
The project can be viewed at www.thaneofife.org.uk.
(If you have militia connections, FindmyPast is currently digitising WO 96 records (militia records) from the National Archives, with an estimated upload in September 2011. For Perth, the Militia Act census from 1802 is available at Ancestry. For details of additional records made available from Perth and Kinross Archives, see http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-perthshire-militia-records-online.html.)
(With thanks again to David)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
The project can be viewed at www.thaneofife.org.uk.
(If you have militia connections, FindmyPast is currently digitising WO 96 records (militia records) from the National Archives, with an estimated upload in September 2011. For Perth, the Militia Act census from 1802 is available at Ancestry. For details of additional records made available from Perth and Kinross Archives, see http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-perthshire-militia-records-online.html.)
(With thanks again to David)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Daily Record Indexing Project
David McNay of the Scottish Military Research Group is steadfastly ploughing his way through the Daily Record to index military casualty mentions for the First World War, joined in his task by John Houston. It's a mammoth task and they could do with some help! If you have access to the papers at the Mitchell or at the NLS in Edinburgh, can you help with the project?
More information at http://scottishmilitary.blogspot.com/2010/10/daily-record-indexing-project-1914-1918.html. David can also be contacted via scottishwarmemorials @ hotmail.co.uk.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
More information at http://scottishmilitary.blogspot.com/2010/10/daily-record-indexing-project-1914-1918.html. David can also be contacted via scottishwarmemorials @ hotmail.co.uk.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
Friday, 1 October 2010
Cafe changes at ScotlandsPeople Centre
The ScotlandsPeople Centre (www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk) has just dropped me a note to say there are a few changes being implemented at its cafe, following the appointment of a new contractor.
From Monday 4th October the cafe will open from 10:00 to 16:00, so early bird offers are 10:00 to 11:30 and late afternoon offers are from 14:00 to 16:00. Some prices have been reduced, some will remain the same, and there will also be some new products on offer.
Well worth a visit!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
From Monday 4th October the cafe will open from 10:00 to 16:00, so early bird offers are 10:00 to 11:30 and late afternoon offers are from 14:00 to 16:00. Some prices have been reduced, some will remain the same, and there will also be some new products on offer.
Well worth a visit!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
More military records from FindmyPast
As revealed on this blog a couple of weeks back in an interview with Amy Sell, FindmyPast's marketing executive, the website (www.findmypast.co.uk) was on the point of releasing further military collections beyond the Chelsea Pension records which have just been completed. Well, they just went online!
From the FMP blog:
We have just published five fantastic new military record collections on findmypast.co.uk which comprise 482,879 records.
See below for details of each set of records and for more information about each of the collections:
WWII Prisoners of War - 104,838
Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations - 24,928
Ireland’s Memorial Records of the Great War - 49,602
Register of the Second Anglo-Boer War - 259,581
WWI Naval Casualties - 43,930
Full details on the blog post at http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2010/10/five-new-military-collections-just-launched-over-480000-new-records/?utm_source=FB&utm_content=011010&utm_campaign=Fivemilitarycollections
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
From the FMP blog:
We have just published five fantastic new military record collections on findmypast.co.uk which comprise 482,879 records.
See below for details of each set of records and for more information about each of the collections:
WWII Prisoners of War - 104,838
Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations - 24,928
Ireland’s Memorial Records of the Great War - 49,602
Register of the Second Anglo-Boer War - 259,581
WWI Naval Casualties - 43,930
Full details on the blog post at http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2010/10/five-new-military-collections-just-launched-over-480000-new-records/?utm_source=FB&utm_content=011010&utm_campaign=Fivemilitarycollections
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
National Library of Scotland licensed online resources
Here's a significant development, announced in the Scotsman newspaper today and tweeted about by genealogist Sheena Tait, to whom thanks are given.
The National Library of Scotland has an online registration system for anyone in Scotland to sign up to, which will allow significant access to many digitised resources inclusing the Scotsman newspaper archive (1817-1950) and the Times Digital Archive. I'm not sure if it includes the British Library 19th C newspaper collection, though would be surprised if it didn't. There are also many digitised book resources and other materials.
The full story is at http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/At-touch-of-a-button.6559970.jp. I registered today, and after submitting username, password and registration details, I received an email saying I would have to await a validation code in the post, which must be input within the next 21 days before access is granted.
