Resources for Researchers

Expanding the sections below will provide the researcher with various links.
As far as possible, links will be to on-line databases, transcriptions, digital images of Scottish books or sites of general interest.

General Many of the earlier Scottish Record Society publications are free to view online. Apprentice and Burgess rolls are listed amongst other useful works. Later publications may be purchased from the website.
Ayr Burgesses Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society have made their The Burgesses and Guild Brethren of Ayr 1647-1846 available on line.
Canongate Burgesses The Scottish Record Society has published a List of Canongate Burgesses 1622-1733 which may help to trace an ancestor and provide useful information as to parents or wife.
Dumfries Dumfries Town Chamberlains' Accounts 1793-1801 and Dumfries Dean of Guild Plans 1892-1974 are available on this site.
Dundee The Friends of Dundee City Archives have created a very useful resource including indexes to: Burgess Rolls 1513-2009, 1801 census, Register of Deeds 1661-1670, Sasines 1831, Aliens List 1917-1948, Absentee Voters 1919, and Register of Milk Suppliers 1883-1922.
Edinburgh For those who have ancestors with property in Edinburgh between 1770 and 1826 the Edinburgh Dean of Guild Records may contain applications to make changes to their property. This site contains extracts from the Court papers, and where included, images of the original plans.
Edinburgh Apprentices  The Register of Edinburgh Apprentices 1583-1666 published by the Scottish Record Society contains much information on those boys entering a trade in Edinburgh. Edinburgh Apprentices 1666-1700; and in the second half of the online book 1701-1755.
Edinburgh Burgesses and Guild Bretheren The Scottish Record Society has published a list of Edinburgh Burgesses and Guild Bretheren 1406-1700. The work contains useful information on trade, date of admission, and often information about the father or the wife of a burgess. 1761-1841. A-H only.
Glasgow The Burgesses and Guild Bretheren of Glasgow 1573-1750; 1751-1846;

Scottish Directories The National Library of Scotland currently now has over 600 Scottish Directories to view or download on-line. These directories cover all the major centres of population in Scotland.
English Directories For online directories other than Scottish directories the best site is Historical Directories.
Assorted Scottish Directories This site contains a collection of various Scottish Directories that may be read on-line or downloaded: Directory to Noblemen's and Gentlemen's seats, villages etc. in Scotland; National Commercial Directory for Scotland; West Coast Directories; Slater's Royal National Commercial Directories for Scotland.
 

Old Edinburgh Club The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club was first published in 1908 and continues to this day. The volumes contain many authorative articles on all aspects of Edinburgh are now available online.
 
Images Capital Collections is a large online collection of images of Edinburgh drawn from the Edinburgh City Library and Museum collections.
Aliens Register An Index to the Aliens Registers is held at Edinburgh City Archives with a downloadable pdf file that covers the period 1798-1825.
World War I Edinburgh's War 1914-1918 is a virtual history archive and a joint venture between Edinburgh City Libraries and the University of Edinburgh. All matters relating to the war will feature on the site.
Dalrymple Crescent Dalrymple Crescent; A snapshot of Victorian Life brings together much information on this street in the Grange area of Edinburgh. History, homes and personalities are covered.
Edinphoto Website Those with an interest in the History of Edinburgh should visit this site. There is so much on it. Postcards, old photographs, Edinburgh photographers, Maps of Edinburgh, reminiscences, local vocabulary, images of lost streets and vanished trades and professions, engravings of Edinburgh, Scottish postcard publishers and much more.
 

Aberdeen University Officers and Graduates of University and King's College Aberdeen. This work by Peter John Anderson covers the years 1495-1855.
Edinburgh University A catalogue of the Graduates in the Faculty of Arts, Divinity and Law of the University of Edinburgh since its foundation in 1583-1858.
Glasgow University The Matriculation Albums of the University of Glasgow 1728-1858. Additions have been made down to 1913.
 
St Andrews University The Matriculation Roll of the University of St Andrews 1747-1897. This work is by James Maitland Anderson and published in 1905.

