ScotlandsPeople adds new maps and plans

From the latest ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) newsletter via email:

New maps and plans

Over 1,000 new maps and plans are now available to search. They range from historic town layouts to architectural designs of iconic buildings like Arbroath Abbey and the National Gallery of Scotland. Discover churches, prisons, railways, estates and industrial sites from Scotland's past. 

The new maps and plans are accessible via https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/search-records?tab=maps_plans#search_records, but I can't see a listing anywhere of what has actually been added.

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

TheGenealogist releases Fully Searchable National Probate Calendar 1858-1879 for England and Wales

TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) is releasing its own version of the English and Welsh National Probate Calendar, with the first fully searchable trance covering the period from 1858-1879. Although dealing with English and Welsh probate records, Scottish and Irish folk often appear in the records also, whether because they lived in England or Wales when they died, or if records were resealed between jurisdictions of the UK, if assets existed in more than one country. 

The following is the press release.

TheGenealogist launches National Probate Calendar, covering 1858 to 1879

TheGenealogist today announced the release of their new Fully Searchable National Probate Calendar for 1858 to 1879, giving access to one of the most useful sources for discovering family connections and personal stories from the Victorian era.

TheGenealogist has transcribed every field within these records. This unique feature allows researchers to search not just by name, but also by spouse, occupation, place of death or residence, and executor details, offering new ways to identify ancestors even when a name is common or the spelling is uncertain.

At launch, the collection comprises  849,412 searchable probate records and names 2,021,928 individuals. This includes not only the deceased but also the executors, often revealing close relatives, in-laws, business partners, or trusted friends that other sources miss.

Probate material from this period can reveal far more than a name and a date. Entries frequently include details such as the deceased’s address, occupation or status, the date of death, the court where probate was granted, the value of the estate (to which TheGenealogist has added the value in today's terms).

TheGenealogist’s Head of Content, Mark Bayley, commented: 

"Anyone who has tried to find an ancestor with a common surname knows the frustration of sifting through hundreds of identical names. That’s why we have transcribed the full entry for each person. Researchers can now instantly filter by trade or town and more, turning a 'needle in a haystack' search into an instant discovery."

The National Probate Calendar (1858–1879) records are available now to Diamond subscribers at TheGenealogist. The company plans to release subsequent years in the coming months. 

Featured Article: Read the story of Stephens Lyne-Stephens, ‘the richest commoner in England’, found in these records: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2025/fortune-scandal-and-legacy-8822/

(With thanks to Paul Bayley via email)

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

UK National Archives to raise fees and introduce new Request A Military Service Record service

The National Archives based at Kew, England, which has charge of records common to the four nations of the UK, is to raise its fees in February 2026 for the first time since 2019, and to introduce a new Request A Military Service Record service. The following is the announcement:

From 2 February 2026, The National Archives will increase fees for some services as we bring charges in line with current delivery costs. This is the first increase since 2019.

The changes affect fees for document copies, research and search services, and authentication, and also introduce a new fee for accessing recently transferred historic Ministry of Defence service personnel records.

Saul Nassé, Chief Executive of The National Archives said:

‘We are introducing updated fees that reflect the costs of providing services to meet the high standards our users rightly expect. We have worked hard to keep the costs as low as possible, while introducing new offerings that we believe the public will value. A visit to view records at our reading rooms in Kew remains free, while these charges allow us to invest in the additional services we know people want.’

Since the last review in 2018, the operational costs involved to deliver our services have increased significantly. Improvements in our processes have enabled us to keep the majority of increases below inflation over the six-year period.

The one charge which has increased more than inflation is for naturalisation certificate copies. The certification process for naturalisation certificates is more complex than the general record copying service. This multi-stage process ensures the integrity and authenticity of certified naturalisation certificates, which are often required for legal and official purposes, and the new charge reflects the full costs involved.

The fee structure now also includes two new routes for access to historic Ministry of Defence service personnel records via a bespoke digital service, Request A Military Service Record. This new offer, starting on 2 February 2026, will provide a speedier and better-quality service and will allow us to address the high demand for access since the service personnel records began arriving at The National Archives in 2021. To date we have received 8.2 million personnel records with approximately 2.6 million already available to search on our catalogue.

