ScotlandsPeople expands prisoner records collection

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has added over 100,000 new prisoner records from Ayr and Inveraray jails from the Victorian era. The addition includes 98,000 entries from Ayr Prison from 1841-1911.

For further details please visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/news-and-articles/100000-victorian-prison-records-now-online.

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.

Scottish Indexes uploads additional prison records

Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) has released a further 100,000 prison records held at the National Records of Scotland, bringing the total to 1 million entries in its Scotland's Criminal Database, with records from 49 prisons included. 

The following are the prisons for which new records have been added: 

• Linlithgow
• Stonehaven
• Ayr
• Greenock
• Cumnock
• Kinross
• Customs & Excise
• Paisley
• Port Glasgow
• Hamilton
• Inveraray
• Kilmarnock
• Duke Street (Glasgow)

To access the database visit https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.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.

Scottish Indexes adds new prison records and announces next conference date

Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) has announced the addition of the following prison records to its site, searchable at https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx :

• Calton Jail (Edinburgh): 1858
• Edinburgh Police Prison: 1841
• Leith Police Prison: 1842-1848
• Helensburgh: 1855-1878
• Linlithgow: 1844-1851
• Musselburgh: 1852-1861
• Wick: 1848-1862
• Dumbarton: 1840-1847,1871-1883
• Inveraray: 1828-1841,1848-1873
• Paisley: 1864-1865,1875-1882
• Rothesay: 1877-1882
• Aberdeen: 1911,1916-1918 

(For the full coveage of prison records in the database, and other datasets contained within, see https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx)

Emma and Graham Maxwell, the duo behind the site, have also announced that their next Scottish Indexes conference will be on Saturday 22nd November 2025. This will be the 30th Scottish Indexes conference, a major anniversary for the series which first started during the Covid lockdown on April 9th 2020. 

For further details on the event, keep an eye out at 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Pre-order my new book Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland

I'm delighted to say that my new book is now available for pre-order from Pen and Sword at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Researching-Ancestral-Crisis-in-Ireland-Paperback/p/51770, at an introductory price of £12.79 (RRP £15.99) plus postage. The book will be published on February 28th 2025. 

Entitled Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland: A Guide for Family Historians, the book looks at the moments in our Irish ancestors' lives where things went wrong, and how they were documented. Here's the back cover blurb:

Ireland is an extraordinarily beautiful island from which millions can claim their direct ancestry. But Ireland is also an island which has experienced some truly extraordinary moments of crisis which will have directly impacted our forebears, helping to shape us into the individuals that we are today. Whenever such crises happened, whether on a national scale or within the home, there was invariably somebody standing close to hand with a quill and parchment to document the misfortunes that befell so many.

In this latest book, family historian Chris Paton takes a look at some of the darkest episodes of Irish history over the last four hundred years, as well as the everyday crises that affected everyone throughout their lives. He will discuss the impact of many major events on our ancestors, including colonisation, conquest and rebellion, as well as the various pressures endured from within the family, the church, and the state.

Along the way Chris highlights the records that can help us to show the various trials and tribulations faced by our ancestors, which can help to vividly bring our family histories to life, including those available both online and within Ireland's many local and national archives.

And the following is the chapter breakdown:

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Timeline

1. Irish Family History Research Basics
    Births, marriages and deaths
    Church records
        Roman Catholic records
        Protestant church records
    Census records
    Wills
    DNA
    Gateway sites
    Irish archives
    British archives
    Libraries
    Commercial vendors    
    Newspapers
    Societies
    Commercial research services

2. Family events and relationships
    Births and illegitimacy
    'Fallen women'
    Mother and baby homes
    Foundlings
    Orphans
    Adoption
    Home children
    Marital issues
    Separation and divorce
    Bigamy
    Homosexuality
    Death
    Suicide
    
3. Law and Order
    Brehon laws        
    English law
    The Crown courts
    Local courts
    Grand juries
    Manor records
    Church courts
    Police and prison records
    Transportation
    Execution

4. Poverty and health
    Poor law
    Deportation of Irish paupers from Britain
    Public health concerns
    Hospitals and public health
    Asylums

5. Them and Us
    The Plantations of Ulster
    The 1641 Rebellion
    The Cromwellian Conquest
    The Penal Laws
    The Great Famine
    The Land War
    The Home Rule Crisis
    The Suffragettes
    The Dublin Lockout
    The First World War
    The Easter Rising
    The War of Independence
    The Treaty and the Civil War
    The Legacy of Conflict

I hope you enjoy the book, I've put a lot into it!

