Scottish GENES: 2025

Friday, 25 July 2025

Cert HE in Gaelic with Immersion from Glasgow University

It's official - I have a Certificate in Higher Education, with Distinction, in Gaelic with Immersion from the University of Glasgow!

During the pandemic I set myself a five year plan to retrieve the Gaelic I had previously learned thirty years ago whilst living in Bristol a student, and to push myself further towards fluency. The culmination of this formal learning was to study a one year Cert HE course - the equivalent of the first year of a degree course - in Gaelic with Immersion at the University of Glasgow, culminating in three weeks immersion with the Gaelic speaking community on South Uist. I can now hold quite fluid conversations in Gaelic, and consider myself to be at a level of functional fluency, but I continue to study every day, because even after 54 years with English, I'm still learning there also!

So what will I do with the language? Scotland's oldest language, here long before the arrival of Scots and English, from at least the 5th century AD, is in trouble, with native speaker numbers declining, but at the same time, the recent census has shown us that that decline can be turned around. Right now I am involved as a committee member with the East Ayrshire Gaelic Forum in Kilmarnock, and will be stepping up on a few other fronts in the next few months. Last weekend I organised an event at Dean Castle Country Park where many learners came with their families to practice the language, which was great fun, whilst last night I was at An Lòchran in Glasgow, participating in a singing workshop with my friend Eilidh Cormack from the Gaelic band Sian.

I am also now seriously giving consideration to doing a teacher training course at Strathclyde University next year, with a view to becoming a teacher in Gaelic speaking schools in Scotland, where I think I might be able to do some positive work to help the next generation of speakers. I have quite a bit ahead of me before making a decision on that front, but it is the direction I am working towards, with some firm decisions to be made next spring.

Whatever the future brings, I am looking forward to it - but don't worry, this blog will continue, as will my current genealogy efforts on many fronts!

Thig crìoch air an t-saoghal, ach mairidh gaol is ceòl!

Chris

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available - Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, 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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

2031 Scottish Census consultation

From the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk)

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has recommended a mandatory questionnaire-based census for Scotland in 2031.

This recommendation has been made to Scottish Ministers on behalf of the Registrar General for Scotland and has been accepted in principle with further detailed plans to follow.

Census data is vital for gathering a vast range of information about Scotland’s people which local and central government, the NHS and a range of other service providers and data users need. The 2022 census generated over a billion statistics including education, transport, religion, migration, and national identity.

Alison Byrne, NRS Chief Executive, said: "No other survey provides the richness and range of information that the census does, enabling governments and other public bodies to plan the services we all rely on, and telling the story of Scotland's people for generations to come.

“We look forward to hearing from data users across Scotland in the coming months. Their responses will help us to understand the best way to meet their needs as we plan for a 2031 census.”

The recommendation is for the census to be held at the same time as censuses in the rest of the UK. As with previous censuses NRS will work closely with other UK statistical bodies on the design and build of the census.

For further details, including how to participate in the census consultation (open until Autumn 2025), please visit https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/about/scotlands-census-2031/.

Chris

National Library of Scotland maps department guide to website changes

The National Library of Scotland maps department has published a page detailing the recent design changes to its part of the revamped NLS website, which can be read at https://maps.nls.uk/website/.

Most of the changes are cosmetic, but it is a useful overview, and worth a quick read!

Chris

Ballynahinch, Galway, estate records added to Ancestry

Ancestry has added the following Irish collection:

Galway, Ireland, Ballynahinch Estate Records, 1905-1940 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63199/

Source: Galway, Ireland, Ballynahinch Estate Records, 1905-1940 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2025.

About Galway, Ireland, Ballynahinch Estate Records, 1905-1940

This collection contains records from the Ballynahinch Estate in Galway, Ireland. The collection has tenant records from 1905 to 1940 and visitor records from 1905 to 1970. Entries in the registers are handwritten and may be difficult to read.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

Name
Alias
Travel date
Place of residence

These records may help you discover more about your ancestor’s life including where they lived and places they travelled. Some record images include specific addresses. If the record includes a place of residence, you have a place to start looking for other civil or church documents related to your ancestor.

Further details on the records available via the link.