Aberdeen University Database Aberdeen University has an on-line Emigration database. This database allows the researcher to do a search on more than just a name. There are a variety of fields into which search criteria may be entered..
Mormon Emigration to America Mormon Migration is a searchable website with details of 19th and 20th century migration information on thousands of people.
Ellis Island The Castle Garden site gives free access to 11 million records of people entering America through Ellis Island between 1820 -1892. The Ellis Island Foundation Inc. also gives access to the records.
Argentina Many UK and European people emigrated to Argentina and much useful information is to be found at Immigration into Argentina.
Australia Australian Shipping 1788-1968 has much information on departures and arrivals as well as passenger lists. Information on 19th Century South Australian shipping will be found at this website. South Australian Shipping and Migration information is to be found on this website. New South Wales has an Immigration website that contains Assisted Shipping Lists 1838-1896 as well as information on: crew, arrivals, convicts, departures, military and shipwrecks. The Tasmanian State Library has documents on-line relating to arrivals there.
Australian Convicts Details of convicts and much more of interest for those with Australian relations will be found on Cora Num's website.
Canada The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is a searchable database of passenger ships calling at Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
China Many people from the UK went to China to seek their fortune. Bristol University has an online collection with information about men and women of many different professions and ages, who lived and worked in China between the 1850s and 1940s
Emigration to Edinburgh An Index to the Aliens Registers is held at Edinburgh City Archives with a downloadable pdf file that covers the period 1798-1825.
From Scotland The National Library of Scotland has created web pages containing information on their holdings and a large collection of links to sites with information on emigration.
Immigrant Servants The Immigrant Servants database aims to identify all indentured servants, convict servants and redemptioners who travelled to the New World between 1607 and 1820.
Passenger Lists Scottish prisoners were transported to America on the John and Sara in 1652. 
South Africa Genealogy World has a great deal about South Africa and European involvement there. Ships arriving and departing Cape Town has useful passenger list information and covers the period 1842-1881, 1951.

The Scottish History Society The Scottish History Society has started to digitise some of its volumes. This is a site to watch.
Census Material Emma and Graham Maxwell have a searchable database of 1841, 1851 and 1861 census material for southern Scotland, some border counties and Dumfries & Galloway on their website.

The British in India For those with ancestors who went to India the Families in British India Society is a good place to visit. There are databases and transcripts open to all. Even more is available to those who join the Society.  The British Library India Office has a searchable database of 300,000 plus names of births, marriages and deaths in India.
Bombay

An Alphabetical List of the HEIC Bombay Civil Servants 1798-1839, Dodwell & Miles.
For background information Glimpses of Old Bombay and Western India, James Douglas, JP, Sampson Low, Martson & Co., London, 1900, is an interesting book with useful information.
Madras An on-line version of Charles Campbell Prinsep's Madras Civil Servants 1741-1858 is a useful work for the many Scots who went out to India.
Bengal Alphabetical list of the Officers in the Bengal Army 1760-1834, Edward Dodwell & James Samuel Miles. A list of Bengal Civil Servants 1780-1838, by Dodwell & Miles.

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries (1689-1838), Troqueer (1698-1771) and Mouswald (1640-1659) Kirk Session records & Presbytery Minutes are on Dumfries and Galloway Historical Indexes 
Inverness-shire A digitised copy of the 1902 book by Alexander Mitchell, Inverness Kirk Session Records 1661-1880 is a valuable source for researchers.

Freeholders of Angus and Kincardineshire  A list of Freeholders in Angus and Kincardinshire 1788 and 1813 will be found on this site.

Scottish Maps The National Library of Scotland has a very useful collection of Scottish maps on their website. The maps range in date from 1560-1930. Some of the Town Plans and views are excellent .
Moll Atlas Moll's plates of 1723 were used to create a Scottish Atlas in 1745. The maps have been digitised and a CD of the images is available through the Society shop.
Gough Map The Gough map is one of the earliest maps of Great Britain dating to the late 14th century. It is unusal as the east is to the top. It is interesting to see where in Scotland was considered important at this time. To locate places on the map select the Digital Map tab, then the Browse tab below that. The dot on the red markers may be clicked to reveal more information.
Scotland's Places A wealth of material is available at Scotland's Places including maps, taxation records and buildings of historical interest. The material is arranged by pre-1975 counties and contains many hidden gems.
 

Crew Lists The CLIP site was set up to facilitate access to British crew lists and British Merchant seafarers of the late 19th century. There is also much background information too.

Scotland The Medical Consultation Letters of Dr Wlliam Cullen. Cullen's private consultations survive as a remarkable archive of several thousand letters. These letters have been digitised and are now available online. The material covers the period 1760-1790. There is a search facility.
Dundee In the Dundee University Archives there are handlists to the Tayside Health Board Archives.
Glasgow Historic Hospital Admission Records Project (HHARP) have made available the admission records for the Royal Glasgow Sick Children's Hospital in the form of an online database. The registers cover the period 1883-1903. More details will be found on the home page of the site, as well as other English Admission Registers that are available. Searchers have to register.
Scottish Hospitals On the Clinical Notes it is possible to search the Scottish Hospitals site for clinical notes that are over 75 years old.
General Graham and Emma Maxwell from Scottish Indexes have a searchable database of many Mental Health Records on their website.