** Please note that the book will be available in the United States from April 2025, retailing at US $28.95 - see https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781036110376/researching-ancestral-crisis-in-ireland/ for details.

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.

ScotlandsPeople adds Barlinnie Prison records

The ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has added 180,000 records of admissions to Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow, from 1882-1899. The release also includes a prisoner photograph album with images of 2000 inmates.

For more on the story visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/news-and-articles/exploring-hmp-barlinnie

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.

Scottish Indexes adds major update to prison register records collection

From Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com):

Search over half a million prison register entries on scottishindexes.com
Discover the hidden lives of your ancestors

Scottish Indexes have reached a major milestone in their Scottish prison register indexing project. With the release of a further 180,000 prison register entries at the Scottish Indexes Conference on Saturday you can now search over half a million records from 38 Scottish prisons. Search Scotland's Criminal Database: https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx

These records are vital to exploring the stories behind our family history as well as overcoming brick walls to our research. Emma Maxwell, genealogist at Scottish Indexes, says “The census is a snapshot in time, but what happened to our ancestors on all the other days? Prison records can be a key to discovering more. For example, we may find a description of our ancestor’s tattoos or scars.”

Genealogist Graham Maxwell says “The key information given in a prison register to identify the inmate is now very useful for our research projects. While the census may give a place of birthplace of ‘Ireland’ or ‘ England’ a prison register may give us the specific county or parish. If our ancestor died before 1851 the birthplace and age could be the vital clues we need.”

Aliases and alternative surnames are given in the prison register. It could be that someone used a name to try to avoid the law but we also see multiple surnames recorded for other people. Married women usually have their maiden and married surnames included. Inmates who were illegitimate may be recorded under their biological father's name as well as their mother’s surname.

About Scottish Indexes: The indexes on scottishindexes.com are free to search and the website is managed by husband and wife team, Graham and Emma Maxwell. As well as criminal records you can search the Scottish Paternity Index, Mental Health Records, Court of Session Index and more. 

NB: The next Scottish Indexes conference will be on 13 JAN 2024.

(With thanks to Emma Maxwell)

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.

Edinburgh and Largs prison registers added to ScotlandsPeople

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has updated its historic prison registers collections with records from prisons in Edinburgh and Largs, North Ayrshire.

The collection now includes the following:

• Edinburgh Bridewell, 1798-1840
• Edinburgh (Calton) Prison, 1841-1851
• Largs Prison, 1843-1853
• Perth convict journals (male), 1867 to 1879
• Perth Prison registers (male), 1888 to 1897, 1902 to 1909, 1913 to 1921
• Perth Prison registers (female), 1901 to 1916

For more information visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/record-guides/prison-registers

UPDATE: ScotlandsPeople has added two articles on the prisons - for Edinburgh, visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/our-records-edinburghs-bridewell-and-calton-prisons, for Largs visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/our-records-brief-history-largs-jail.

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.

Scottish Indexes announces new records additions

Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) has announced some new records additions to their site. In summary:

• A new volume from the register of deeds, from 1652-1653.
• An update to their prison records collection of a further 104,369 records. This includes material from the following prisons: Edinburgh Lock-up House 1848-1850 (2,919), Fort William 1849-1880 (949), Ayr 1893-1897 (8,577), Paisley 1866-1875 (9,198), Aberdeen 1896-1908 (20,198), Dundee 1911-1914,1922 (8,906), and Glasgow (Duke Street) 1850-1864 (53,623)
• A new collection, Pardoned or Ticket of Leave on New Charges 1855-1895 - this will include information on relevant trial papers.

Graham and Emma will be announcing more detail about these collections over the next week - check out their main website, and their social media channels, including Twitter (@ScottishIndexes) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/scottish.indexes).  

* The next Scottish Indexes conference will be on September 9th 2023.

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.

Scottish Indexes collections updated on Ancestry

The following collections on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk), available as third party indexes to collections created by and hosted on Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.co.uk), have been updated this month:

Web: Scotland, Prison Records Index, 1828-1878
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/9736/
Published on Ancestry30/09/2014
Updated 20/01/2023
173,186 records

Web: Scotland, General and Admission Registers for Asylums, 1858-1918
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70879/
Published on Ancestry29/09/2020
Updated 20/01/2023
165,561 records

Web: Scotland, Sheriff Court Paternity Decrees, 1792-1922
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/70851/
Published on Ancestry15/03/2018
Updated 20/01/2023
128,825 records

For further details on the collections, visit the links on the respective Ancestry pages.