Chris

Ulster Historical Foundation launches A Sense of Place toolkit

From the Ulster Historical Foundation (https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com):

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new section on our website: A Sense of Place, now available at ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/sense-of-place/home.

This dedicated reference area has been created especially for family historians and researchers interested in discovering more about the localities where their ancestors once lived.

A Sense of Place offers a growing collection of tools and materials, including:

Fully searchable indexes of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, a valuable source for 19th-century Irish life and landscape
Digitised volumes of the Place Names of Northern Ireland series, available in full for browsing and reference
Additional guidance and resources to help place your family story in its historical and geographical context

(With thanks to the Foundation via email)

Chris

Friday, 18 July 2025

New look National Library of Scotland website

The National Library of Scotland website at www.nls.uk has had a makeover, and is often the case with such revamps these days, this may take some getting used to. The developers have clearly decided that the PC is dead, opting for a tablet friendly interface, which means, you guessed it, more scrolling to get to the content you wish to find. The text for topic headlines has also been magnified massively, just in case you miss it.

Locating digitised resources takes a few steps - go to Collections on the home page, then click on Collections on the page returned, then scroll down to Digital Gallery. One of the menu options here is Family history, which takes you to several content collections previously available (and seemingly the pages for these have not been redeveloped).

The mapping platform has mercifully just had a cosmetic change, and can still be found at https://maps.nls.uk.

Explore the site for yourselves at www.nls.uk.

Chris

Sunday, 13 July 2025

Grim excavation due to start on Monday in Tuam

An excavation is due to start on Monday at St Mary's, the Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam, Galway, where it is believed some 796 infant children may have been secretly buried in an old septic tank.

For the background to the shocking story visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwqnwrkd1go?fbclid=IwY2xjawLgY11leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHj5xSybsXSgLGHATbCS_w5mXypHF1alDRD2Y6qfQ-EicIQO5gDy8vBysjv0y_aem_NFWjZq0E6trj8EOljzSfqA.

* My latest book, Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland, covers mother and baby homes, as well as other institutions where many young unmarried mothers were required to give birth to their children before giving them up for adoption. Details on where to buy the book are available below.

Chris

TheGenealogist Releases International Bomber Command Centre death records

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist Releases 67,000 Death Records from the International Bomber Command Centre

TheGenealogist is proud to announce the release of the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC): Losses Database on its website. This significant collection honours the men and women who served and died while supporting Bomber Command operations.

The IBCC Losses Database includes detailed records of over 67,000 Bomber Command casualties, capturing personal details, aircraft information, missions, and circumstances of death. This fully searchable resource allows family historians, researchers, and aviation enthusiasts to access an unparalleled level of detail about those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom.

The records link on to the IBCC database, compiled from over 6.2 Million pieces of data, giving an incredible amount of information for each individual, often including a photo.

● 67,140 Records

● Covers 1936 to 1968

● Gives over 100,000 names of Parents, Spouses, Siblings and Children

● SmartSearch links to our AIR 27 Operations Record Books (ORBs), which can provide details of the fateful mission where the crew member lost their life

Among the notable entries in the database is Percy Charles Pickard, the legendary RAF officer known for leading the daring Amiens prison raid in 1944. His inclusion in the records offers a poignant reminder of the bravery and sacrifice that marked the RAF’s wartime efforts. You can read his remarkable story here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2025/target-for-tonight-8696/

Mark Bayley, Head of Online Content at TheGenealogist, said:

"This is a moving record collection that sheds light on those who served in one of the most dangerous roles of the Second World War. We’re making this release free to everyone as a tribute to the Bomber Command staff and crew who paid the ultimate price."

The IBCC Losses Database is now available for free for all registered users. Sign up for your free account at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/account/signup/

(With thanks to TheGenealogist)

Chris

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh launches People's Dispensary website

From the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (https://www.rcpe.ac.uk):

Edinburgh patient experiences from the 1700s revealed

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh is delighted to announce the launch of a new website, The People’s Dispensary.

At its core, The People’s Dispensary features a digitised and transcribed collection of 18th century case notes of the Edinburgh Public Dispensary from its foundation in 1776. Located in Edinburgh’s Old Town, it provided free diagnosis and medicines to the city’s sick. Users of the website will be able to search these digitised and transcribed records which feature fascinating details about the diseases, treatments and experiences of poor patients in 1700s Edinburgh.