Army Lists Hart's Annual Army List. Another site that has a large amount of accessible material is the Army Lists site. It has some Naval material and other lists of interest.   For more recent records and service records of living and recently deceased military personnel this is a good site to start with.
Clan Battles For Scottish Clan Battles that took place between the 11th and 18th centuries go to the Locharron website.
Edinburgh Granton Local History Society in Edinburgh has added a page relating to the Granton War Memorial with brief biographies of the men mentioned.
Edinburgh Lothian Health Services Archives have put digital images of the Leith Roll of Honour on to the web. It records the names of 2206 officers and men of Leith who died in the Great War with details useful to the family historian
Scotland's War - WWI Scotland's War 1914-1918 is a virtual history archive and a joint venture with Edinburgh City Libraries and Edinburgh University.  Counties can be selected and all features of the war will feature on this site.
Forfarshire Militia Officers in the Forfarshire Militia 1813 will be found on this site along with much other useful information.
Medical Officers Roll of Commissioned Officers in the Medical service of the British Army, 1727-1898. William Johnston & Harry Arthur Leonard Howell.
Rolls of Honour The Roll of Honour site contains an increasing amount of information on war memorials and those commemorated thereon. It covers the whole of the United Kingdom.
Naval History Naval History is a site devoted to the Royal Navy and allied Navies in the 2oth century. It contains lists of casualties and notes about their service.

Congregational Ministers The Centre for Dissenting Studies has the names and some biographical details of 32,000 Congregational Ministers that form the Surman Index Online. Although the index is predominantly for English and Welsh ministers Scottish ministers are mentioned and the index also gives details of seventeenth & eighteenth century Presbyterians. It covers the period from the mid-seventeenth century to 1972.
Presbyterian Ministers The Fasti Ecclesiae Scotticanae are available on this site. There are searchable lists and downloads of the volumes.
 

Commonwealth War Graves The Commonwealth Graves Commission has a searchable database of graves.
 Glasgow The Southern Necropolis, Glasgow has updated its website and includes a page detailing almost 200 interments during the mid-19th century.

Calendar of Laing Charters This collection of 3326 charters from 854-1837 was left to Edinburgh University by David Laing LL.D. who died in October 1878. The documents are all transcribed and well indexed and cover a wide range of topics and mention many people from all over Scotland.
Old Bailey Records
 For those who had the misfortune to be sent for trial at the Old Bailey, London between 1674 -1913 details of the cases may be found at Old Bailey online and in cases around the beginning of the nineteenth century details of transportation to Australia may be found.

Australian Newspapers The Trove website is the place to find digitised Australian Newspapers. It is the National Library of Australia's website and has much more to interest the researcher: books, diaries, photographs and maps.
Californian Newspapers For anyone with ancestors of relatives that went to the west coast of America this site may provide some interesting information or background detail.
New Zealand Newspapers Papers Past has digitised New Zealand and Pacific newspapers, magazines and journals, books etc.  
Scottish Newspapers This site has links to many Scottish Newspapers that have a website. It will help to keep you in touch with local events and news.
 

Scotland Kist o Riches or Tobar an Dualchais is a newly launched website that contains thousands of recordings made from the 1930s onwards. There are stories, songs, poems and factual information. The recordings may be selected by county or parish.

Scotland

Records of the Scottish Poor list records that are available across Scotland that deal with the poor giving appropriate repository accession codes. This Who Do You Think You are magazine article gives backgrounds and other online sources. Old Scottish website has indexes of Poor Law Appeals by County and Parish. 
Dumfries  Dumfries Poor Board Minutes for 1855-1895 will be searchable when this project is complete.
Edinburgh

An Index to the Pauper's Claims within St Cuthbert's Parochial Board 1850-1852 is held at Edinburgh City Archives.
There is also a list of inmates from a charity workhouse between 1835-41. 
Glasgow

Glasgow City Archives have excellent Poor Relief applications, which are only available in person.                     

