Scottish: Statutory Registration

Optional Course Print Material: Scottish: Statutory Registration

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Birth, marriage and death certificates are the fundamental building blocks of genealogical research in Scotland. This course looks at the development of the Statutory Registration system in Scotland. It will provide the practical details needed to understand the system of civil registration, where to find and how to use indexes and certificates. The course looks in detail at what the certificates can tell us and at the legislation that affected what was included in certificates at the different periods and in both copies of the registers and certified copies of the certificates.   

We will also look briefly at other, less well-known, birth, marriage and death registers including the Minor Records, register of Stillbirths and the Register of Adoptions.     

While civil registration started, eighteen years later in Scotland than it did in England and Wales, the records hold much more information and are easier to access. 

Course Length: 7 weeks