 

 

 

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.

Scottish Indexes releases more Prison Records indexes

From Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com):

Scottish Indexes releases more Prison Records
10 March 2022

Glasgow, Scotland – In a continuation of their Scotland's Criminal Database project, Glasgow based genealogists Emma and Graham Maxwell have released an index to a further 43,000 historical Scottish Prison records. These have been added to www.scottishindexes.com. Their ongoing project to open up historical criminal records to help people trace their family history is moving on apace and opening up more stories to the global research community.

These latest prison records are predominantly from the prisons of Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Paisley, with some updates to other prisons around Scotland. Scotland's Criminal Database now includes over 30 prisons from across Scotland. You can see a detailed breakdown of coverage here: https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx

Emma Maxwell, genealogist at www.scottishindexes.com says, “I love the stories people uncover in these records. These missing pieces of the jigsaw give us the details that help us picture the lives of our ancestors. During this indexing project, we found entries for Dumfries civil prisoners relating to the aliment of children. These could be the clue you’re looking for to discover the father of an illegitimate child. Another entry we found related to James Gunning, a medical student in Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, who was convicted in 1852 for ‘Violating Sepulchres’; better known as ‘body snatching’.”

Join Emma and Graham at the Scottish Indexes Conference to hear more about their
exciting projects: www.scottishindexes.com

NB: The conference is tomorrow (Sat 12th March) - see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/03/scottish-indexes-conference-on-march.html

(With thanks to Emma)

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.

ScotlandsPeople releases historic Perth Prison records

Scotlandspeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has released historic records from Perth Prison. From its announcement:

Scottish prison registers held by National Records of Scotland (NRS) have been added to ScotlandsPeople for the first time. The admission entries of thousands of prisoners have been indexed and can be searched using the prison registers search page. People from a broad range of backgrounds can be found in the prison registers and there is a wealth of information in these volumes for the genealogist and social historian alike.

The first set of released records concern admissions to Perth Prison between 1867-1879 and 1888-1921 which can be searched for free on ScotlandsPeople and the images viewed and downloaded for a small fee. This equates to over 50,000 indexed entries for Perth Prison over this period and includes details of both male and female prisoners.

The full article is at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-article-prison-registers-released.

Note these records are free to search, not to view, you will need to pay to see an image (unlike the kirk session records).

There is still no update from ScotlandsPeople on why it has removed its fuzzy search and name variant search capabilities. (See http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/02/why-has-scotlandspeople-changed-its.html)

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.

New conference date and further records from Scottish Indexes

From Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com):

We’ve added another 26,167 prison register entries to www.scottishindexes.com. This latest batch are from Edinburgh Bridewell, Edinburgh Lock-up House, Ayr, Dundee and Kirkcudbright prison registers.

The next Scottish Indexes conference date has also been announced for 23 OCT 2021. This will be the thirteenth free to attend conference since the pandemic started, and I'm happy to say that I'll be giving my talk on Tracing the Irish in Scotland at the event. 

Also announced as speaking at the event are:

• Eilir Daniels - ‘Tracing Welsh Ancestry’.
• Amelia Bennett - ‘Hidden in Plain Site’
• Dr Louise Williams, archivist, discusses Lothian Health Services Archive
• Lorna Steele from the Highland Archive Service discusses school records.
• Chris Fleet - ‘Using the NLS maps website for family history research’.
• Genealogy Q & A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell.
  

To register, please visit the conference link here.

(Thanks to Emma and Graham at Scottish indexes)

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FamilySearch adds Irish Merchant Navy Crew List and Prison Registers collections

FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) has added two new Irish collections this week:

Ireland, Merchant Navy Crew Lists, 1857-1922
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/4316495

The collection was compiled from records held by the National Archives of Ireland. The crew lists provide information about of members of the Irish Merchant Navy who were from all over the world. The records may include information about births, engagements, marriages, and deaths. Index courtesy of FindMyPast.com.

Ireland, Prison Registers, 1798-1928
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/4279963

This is a collection of prison registers from Ireland dated between 1798 and 1928. While the information contained in each record may vary considerably depending on the prison and date, the index contains the prisoner's given name and surname, and potentially their age and birthplace. The index is provided courtesy of FindMyPast.

Whilst the collections can be searched, and some details gleaned, the images can only be viewed at a family history centre. 

For other releases from FamilySearch this week, visit https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-16-august-2021/.

