This may be of interest to those who may wish to seek Scottish colonists who went to Ulster in the early 17th century Plantations, and the Hamilton-Montgomery settlements in Antrim and Down just prior, as well as those settling in England, or for those pursuing Hugueonot ancestry.
FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added a new collection, Britain and Ireland, Naturalisations 1603-1700. The following is the blub from its site at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-and-ireland-naturalisations-1603-1700:
The records within this collection are taken from the volume “Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland, 1603-1700”, edited by William A Shaw and published by The Huguenot Society of London in 1911.
The processes of denization and naturalisation essentially serve to treat aliens (foreigners, or strangers in the language of the time) as if they were English subjects. They would acquire all the rights enjoyed by a native-born English subject, including the right to acquire, own, sell and bequeath real estate, plus of course the duties incumbent upon a natural-born English subject; and at the same time lose the inconveniences of being an alien.
There's more on the site - and coincidentally, my article in the July 2023 odf the UK's Family Tree magazine also looks at these and other records concerning immigrant ancestors to Britain (https://www.family-tree.co.uk/store/back-issues/family-tree-magazine/family-tree-magazine-july-2023-issue-212-1/).
Specific to Ulster, as Scotland was not in a political union with England during the Plantations, many of the Scottish settlers sought denization to protect their property rights under English law when they arrived in Ireland.
Typing Scotland into the keyword box in the FindmyPast database shows 294 results alone, with 3 hits for Edinburgh, 1 from Galloway, and potentially more from other areas. Some of the entries provide additional source information to allow you to pusue further details about them.
Have fun searching!
Chris
Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.
No comments:
Post a Comment