Scottish Gypsy Travellers' stolen generations a form of "cultural genocide"

The BBC reports at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8de3ld05yo how the UK Government targeted Scotland's Gypsy Travellers community between the 1940s and 1980s through what was known as the "Tinker Experiment", prior to devolution. Scottish local authorities and the Church of Scotland were also complicit in the initiative.

In 2023 the current Scottish Government commissioned research via the University of St. Andrews based Third Generation Project into the activity, with the conclusion now noting that there was a "forced and systematic initiative to remove Gypsy/traveller children from their families and communities", who were then placed into care institutions, into forced-adoption, or into industrial schools. The policy is stated to have been a form of "cultural genocide" in the report, with demands for compensation now being made.

A podcast discussing the story, entitled "The Cruelty - Stolen Generations", is available on BBC Sounds and via the link above.

A previous report from September 2024 identifies some of the archival work that was employed for research into the scandal - it is available at https://ayeright.scot/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tinker-Experiments-Report_unedited.pdf.

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.

New IrishGenealogy.ie website on the way

From the Irish Government, news concerning the IrishGenealogy portal at www.irishgenealogy.ie:

A new Irish Genealogy website is under construction, as a result, some services are currently unavailable. The Civil and Church Records search portals remain available.

You can order birth, marriage and death certificates from the General Register Office via www.gov.ie/en/service/124a70-apply-for-certificates.

If you wish to contact the Irish Genealogy team please email: Genealogy@tcagsm.gov.ie.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

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.

Insane UK government plan to destroy post-1858 English and Welsh wills

It looks like the government for England and Wales is seeking to replicate the tragic experience felt by Ireland in 1922, with an utterly insane plan to deliberately destroy its post-1858 wills and admon documents generated after they have gone through the two countries' 'probate' process in the English courts (the equivalent of Scotland's confirmation process), after they have been digitised. The insanity of this is that instead of creating digital surrogates as a back-up, they will instead become the only form of the record to survive - and, you know, nothing digital ever gets lost... The plans are currently out for consultation (see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/easier-access-to-historic-wills-under-new-government-plans).

Whilst this is primarily an issue for those with English and Welsh ancestry, many Scots and Irish folk did end up in the two countries, so there is a potential interest in this for us here also. Scottish and Northern Irish records are administered separately, and are not part of this insanity - but God forbid the archives in Edinburgh and Belfast become 'inspired' by this nonsense.

As can well be imagined, there's been uproar to the suggestion, as documented in the Guardian today at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/18/ministry-of-justice-plan-to-destroy-historical-wills-is-insane-say-experts.

A consultation response from the Society of Genealogists is available at https://www.sog.org.uk/news/moj-will-consultation-response/

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.