The digitised and transcribed 18th century patient case notes feature over 10,000 pages of patient records. It is a unique resource as the only surviving collection of 18th century dispensary patient case notes in Britain and contains 1,372 patients, 174 medical practitioners and 900 diseases and treatments.

Daisy Cunynghame, Heritage Manager & Librarian, says:

“We are excited to bring this collection to the public eye and very proud of the efforts of colleagues and volunteers that were involved in creating this web resource.

“These records contain amazing insight into the experiences of poor patients in 1700s Edinburgh. So often when stories are told of medicine and sickness in Georgian Britain, they focus on people who wrote letters and kept diaries – people who were middle and upper class.

“Through this new website we can share details of the experiences of the less well-off who relied on charitable medicine.

“The case notes are really remarkable – we find out about a woman who swallowed two pistol bullets as a folk remedy for her constipation.

“Our hope is that the website will encourage our audiences to learn about and reflect on what life was like for ordinary people in historic Scotland.”

Professor Mark Strachan, Heritage Trustee, says:

“Although modern medical treatments bear little relation to those prescribed in the Edinburgh Public Dispensary, we can still see many parallels between past and present practice. The need to balance potential side effects of the treatment against the consequences of not treating an illness, the adverse health consequences of certain occupations and the challenge for women in having symptoms of illness believed by doctors were as common in Georgian Britain as they are today.”

Some interesting points:

• One of the recommended treatments was sea bathing. But there was a risk attached. In the case of Margaret Gray, a patient admitted to the Edinburgh dispensary in the winter of 1781 with a diagnosis of hysteria, it was recommend that she bathe in a tub or ‘form of shower bath’ rather than sea bathing, because ‘in deep water fatal consequences in the way of drowning have sometimes happened’

• Dispensary physicians recorded the home remedies that patients had already tried, including a remedy provided by a ‘benevolent lady, the widow of a Clergyman’. Sometimes the physicians did not approve, including in one case where an individual applied burnt butter to their child’s head, as a treatment for a fungal infection, ‘by the advice of some officious neighbours’

• The case notes record the occupations of many of the patients, and the impact that their diagnosis had on their health. This included street hawkers, labourers and servants. Two very Edinburgh-specific occupations were water carrier and chairman. The water carriers’ job was to collect water from the well and then deliver it to individual homes across the city. Chairmen – the carriers of sedan chairs – were also much more common in Edinburgh than other cities. Because of the Old Town’s narrow and winding streets, it wasn’t possible to travel around much of the city in a horse and cart, so chairmen were employed instead to carry their employers throughout the city. And a lot of the medical problems of both carriers and chairmen were admitted into the dispensary for were clearly related to their line of work – particularly chronic back pain and rheumatism.

• Dispensary physicians would regularly record their concern that female patients were faking their medical conditions in order to be prescribed medicines which would bring about an abortion.

Web link
https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/peoplesdispensary

(With thanks to Emma Maxwell at ScottishIndexes.com and the RCPE)

Chris

Wednesday, 9 July 2025

National Library of Scotland adds Signet Library maps and Finding Placenames guides

The following are recent additions to the National Library of Scotland's digital mapping platform at https://maps.nls.uk:

Finding placenames research guide
Ten searchable lists of placenames (or gazetteers) dating from the 1580s through to the present day, including national surveys and mapping initiatives by Timothy Pont, William Roy, John Thomson, and the Ordnance Survey. The guide is available in the Research Guides section at https://maps.nls.uk/guides/placenames/.

Signet Library maps of Great Britain and the World, 1640s-1930s
This set of 137 maps relating to Great Britain and the World, comes from the library of the Society of Writers to HM Signet (www.wssociety.co.uk) in Parliament Square, Edinburgh. Additions include 402 Signet Library maps of Scotland, as well as maps of England, Wales, Ireland, and overseas. There are also 20 Ordnance Survey One-Inch to the mile Old Series maps of England and Wales included. The collection is available at https://maps.nls.uk/collections/signet/.

The latest news and developments from the mapping department can be found at https://maps.nls.uk/additions/.