(With thanks to Gail Dever)

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Scottish Indexes adds 100,000 prison register entries

News of an exciting update to the Scottish Indexes website at www.scottishindexes.com:

Scottish Indexes - Helping You Find Your Criminal Ancestors

Graham and Emma Maxwell of scottishindexes.com today announce the release of over 100,000 prison register entries to www.scottishindexes.com. This announcement was made during the Scottish Indexes Conference, the 10th free Scottish family history conference of the pandemic. It’s perhaps a sad reality that when our ancestors fell on hard times or got themselves into trouble we are much more likely to find out more about them. An ancestor who spent just one night in jail is likely to have had their age, birthplace, height, weight, scars, education level, hair colour and eye colour recorded. This makes prison registers vital not only to tracing your ancestors but also in discovering the people behind the names.

These entries have been added to ‘Scotland's Criminal Database’ which includes High Court, Sheriff Court and prison records. All indexes on www.scottishindexes.com are free to search and the added features such as the free tutorials in the Learning Zone make the website easy to use.

This update includes entries from the following prisons:

• Ayr, Ayrshire
• Greenock, Renfrewshire
• Edinburgh, Midlothian
• Barlinnie, Glasgow, Lanarkshire
• Duke Street, Glasgow, Lanarkshire
• Hamilton, Lanarkshire
• Stirling, Stirlingshire
• Maxwelltown, Troqueer, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright
• Perth, Perthshire
• Paisley, Renfrewshire
• Stranraer, Wigtownshire
• Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
• Wigtown, Wigtownshire
• Dumfries, Dumfriessire
• Dundee, Angus
• Lanark, Lanarkshire
• Kirkcudbright, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright

Sadly not all prison registers have survived and this is an ongoing project. To see a precise breakdown of coverage of ‘Scotland's Criminal Database’ please see: https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx

(With thanks to Emma Maxwell)

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Scottish Indexes seeks volunteers for prison records indexing project

From Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com):

Volunteer’s Weekend 9/10 January 2020

 

Stuck at home this weekend and love family history?

 

If you are looking for something rewarding and interesting to do this weekend you may be interested in our weekend volunteer project.

 

We want to index more prison registers and we are working on Edinburgh prison records from the 1840s and 1850s right now.

 

The index that is created will be put online for everyone to access for free.

 

This is a perfect project if you’ve not done indexing before or have limited time. It’s a collaborative project and there will be support all weekend from experienced volunteers.

 

In November 2020 the team of volunteers managed to index over 12,000 entries in just one weekend! A highlight of the weekend was when a volunteer found her own ancestor in the records! Who could you discover?

 

Send us a message if you can volunteer this weekend.

 

For contact details visit www.scottishindexes.com.

 

 

Chris

Pre-order my next book, Sharing Your Family History Online, at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Ancestry offers free week's access to curated records

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) is offering a free week's access to curated collections. Here's the blurb:

Access to the records in this week’s featured collections will be free until Sunday 5th April 12pm GMT.

To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address. We will then send you a user name and password to access the records.

After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry.co.uk paid membership.

This week's collections are as follows:

• Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1918 Updated
• Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 Updated
• Bristol, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1994 Updated
• Bristol, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 Updated
• Bristol, England, Non-Conformist Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers, 1644-1981 New
• Ireland, Dog Licence Registrations, 1810-1926 New
• Ireland, Encumbered Estates, 1850-1885 New
• Ireland, Petty Session Court Registers, 1818-1919 New
• Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924 New
• London, England, Royal Holloway and Bedford College Student Registers, 1849-1931 New

Have fun!

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Ancestry adds Newgate calendars and Household Cavalry records

Two new collections on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) for the UK:

UK, Household Cavalry Records of Service, 1799-1920
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61804/
Source: WO 400: WO 400, War Office: Household Cavalry, 1799-1920,.. WO 400: WO 400, War Office: Household Cavalry, 1799-1920, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England

This collection contains surviving records of service for non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in the Life Guards, the Royal Horse Guards and the Household Battalion, and whose Army service concluded in these regiments.

The following information can be found in the records where available:

Name
Regiment and rank
Next of kin
Medical reports and pension details
Age
Birth date
Relation to head
Marital status
Gender
Enlistment and muster date
Place of birth


London, England, Newgate Calendar of Prisoners, 1785-1853
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61811/
Source: Series HO77. Newgate calendars HO 77, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England

This collection contains a calendar of prisoners for the years 1785 to 1853. These calendars consist of lists, for the most part printed, of prisoners tried at Assizes and Quarter Sessions.

The following information can be found in the records where available:

Name
Age
Birth date
Occupation
Date of trial
Offence
Sentence
Place of arrest

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.