The National Archives does not make a profit from charging, as the fees reflect how much it actually costs to deliver our services today.

The vast majority of the records in our collection which are open and searchable on our catalogue can still be viewed for free in our reading rooms at Kew.

The new Fees Regulations can be viewed at legislation.gov.uk

Read more information on the new Fees Regulations

Read more information on the new Request a Military Service Record service 

The Request a Service Record service will cost a whopping £42.25 for digital copies and £47.16 for print copies, standard service, plus postage and packing. The rate includes a search fee and copying fee. 

Note the following:

The implementation date is Monday 2 February 2026. Any requests received prior to this date will go into the current system and will not be charged. Requests received on or after 2 February 2026 will go into the new service and if requesting the standard service, users will receive their information within 30 working days. 

(With thanks to TNA via email)

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

British Newspaper Archive approaches 98 million pages of content

The British Newspaper Archive is fast approaching 98 million pages of content, with 97,764,626 pages available at the time of writing. The following are the additions for Scotland and Ireland in the last 30 days, with the Irish content predominantly covering the First World War years, and its immediate aftermath in the Revolutionary Period.

Scotland:

Fife News 
1870-1874, 1878, 1891-1950

Bo'ness Journal and Linlithgow Advertiser 
1879-1883, 1892-1895, 1897-1939

Banffshire Journal 
1913-1947

Aberdeen Press and Journal 
1773-1782

Glenrothes Gazette 
1994-2004

Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette 
1870-1874, 1918

Motherwell Times 
1995-2004

Peterhead Sentinel and General Advertiser for Buchan District 
1914

Orcadian 
1917-1918


Ireland:

Galway Weekly Advertiser 
1823-1829, 1840-1843

Dublin Evening Post 
1871-1875

Belfast Morning News 
1873-1878

Dublin Evening Mail 
1902

Shamrock 
1884-1896

Waterford Standard 
1920

Tyrone Courier 
1914-1918

Offaly Independent 
1914-1918

Newtownards Chronicle & Co. Down Observer 
1914-1918

Kings County Chronicle 
1914-1920

Irish Society (Dublin) 
1917-1918

Irish Independent 
1916

Irish Homestead 
1916

Evening News (Waterford) 
1917-1920

Enniscorthy Echo and South Leinster Advertiser 
1918-1920

Dromore Weekly Times and West Down Herald 
1915-1919

Dromore Leader 
1916-1920

Drogheda Advertiser 
1915

Cork Weekly Examiner 
1920

Connaught Telegraph 
1914-1918

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

The Scottish GENES Webinars Christmas Party!

The Scottish GENES Webinars Christmas Party will be an extended webinar session on Saturday 27 December 2025, starting a little earlier at 6.00 p.m. (UK time), with TWO talks for the price of one, AND a festive General Q&A session after! 

Here's a bit more about the sessions:

1) "Irish Family History Resources Online"

Despite the popular belief that Irish family history research is virtually impossible, many records exist which can help with your ancestral pursuits. This presentation looks at the key repositories and records now available online, and will prove to you that if you have been put off with Irish research in the past, now is absolutely the time to take another look.

2) “Instantly Buckled for Life: Discover Scottish Marriage Records”

The law on marriage in Scotland has differed extensively in comparison to the rest of the United Kingdom, with many types of records available for research, whether those marriages were 'regular' or 'irregular'. Most irregular forms were abolished from 1940, with another finally removed from the Scottish statute in 2006; for all of these, a celebrant was not required. I will discuss the legal history of Scottish marriage, provide case studies to illustrate the various situations in which they were created, and dispel some myths along the way.

3) Festive Irish and Scottish Genealogy Q&A

Bring your mulled wine or beverage of choice, pull up a pew, and ask me questions concerning both presentations, or indeed anything to do with Scottish or Irish genealogy, and I will do my very best to help!

This whole event will cost just £10, with registration now available at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Muw8MUupRpuHYMfWx2mH1w

I hope that you can join me!

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Ancestry adds Irish judicial rents collection 1882-1902

A new Irish collection from Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk): 

Ireland, Judicial Rents, 1882-1902
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63259/
Source: Irish Land Commission. Returns According to Provinces and Counties of Judicial Rents. Belfast: His Majesty's Stationary Office.