Chris

Christchurch and Auckland Family History Expos

Kia Ora New Zealand!

In just under three weeks time I will be boarding a plane from Edinburgh to make my way to New Zealand, where I will be speaking at the Family History Expos in both Christchurch and Auckland.

I am very much looking forward to returning to New Zealand for the first time since 2017. Auckland is a fave city of mine in the world (this will be my third trip there!), and I have never had the pleasure before of visiting Christchurch, which I am very much looking forward to - the Unlock the Past cruise that I spoken on in 2011 was intending to visit, but the devasating earthquake there forced us to re-route to another port, due to the damage at the quay.

The following are the two events I will be speaking at next month:

Christchurch Family History Expo
Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2025,
Tūranga, Cathedral Square, Christchurch
https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/family-history-expo/

Other speakers will include Ian James, Sophie Kay, Andrew Redfern, Jason Reeve, Duff Wilson, Annabel Ahuiriri-Driscoll, Valerie Anderson, Fiona Brooker, Lyndon Fraser, Sonia Gray, Seonaid Harvey, Sarah Hewitt, Fiona Lees, Arapata Reuben, Sian Smith, Natasha Wells, Whakapapa Ngāi Tahu, Amy Ryan and Amy Duff, Ngapiu Tainui-Maclure and Julia Keogh-Cope, and Annette Williams. See the above link for the programme.

Auckland Family History Expo
Friday 8 August to Sunday 10 August 2025
Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Road, Three Kings.
https://genealogy.org.nz/Auckland-Family-History-Expo/11491/

On the first day, Friday 8 August, there will be an AI for Family History workshop with Fiona Brooker, in the afternoon, followed by an Opening Event in the evening with keynote talks from Sarah Hewitt, chair of the New Zealand Society of Genealogist, and then myself. (I will update details in due course once the full programme is announced).

I really hope that you can join us in Christchurch and/or Auckland, I am very much looking forward to both events, which promise to be epic, packed with fascinating talks, and above all, great fun!

Chris

Sunday, 6 July 2025

The National Archives (Kew)'s oldest document featuring the Anglo-Saxon language

There's an interesting post about the langiuage of Old English on the English based National Archives website, concerning their oldest item containing the language, a charter from 974 AD for the Anglo-Saxon king Edward. Now the history of Edgar has nothing to do with Scotland, but it is interesting to see vestiges of Old English which later evolved into the English language that we use today in Britain, including Scotland, albeit our dialects here have been heavily influenced by Scots and Gaelic through the centuries!

Most of the document is actually in Latin, but a tiny part detailing lands in question are written in Old English. You can read the article at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/edgar-charter/ and see the document itself at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/whats-on/exhibitions/stories-unboxed/.

Incidentally, there is a Teach Yourself Old English (Anglo-Saxon) course available, as written by Mark Atherton - you can see further details via Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yourself-Complete-Anglo-Saxon-Aug-27-2010-Paperback/dp/B00C47KOOO/.

Chris

Irish Lives Remembered 63 now available

The latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered is now available at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/product/irish-lives-remembered-issue-63/.

The issue contains the following:

Articles:

Eamonn P. Kelly – St Brendan: The Seafaring Saint Who Found Paradise
Brigit McCone – Irish on Ice: Arctic Explorers of Erin
Fiona Fitzsimons – Shania Twain: the Celtic Pedigree of Canada's Queen of Pop
Brian Mitchell – Alexander Ector Orr: “Father of the New York Subway”
Fiona Fitzsimons – ILR Interview: Sandra Delamere and Maeve Foreman on Dublin's AIDS Crisis
Helen Moss – The Diceman Cometh Home: Tracing Thom McGinty's Wicklow Ancestry
Katharine Simms – Saints and Scholars: the O'Hickeys and Other Hereditary Medical Clans
Deirdre Powell – Kathleen Mary O'Rourke – Health and Fitness Pioneer
Donna Rutherford – Cousins bythe Dozens: Managing DNA Matches Without Losing Your Mind!
Rob Flanagan Stieglitz – Chronology of a Chromosome 2: My Matrilineal Journey from Africa to Ireland!