Further information on the NLS website can be found at https://auth.nls.uk/registration/index.cfm?action=log_out2.
Just to add there are of course many fabulous collections on the NLS website (www.nls.uk) which do not require registration, including the excellent online maps collection.
UPDATE: No need to wait for validation code - you can get stuck in straight away! But put code in within 3 weeks. Scotsman is there, British Lib 19th C collection, Parliamentary Papers, Times Digital Archive and much more - goldmine! :)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
The National Library of Scotland has an online registration system for anyone in Scotland to sign up to, which will allow significant access to many digitised resources inclusing the Scotsman newspaper archive (1817-1950) and the Times Digital Archive. I'm not sure if it includes the British Library 19th C newspaper collection, though would be surprised if it didn't. There are also many digitised book resources and other materials.
The full story is at http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/At-touch-of-a-button.6559970.jp. I registered today, and after submitting username, password and registration details, I received an email saying I would have to await a validation code in the post, which must be input within the next 21 days before access is granted.
Further information on the NLS website can be found at https://auth.nls.uk/registration/index.cfm?action=log_out2.
Just to add there are of course many fabulous collections on the NLS website (www.nls.uk) which do not require registration, including the excellent online maps collection.
UPDATE: No need to wait for validation code - you can get stuck in straight away! But put code in within 3 weeks. Scotsman is there, British Lib 19th C collection, Parliamentary Papers, Times Digital Archive and much more - goldmine! :)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Addressing History launches as beta site
So here's the shape of things to come - the Addressing History project has just launched a beta site at http://addressinghistory.edina.ac.uk/. This site has one heck of a lot of potential so well worth exploring and providing feedback on.
The site basically links street directories and contemporary maps for three years - 1784, 1865 and 1905. You can search for individuals and locate them on the maps, as well as see the corresponding Post Office Directory entry on the relevant page at the Internet Archive.
The potential of this is simply enormous, and if successful, the project partners at the University of Edinburgh, JISC and the National Library of Scotland are planning to extend the concept across Scotland, utilising the info from some 400 directories from 1783-1912 currently being digitised for the Internet Archive (www.archive.org).
Please have a look and give the team your constructive feedback!
The site basically links street directories and contemporary maps for three years - 1784, 1865 and 1905. You can search for individuals and locate them on the maps, as well as see the corresponding Post Office Directory entry on the relevant page at the Internet Archive.
The potential of this is simply enormous, and if successful, the project partners at the University of Edinburgh, JISC and the National Library of Scotland are planning to extend the concept across Scotland, utilising the info from some 400 directories from 1783-1912 currently being digitised for the Internet Archive (www.archive.org).
Please have a look and give the team your constructive feedback!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
Chelsea Pensioner records completed on FindmyPast
The Cheslea Pensioner records collection from 1760-1913 has been completed at the FindmyPast.co.uk website with the addition of the final records from 1900-1913. Amongst the records are service records for the Territorial Force and Volunteer Service Companies records. From the site's blog:
We’ve just added 341,888 records and 1,928,868 images to our Chelsea Pensioners collection for the period 1901-1913.
This completes the WO97 series of our Chelsea Pensioner collection and brings the total amount of these records and images on findmypast.co.uk to 1,033,845 records and 6,131,443 images.
This collection comprises records of men pensioned out of the British Army 1760-1913. The connection with ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea.
For the first time on-line, in colour, you can now see Territorial Force attestations. The Territorial Force was formed in 1908 and so these men would not have appeared in earlier record releases.
Also for the first time, you can view – in colour – attestations for men who joined the Volunteer Service Companies during the Boer War. These men, who had previously served with Volunteer battalions, re-enlisted with these special volunteer service companies and served alongside regular soldiers in the regular regiments.
Still to come are records for WO 96 (Militia records), which will be made available this time next year.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
We’ve just added 341,888 records and 1,928,868 images to our Chelsea Pensioners collection for the period 1901-1913.
This completes the WO97 series of our Chelsea Pensioner collection and brings the total amount of these records and images on findmypast.co.uk to 1,033,845 records and 6,131,443 images.
This collection comprises records of men pensioned out of the British Army 1760-1913. The connection with ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea.
For the first time on-line, in colour, you can now see Territorial Force attestations. The Territorial Force was formed in 1908 and so these men would not have appeared in earlier record releases.