General collection information

This collection is an index of information extracted from judicial rent lists filed in Ireland between 1882 and 1902. The index includes names of individuals involved in court proceedings pertaining to matters of fair rent practices, free sale of property, and permanent tenancy. Images of the original records are not included in the collection.

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Relationship to head of household
• Rental date
• Record number
• District
• Townland
• County
• Province

The books published by the Irish Land Commission are high-quality primary historical sources. This index is a secondary source because it derives its information from the land commission books.

Ireland experienced protests and political pressure to reform land laws during the 1870s. The Land Law Act of 1881 was forged by this intense debate. The act created the Irish Land Commission and addressed fair rental charges, free sale of property, and permanent tenancy. The act gave tenants judicial rights to their rented land for 15 years, and this right was renewable every 15 years. The commission served as a regulatory body for fair rent by holding hearings with landowners and tenants to discuss rent charges and issue binding decisions. The act established a principle of dual ownership by landowners and tenants, and the terms of the joint ownership could be debated at a commission hearing.

About 75 percent of the tenants who were eligible according to the 1881 act brought their cases before the commission, which heard about 380,000 cases during the initial 15-year term. Overall, rents were reduced by about 20 percent as a result of these cases.

Further details in the full Ancestry description via the link above. 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

FindmyPast adds British engineers obituaries

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added a new collection, Britain, Insitution of Electrical Engineers, detaling 2,511 obituary and membership list records from 1899 to 1968. The news was annoucned via the FindmyPast blog, but the link it provides for the collection in the news article is dead - you can find the collection at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-institution-of-electrical-engineers.

For additional releases, including news of 291,528 records added to its New Zealand births, marriages and deaths collection, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/electrical-engineers-new-zealand-bmds.

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

The first Scottish Indexes conference of 2026

A quick note that the first Scottish Indexes conference of 2026 will take place on Saturday 31 January 2026. 

You can find details of this, and register, via https://www.scottishindexes.com/conference.aspx.

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Black Friday sale on Pharos Tutors courses

Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com) is offering a huge 15% discount on its courses - here's the announcement:

From today, use Discount Code FRIDAY15 at checkout to get 15% off ALL of our courses, both assessed AND non-assessed, between now and the end of Monday 1st December*. 

That's right, ALL of our family history, local history, genetic genealogy, one place and one name study courses, including the non-assessed and assessed options of any course currently available on our website.

This is the biggest discount we offer, so take advantage now, why not expand your knowledge by booking a course for the New Year? 

*Terms and conditions:

Discount applies to purchase of non-assessed AND assessed courses
Discount only applies to course dates currently advertised with places available
Discount does not apply to purchases of gift vouchers
Only one discount can be applied per course purchase
Discount expires at 11.59pm on Monday 1st December (UK time) 

Amongst the courses qualifying for this discount are my five-week-long courses, as follows, with the dates they start (each is run twice in the year, subject to numbers registering):

Scottish Research Online 5 JAN 2026 and 6 JUL 2026
https://www.pharostutors.com/scottish-research-online

Progressing Your Irish Research Online 26 JAN 2026 and 27 JUL 2026
https://www.pharostutors.com/progressing-your-irish-research-online

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers 16 MAR 2026 and 7 SEP 2026
https://www.pharostutors.com/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-the-old-parish-registers

Researching Irish Land Records 20 APR 2026 and 12 OCT 2026
https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-irish-land-records

Researching Scottish Ancestral Crisis  18 MAY 2026 and 16 NOV 2026
https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-scottish-ancestral-crisis 

These courses are normally £70, but with the Black Friday deal they will be available for just £59.50, for the duration of the offer. So why not sign up now, and save some money - and have some fun studying the subjects with me in due course?!

And don't forget to check out Pharos' other offerings via the main website! 

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Second World War Merchant Seamen Registry added to FindmyPast

The latest FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) additions this week include the following:

Britain, Merchant Seamen Registry 1939-1945
These 24,406 new records will help you to understand your maritime ancestors' Second World War experiences in more detail than ever.

British Rolls of Honour and Nominal Rolls
But that's not all - we've also updated our existing collection of British military rolls, with 293 records covering the Second World War.

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/barry-railway-nominal-rolls

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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.