Regular columns:

Heritage Highlight – Craggaunowen Castle & Crannóg
Dear Genie – Can Grandfather Brownless' Birth Family Be Found? [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
Dear Genie – Finding a Family Member's Final Resting Place [Fiona Fitzsimons answers a reader’s genealogy query]
Emerald Roots Interview – Helen Moss, Senior Researcher, Irish Family History Centre

Books and Films:

Brigit McCone reviews Frontier (created by Rob and Peter Blackie, 2016-18)
Four Courts Press Book Excerpt – Irish Nurses in the NHS: An oral history, by Louise Ryan, Grainne McPolin and Neha Doshi (2025)

Chris

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

New additions to the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland project at https://virtualtreasury.ie has added further records to tie in with the 103rd anniversary of the destruction of thre Four Courts in Dublin. The following are amongst the new releases, as detailed on the site at https://virtualtreasury.ie/2025-new-releases :

Explore new discoveries shared by more than 75 partner archives and libraries across the island of Ireland and around the globe.
View a total of 350,000 historical records telling Ireland’s story — from medieval rolls to the pre-Famine census.
Start your research though three new Portals – doorways to periods in Ireland’s story:
Age of Conquest Portal – five million words of Anglo-Norman (1170-1500) Irish history translated into English.
Age of Revolution Portal – these documents illustrate the drama of the 1798 Rebellion and Ireland’s links to the American Revolution.
Population Portal – these genealogical riches include 50,000 names from the 19th-century census destroyed in 1922.
Focus on the fascinating new Gold Seams.
View ‘The Royal Revenue, 1270–1450’ — the culmination of five years’ work to fully digitise and translate the largest series of late-medieval Irish documents in The National Archives (UK).
Discover our Knowledge Graph, a powerful new tool for identifying people and places, and the links between them, in the records.

The 50,000 census names made available through the Popularion Portal are from the destroyed 1821 census, with many surrogate copies made from the original records prior to their destruction.

Have fun!

Chris

Friday, 20 June 2025

FindmyPast adds incoming UK passenger lists and naturalisation records

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added two new databases that may assist those with ancestors who came to Scotland and Ireland, as well as the wider UK.

Britain and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists 1878-1960
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-and-ireland-incoming-passenger-lists-1878-1960

These records were digitised from the original series held at The National Archives as BT 26, Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successor: Inwards Passenger Lists.

Britain & Ireland Naturalisations
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-and-ireland-naturalisations-1603-1700

The blurb notes that this second dataset will cover the years 1844-1990, with 413,558 new records, although the dataset actually linked to still states the coverage to be 1603-1700, with no sign of the records from 1844-1990 - perhaps someone has still to press a button somewhere!

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/incoming-passenger-lists

Chris

Tuesday, 17 June 2025

The Scots and Gaelic languages gain official status in Scotland

A major development has just happened concerning Scotland's indigenous languages, Gaelic (Gàidhlig) and Scots. As an Ulsterman with a Scots background, and as a speaker of Scottish Gaelic, I was properly impressed by the dignity and unanimity of our parliamentary representatives in Holyrood this afternoon at the third and final debate stage of the Scottish Languages Bill (https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/s6/scottish-languages-bill). The final bill, as passed, is available to read at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/legislation/bills/s6-bills/scottish-languages-bill/stage-3/spbill39bs062025.pdf and gives both languages official status in Scotland.

Its new measures include:

introducing educational standards for Gaelic and Scots
establishing Gaelic and Scots as official languages
supporting the creation of areas of linguistic significance in Gaelic communities so that ministers can better target policies to support the language’s growth
enabling parents in every part of Scotland to apply for Gaelic nursery and early years places for their children
ensuring that more qualifications are available in Gaelic
introducing targets on the number of people speaking and learning Gaelic

(Source: Scottish Government https://www.gov.scot/news/scottish-languages-bill-passed/)

About three quarters of the Bill covers Gaelic, and a quarter Scots.