Also for the first time, you can view – in colour – attestations for men who joined the Volunteer Service Companies during the Boer War. These men, who had previously served with Volunteer battalions, re-enlisted with these special volunteer service companies and served alongside regular soldiers in the regular regiments.
Still to come are records for WO 96 (Militia records), which will be made available this time next year.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
TNA - new Open Government License announced for information re-use
The National Archives has announced a new Open Government License for the use of its information. From the site's news page:
The National Archives is today launching a new Open Government Licence, which makes it faster and easier than ever before to re-use public sector information.
The UK Open Government Licence is a key element of the Government's commitment to greater transparency. It provides a single set of terms and conditions for anyone wishing to use or license government information and removes some of the existing barriers to re-use.
Developers and entrepreneurs wishing to use government data to create new websites and applications will no longer need to register or formally apply for permission to re-use the data. The new licence is interoperable with other internationally recognised licensing models, such as Creative Commons.
Commenting on the launch of the new licence, Lord McNally, Minister for The National Archives and Public Sector Information, said: 'The National Archives isn't simply a repository of our nation's history, its task is to bring information to life, make it accessible and enable its re-use. This innovative licence gives everyone the opportunity to create products and services which benefit society.'
The licence covers a broad range of public sector information, including Crown Copyright, databases and source codes and can be used across the entire public sector. It is published today in a machine-readable format on the Information management section of The National Archives website.
To support the UK Open Government Licence, The National Archives has developed the UK Government Licensing Framework which sets out the Government's overall policy on licensing and the re-use of public sector information.
From TNA's license document at http://ht.ly/2Mat1
You are free to:
•personal data in the Information;
•Information that has neither been published nor disclosed under information access legislation (including the Freedom of Information Acts for the UK and Scotland) by or with the consent of the Information Provider;
•departmental or public sector organisation logos, crests and the Royal Arms except where they form an integral part of a document or dataset;
•military insignia;
•third party rights the Information Provider is not authorised to license;
•Information subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, and design rights; and
•identity documents such as the British Passport.
More on the subject at TNA's dedicated page at http://ht.ly/2Mat1
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
The National Archives is today launching a new Open Government Licence, which makes it faster and easier than ever before to re-use public sector information.
The UK Open Government Licence is a key element of the Government's commitment to greater transparency. It provides a single set of terms and conditions for anyone wishing to use or license government information and removes some of the existing barriers to re-use.
Developers and entrepreneurs wishing to use government data to create new websites and applications will no longer need to register or formally apply for permission to re-use the data. The new licence is interoperable with other internationally recognised licensing models, such as Creative Commons.
Commenting on the launch of the new licence, Lord McNally, Minister for The National Archives and Public Sector Information, said: 'The National Archives isn't simply a repository of our nation's history, its task is to bring information to life, make it accessible and enable its re-use. This innovative licence gives everyone the opportunity to create products and services which benefit society.'
The licence covers a broad range of public sector information, including Crown Copyright, databases and source codes and can be used across the entire public sector. It is published today in a machine-readable format on the Information management section of The National Archives website.
To support the UK Open Government Licence, The National Archives has developed the UK Government Licensing Framework which sets out the Government's overall policy on licensing and the re-use of public sector information.
From TNA's license document at http://ht.ly/2Mat1
You are free to:
copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Infomation;
adapt the Information;
exploit the Information commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application.
You must, where you do any of the above:
acknowledge the source of the Information by including any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence;
If the Information Provider does not provide a specific attribution statement, or if you are using Information from several Information Providers and multiple attributions are not practical in your product or application, you may consider using the following:
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.
ensure that you do not use the Information in a way that suggests any official status or that the Information Provider endorses you or your use of the Information;
ensure that you do not mislead others or misrepresent the Information or its source;
ensure that your use of the Information does not breach the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
These are important conditions of this licence and if you fail to comply with them the rights granted to you under this licence, or any similar licence granted by the Licensor, will end automatically.
Exemptions
•personal data in the Information;
•Information that has neither been published nor disclosed under information access legislation (including the Freedom of Information Acts for the UK and Scotland) by or with the consent of the Information Provider;
•departmental or public sector organisation logos, crests and the Royal Arms except where they form an integral part of a document or dataset;
•military insignia;
•third party rights the Information Provider is not authorised to license;
•Information subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, and design rights; and
•identity documents such as the British Passport.
More on the subject at TNA's dedicated page at http://ht.ly/2Mat1
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
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