More Valuation Records on ScotlandsPeople than expected

I've been doing some further research today into a two times great grandfather, a tailor called John Brownlie MacFarlane, who was based in Nairn and Inverness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to his bankruptcy in the 1870s, which I have previously researched, and additional court cases flagged up in the press (which he won!) I have also discovered a couple of newspaper articles suggesting that a J. B. MacFarlane of Inverness had taken up the role of precentor at the United Presbyterian Church in Nairn in 1870, perhaps a role he sought knowing that he was about to move to Nairn to set up his own business. My assumption is that it is almost certainly the same person, but as an assumption is never just good enough, I thought I would take a look at whether there was more than one "J. B. MacFarlane" in either Inverness or Nairn at the time to see if there might be other candidates. 

One way to potentially check this was to see who was in Nairn in 1875 using the Valuation Rolls, which are available on ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk). The records note the names of tenants/vassals, landlords/superiors, and the value of annual rent etc. In so doing, I have found that there seems to be quite a few more records available than have been previously advertised.

The ScotlandsPeople guide on Valuation Rolls (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/valuation-rolls) notes this - "Indexes and images of valuation rolls for 1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895,  1905, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935 and 1940 are available to search on  this site." You have the option on site of selecting each year to carry out such searches; a record costs 2 credits to purchase.

I had previously consulted the relevant records on site in Edinburgh at the NRS (they have all been digitised from 1855-1958, but not all indexed), but have just been surprised to work out that considerably more of the records for John are now available online than was expected, as follows:

Search '1875' Nairn Burgh:
1870 – 14 High Street
1870 – 12 Rose Street
1871 – 81 High Street
1873 – 81 High Street
1874 – 81 High Street
1875 – 81 High Street

Search '1885' Nairn Burgh:
1877 – 81 High Street
1878 – 7 Bridge Street
1879 – 7 Bridge Street
1880 – 6 Church Street
1881 – 6 Church Street
1882 – 6 Sydney Place
1883 – 6 Sydney Place
1884 – 4 Sydney Place

Search '1895' Inverness Burgh:
1886 – 2 Hill Place
1891 – 2 Hill Place
1892 – 2 Hill Place
1893 – 2 Hill Place
1894 – 2 Hill Place
1895 – 2 Hill Place

Search '1905' Inverness Burgh:
1905 – 8 View Place

The NRS guide at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/valuation-rolls/problems-using-valuation-rolls states the same converage as the ScotlandsPeople guide, but notes "Indexes for further years will follow."  

I don't know how much wider the coverage is than has been advertised, but if you have used the records before, it might be worth a wee look to see if there is more there than you have previously found! (And I would be keen to learn what other coverage you might come across, if you would be good enough to share in the comments!)

Good hunting!

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.