As well as establishing Gaelic as an offical language of Scotland, the new bill extends current provisions for Gaelic, including the ability for local authorities to create areas of linguistic significance (with parliamentary oversight), which can apply to areas where there is a population of whom at least 20% have Gaelic language skills, or where the area is historically connected with the use of Gaelic, or is an area is one in which teaching and learning by means of the Gaelic language is provided, or if the area is one in which significant activity relating to the Gaelic language or Gaelic culture takes place. To an extent the measure is a nod towards the concept of Irish 'gaeltachts', where the Irish language is given special status in Ireland. There is also a requirement for our Government to have a national Gaelic strategy. Scottish Ministers may give guidance to relevant public authorities relating to Gaelic language plans (how about a Gaelic Language Plan at the NRS?!). There are also significant amendments to the 1980 Education (Scotland) Act with regards to Gaelic education provision.

As someone who has just passed a year long Gaelic immersion course at the University of Glasgow, and well supportive of the language, I am equally as proud of the fact that Scots is finally to be recognised as an official leid of Scotland. For many years it has been ludicrous that the only place in the world where the language had any legal status was my home country of Northern Ireland, where the Ulster dialect of Scots has a degree of legal protection, alongside the Irish language. Whilst the Bill is weaker on its commitment to the Scots language - something which was clear in the debate today also - it has its foot on the ladder at long last, and is long overdue. It is not bad English, or 'slang' - it's a centuries old Germanic language which has been compromised by its proximity to English, but which has survived.

If you're a die-hard bore of a monoglot English speaker who can only say how "the money can be spent better elsewhere", all I can say to you is either "thalla gu Hiort" or "awa' an' boil yer heid"! Scotland is the sum of its parts, and none are more integral to its very soul than Gaelic and Scots.

It's a good day for Scotland, its history, its culture, its languages, its soul - and its future.

Chris

National Records of Scotland seeks to create 'customer advisory panel'

The National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) has announced that it is seeking to create a 'customer advisory panel', with representatives from the general public. I have no idea if this is a genuine effort to become more transparent, or an effort to create a body with which it can say that something has already been run past its customer advisory panel, should further criticisms be levelled its way, but I would sincerely hope that it is the former.

From the archive's blog post at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/customer-advisory-panel-applications-open/ the following is what they are seeking representation for:

The purpose of the panel is to give our customers the opportunity to get involved in planning and decision making at a strategic level. Panel members will also provide vital feedback to inform improvements across a wide range of services.

The panel should represent a wide range of NRS services from statistics, extract services, historical search room, archive depositing, Scotland’s Census, the Scotland’s People service and the Scottish Register of Tartans.

There are no further details as yet on how the panel would work, how frequently it would meet, or indeed where it would meet (i.e. online or at the archive). Compared to the archive's former ScotlandsPeople user group, which dealt with the platform and search room exclusively, the remit does seem much larger, and so it will be interesting to see whether concerns for the family history and academic communities will be adequately catered for. For what it is worth, the following are issues that I would wish to see it deal with:

NRS and ScotlandsPeople search room issues
Website issues (functionality, advance testing, new releases)
Customer service issues
Archive cataloguing and deposit updates by NRS
Key stakeholder engagement - the general public, academia, ASGRA, SAFHS, the media, the Scottish archive sector
Implementation of a Gaelic Language Plan (it doesn't seem to have one, unlike the National Library of Scotland).
How the archive plans to promote itself to the public - and not just from the comfort of Edinburgh (it is a national archive after all - the NLS can illustrate good practice here)
Regular publication of minutes

This is a great opportunity for NRS to try to mend some of the reputational damage that it has endured in recent years, and I wish it the best in achieving that goal.

The closing date for applications is August 8th 2025 - please click on the NRS blog link above for details on how to apply.

Chris

New Tipperary records added to RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

We are delighted to announce the addition of almost 9000 new Roman Catholic baptismal and marriage records from South Tipperary to the Roots Ireland database! They are as follows:

6,393 baptisms, 1834-1905 (Knockavilla RC parish);
2,404 marriages, 1834-1905 (Knockavilla RC parish).

For an up to date list of sources for South Tipperary and to search these records, go to rootsireland.ie/tipperarysouth and login or subscribe as required.

Yours Sincerely
rootsireland.ie

Chris

Monday, 16 June 2025

My university has confirmed I can speak Gaelic!