Landed Families Sir Robert Douglas's Baronage of Scotland has some interesting Scottish Family Histories

General Graham and Emma Maxwell have a searchable database of some Scottish Prison Registers on their website.
Australia A searchable database of 123,000 convicts who were transported to Australia is available and hosted in Queensland. More general and specific information may be found at Convict Records.
Dumfries A searchable database of Dumfries Jail and Bail Bond Books 1714-1810 is one of several interesting sources on this site.
Inveraray The details of 4000 prisoners held in Inveraray Jail from 1820-1888 may be viewed on this site.
Newgate Calendar Although a London prison many unfortunates from Scotland found their way into the Newgate Prison and may appear in the information that appears on this site..
 
 

Galloway The Shipping Registers for Dumfries 1824-1904, Kirkcudbright 1824-1841, Stranraer 1824-1908 and Wigtown 1836-1908 are searchable on a variety of fields.
Shipping News The index to Lloyd's List Marine News 1740-1837 makes researching shipping incidents much easier. The list does not record ordinary shipping movements.
 
Fishing Boat Heritage This website lists many fishing boats used in the British Fishing Industry over the years. Details of fishing boats are given and updates and additional information is welcomed. Port of registration letters are also given.

Aberdeenshire List of pollable people in the shire of Aberdeen 1696, volume 1 and 2.
Ayrshire Hearth Tax An overview of the Hearth Tax in Ayrshire 1691 and contains that for Maybole.
 
Scottish Farm Horse Tax 1797-1798 The Farm Horse Tax rolls list the names of the owner and number of horses and mules used in husbandry or trade in 1797-1798.The originals are at The National Archives of Scotland, repertory E326/10.
 
Clock and Watch Tax 1797-1798 These Clock and Watch Tax rolls show the owners as well as the number of clocks and watches owned plus the tax totals. Only two of three volumes has survived.
General Information The National Archives of Scotland has a useful summary of Scottish Tax records that they hold. The type, repertory number and period covered are given.  More taxation information is available at Scotlands Places and the site contains more general information about place in Scotland.

Book Trade The Scottish Book Trade Index is a comprehensive list of all those involved in the Scottish book trade up to 1850 and includes printers, engravers, book-binders etc. The biographical material is being added to as more information comes to light.
 
Brickmakers This site has images of bricks produced in Scotland and information on some of the brickmakers and manufacturers has been added.
Engineering New Grace's Guide is the most comprehensive source of information on the engineering industry in Britain from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the 1960s; with nearly 60,000 pages and over 82,000 images.
Postal Workers This link will take you to the Genealogy Section of the British Postal Museum and Archive, a large and interesting website with information about the Post Office, its workers, stamps, resources and all matters postal.
Railway Archive The Railway Archive site is a collection of documents of a general nature but more specifically cataloguing over 6000 railway accidents and often including names of victims and railway staff.
Scottish Mining The Scottish Mining website has much information and research on Scottish mining to aid family & local historians. There is much research on mining disasters available.
Sculptors Although claiming to cover Glasgow - City of Sculpture there is much more information to be found on this website about architects, builders and foundries.
Traded Goods and Commodities This site is essential a dictionary of terms found in documents relating to trade between 1550 and 1820 and should help the researcher understand their ancestor's business better.
Writers to HM Signet A History of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet. This edition was published in 1890 and contains much useful biographical information. Later editions of the work have been published which contain details on more recent Writers to the Signet.

General  
Births, Marriages and Deaths Graham and Emma Maxwell have some searchable databases of Non-OPR Birth, Marriage and Death records on their website.
Dunfermline Dunfermline Parish Registers 1561-1700. A Scottish Record Society Publication.
Melrose Melrose Register of Baptisms and Proclamations and Minutes of Session 1727-1741 and Mortuary Rolls 1642-1820.
St Andrews Register of Births & Marriages for the Episcopalian Congregation of St Andrews 1722-1787.
Births / Baptisms  
Bairnie and Tillydesk  Register of Baptisms at Bairnie and Tillydesk 1763-1801.
Paternity Cases  Graham & Emma Maxwell have a searchable database of Sheriff Court Paternity Decrees on their website.
Marriage  
Canongate Parish of Holyrood House or Canongate Register of Marriages 1564-1800, M-R only.
Edinburgh Edinburgh Register of Marriages 1595-1700. Edinburgh Marriages 1701-1750. Edinburgh Marriages 1751-1800.
Death and Burial  
Edinburgh Greyfriars Register of Interments, Edinburgh 1658-1700.
Edinburgh Monumental Inscriptions in St Cuthbert's Churchyard, Edinburgh, older portion.
Wills and Testaments  
 
 The Scottish Record Society volumes of indexes to Scottish wills are available online.