I'm delighted to announce that I have been awarded a Cert HE with Distinction in Gaelic with Immersion, from the University of Glasgow (a Cert HE is equivalent to the first year of undergraduate study, i.e. first year of a degree), with three A/Excellent grades for reading and writing, listening and speaking, and community. The course, which I have been studying full time since last September, was taught through the medium of Scottish Gaelic, with me attending the Gaelic and Celtic Department in Glasgow every day from 10am-3pm to study. In addition to thirty-six assessments, the course included me having to contribute to a Gaelic speaking tour of the University for World Gaelic Week, and concluded with three weeks on the island of South Uist, where we were immersed with the local Gaelic speaking community. This was my eighth year of attending a university in the last thirty-five years, and I can honestly say that it was by far the most enjoyable - but I think that's me now sorted on the academic front for a bit!

Scottish Gaelic is a part of me - my grandfather's family were from the Highlands (Highland Perthshire, Invernesshire and Rossshire), and I have evidence of several ancestors having spoken the language - and it has been an absolute pleasure to reclaim it as one of my ancestral tongues, one which I now use on a daily basis, alongside English. I'm hoping to explore some Gaelic opportunities in the coming months, in addition to continuing my genealogy work. Whilst I now consider myself functionally fluent, I still have a hell of a way to go, but it's going to be fun now to find and create opportunties to push myself even further!

A big thanks to Kathleen Reddy, Ruaraidh Mac an t-Saoir, Alasdair Mac Gille Bhain, and Eilidh Nic Carmaig for their tuition over the last year, as well as to Sara Robertson and Ruairidh Greumach, and especially to all my fellow students. Chòrd a h-uile rud rium gu mòr!

For information on the Gaelic Immersion course at the University of Glasgow, visit https://www.gla.ac.uk/study/cpd/gaelicwithimmersion/.

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

Chris

Friday, 13 June 2025

One month until the next Scottish Research Online course

The next Scottish Research Online course from Pharos Tutors (www.pharostutors.com), taught by myself, starts in a month's time on July 14th 2025.

Scottish Research Online (102)
Tutor: Chris Paton

Scotland was one of the first countries to digitise its major family history records collections for accessibility online, and continues to this day to use such resources to promote a worldwide interest in family history for those with Caledonian connections.

This course describes the major sites and record types that you will encounter in your research, and how to analyse the results. It compares and contrasts many of the key websites available for Scottish research, drilling down to key features within each to help improve a users knowledge of what is contained within the presented records, and equally important, what is not. It explores the key resources for vital records such as births, marriages and deaths, as recorded by the state from 1855 onwards, and the usefulness of the decennial censuses from 1841-1921 in connecting family members and branches together.

Prior to civil registration there are the records created by the Church of Scotland as the state church, with the course exploring access to its Old Parish Registers (OPRs) on ScotlandsPeople and through FamilySearchs various finding aids. In the final lesson, wills and inventories generated by Scotlands confirmation process are explored, with some of the many differences flagged up between the records of Scotland and the rest of the UK, thanks to the distinctly different legal system north of the border.

Most importantly this course will inspire you to actively pursue your interest in Scottish genealogy and take it to the next level.

Lesson Headings:

    * Understanding Scotlands People, FindmyPast, Family Search, Ancestry, and FreeCen
    * Essential Maps and Gazetteers
    * Civil Registration and Census Research
    * Searching in Church of Scotland Registers
    * Scottish Wills and Inventories

Note: it is recommended but not required that students in this course sign up for the basic search option, 30 units/seven days, at ScotlandsPeople (cost is £7.50 for 30 credits)

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chats See How Courses Work.

STUDENTS SAID:

'I particularly liked the fact that the course didn't just focus on the well-known BMD resources available, but on a much wider range of websites, including many which give extremely useful background information on the geography and history of the localities where our ancestors lived.'

'Excellent tuition from Chris Paton; very good course materials; well-paced; excellent value for money. I very much liked the opportunity to work at my own pace.'

Relevant Countries: Scotland
Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 14 July 2025
Cost: £70.00

Extension of British Newspaper Archive project

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) and the British Library (www.bl.uk) have extended their newspaper digitisation collaboration, with more promised content for the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.com).

The project, which has already passed 90 million pages of digitised content, will deliver another 70 million pages over the next five years. When the partnership was initially created in 2011, the goal was to create forty million pages over ten years, so this will see the initial aspirations more than quadrupled (you can read about the initial launch of the project at https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2011/11/british-newspaper-archive-beta-initial.html).

For further details visit https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/renewed-british-library-findmypast-partnership-70-million-further/.

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 purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Thursday, 12 June 2025

Decoding Hidden Heritages site launches

From Will Lamb, Professor of Gaelic Ethnology and Linguistics at The University of Edinburgh, via Facebook.

On this auspicious day - Latha Chaluim Chille / St Columba's Day - we have exciting news for anyone passionate about Gaelic folklore... our brand-new 'Hidden Heritages' website (www.hiddenheritages.ai) is now live!

This unique digital resource presents over 5000 Irish and Scottish folktales from the National Folklore Collection in Dublin and the School of Scottish Studies Archives in Edinburgh. The original paper-based texts have been enhanced using semi-automatic AI transcription. It’s the result of three years' hard work on our AHRC and IRC-funded project, 'Decoding Hidden Heritages', led by myself and Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh at Dublin City University.

Check out our latest blog posts to learn more:

https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/garg/2025/06/09/launching-a-treasure-trove-of-gaelic-folktales-welcome-to-hidden-heritages/
https://www.gaois.ie/en/blog/colm-cille-decoding-hidden-heritages

And please explore the site and share with others. Let us know what you find! Dallaibh oirbh!

NB: There are a mix of stories in English, Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and Irish (Gaeilge).

Chris

National Records of Scotland exhibition to explore railway tourism

The National Records of Scotland will be unveiling a new exhibition to tie in with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Entitled Scots on the Move: Railways and Tourism in Victorian Scotland, the exhibition will be held between 4-29 August 2025 in General Register House’s Adam Dome on Princes Street. It will be free to visit.

For further details visit https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/exhibition-explores-history-of-railway-tourism/.

Chris

Emma Maxwell on WDYTYA

Fans of Emma and Graham Maxwell, the dynamic duo behind Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com), will be interested to know that Emma appeared on this week's Who Do You Think You Are? episode, which followed the ancestry of comedian Diane Morgan. In the programme Emma demonstrated the use of Scottish sheriff court records.

You can find the programme on the BBC iPlayer (UK and Ireland only).

If based overseas, a clip is available at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19SQkGriZW/.

Chris

Sunday, 8 June 2025

Victorian era books which can cause arsenic poisoning

Do you have poisonous books in your library?! If your very old book has a green cover, you may wish to read this article on the BBC website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2y9xq58no. It seems that in the Victorian era bookbinders used arsenic as well as mercury and chrome to create, which can cause low level arsenic poisoning. The National Library of Scotland has located a few such copies which have now been removed from its shelves.

More details in the article - and happy reading!

Chris

Friday, 6 June 2025

National Records of Scotland appoints six new non-executive directors

The National Records of Scotland (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk) has appointed six new non-executive directors (NXDs). They are:

Albert King, Chief Data Officer at NHS National Services Scotland.
John McDonough, University Librarian at Dublin City University.
Victoria McGloin, Scotland-based technology consultant
Karis Raeburn, Chief Archivist at the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Bryan Robertson, Chief Operating Officer at the National Galleries of Scotland.
Jennet Woolford, a senior statistician at the Office for National Statistics.

For further details visit https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/new-non-executive-directors/.

From what I can see on the NRS website's Boards page (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/about-us/our-boards/#), these NXDs will attend meetings of the NRS Strategic Board and will "offer their experience" and "identify opportunities and emerging issues that ought to be taken into consideration by the archive".

Incidentally, something I have just discovered on the new NRS website is the publication of minutes of various NRS boards, in a welcome sign of transparency - links to these are on the Boards page. Whilst the minutes for the NRS Strategic Board meeting from 11 December 2024 are available, those from the noted meeting on 12 March 2025 are not, but other group minutes are included from this year.

Chris

Pages

Friday, 25 July 2025

Friday, 18 July 2025

Sunday, 13 July 2025

Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Sunday, 6 July 2025

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

Friday, 20 June 2025

Tuesday, 17 June 2025

Monday, 16 June 2025

Friday, 13 June 2025

Thursday, 12 June 2025

Sunday, 8 June 2025

Friday, 6 June 2025