National Records of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It is responsible for civil registration, the census in Scotland, demography and statistics, family history, as well as the national archives and historical records.[1]

National Records of Scotland was formed from the merger of the General Register Office for Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland in 2011; it combines all the functions of the two former organisations.[2] The offices of Registrar General for Scotland and Keeper of the Records of Scotland remain separate, but since 2011 both have been vested ex officio in the Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland, currently Paul Lowe.[3]

Location

View of Register House from North Bridge, looking across Princes Street

National Records of Scotland is based in HM General Register House on Princes Street in the New Town in Edinburgh. The building was designed by Robert Adam for the Register House Trustees; it was opened to the public in 1788.

History

The first official tasked with the care and administration of the public records was first recorded in the role of Clericus Rotulorum (Clerk of the Rolls) in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1286.[4] Registers, rolls and records were kept in Edinburgh Castle from about the 13th century.[4] The role of the Clerk of the Rolls eventually became known as the Lord Clerk Register, the oldest surviving great offices of state in Scotland.[5] However, records held by the Scottish Crown did not typically include personal data such as birth, death and marriage records. Instead, the clergy and other officials of the Church of Scotland kept parish records, which recorded personal data such as baptisms and marriages, but only for their own church members so parish records were limited in scope. In 1551, a council of Scottish clergy enacted that all parish ministers should keep a record of baptisms, burials and marriages.[6] However, in 1801, the first national Census found that, out of the 850 parishes in Scotland, not more than 99 had regular registers.[7] This was in part due to sporadic recording keeping and accidental destruction of registers.[8]

In 1806, a Royal Warrant established the office of Deputy Clerk Register,[9] effectively reducing the record keeping duties of the Lord Clerk Register to an honorary title with no day-to-day management of the Registers and Records of Scotland. However, personal data continued to be managed by the clergy, now largely ministers of the Church of Scotland. The Industrial revolution radically changed the population demographics of Scotland, with central belt parishes being swamped by migrants from the Highlands and Lowlands which also contributed to the poor record keeping in registers.[10] A bill came before the United Kingdom Parliament in 1829 and several others in subsequent years to introduce a system of state registration, following the similar introduction of public registration in England & Wales in 1837, but the bills were unsuccessful.[11] One of the main reasons they were unsuccessful was the opposition, including the Church of Scotland, to attempts in the bills to reform the Scots laws of marriage, which had historically been very informal as The Scotsman newspaper describes:

Services and collections

NRS supports research in a number of ways, through guides, websites and training.[26] The ScotlandsPeople website, the official Scottish Government site for searching government records and archives, is maintained by NRS in partnership with the Court of the Lord Lyon.[27] NRS provides training in palaeography, the study of historical writing such as secretary hand, which is necessary to read some of its records; it maintains training material on its Scottish Handwriting site.[28][29][30]

The NRS collects and publishes Scottish statistics and data relating to registers, notably deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland,[31] the source for data provided on the Scottish Government's COVID-19 dashboard.[32][33] It also publishes statistics about first names given to babies in Scotland since 1998.[34]

NRS maintains the Scottish Register of Tartans.[35]

It aims to be a leader in archival practice and acts a source of guidance to records managers and archivists in Scotland.[36]

The NRS Web Continuity Service[37] launched on 20 November 2017. A web archive of sites belonging to organisations who deposit records with NRS, the service ensures that previous versions of pages and files can be accessed, while being clearly distinguishable from live content.[38]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "What we do". National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "National Records of Scotland" (Press release). Scottish Government. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Corporate Governance". National Records of Scotland. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Our history". Registers of Scotland. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  5. ↑ A L Murray, "The Lord Clerk Register", Scottish Historical Review, 2:156 (October 1974), pp. 124–156.
  6. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  9. ↑ Royal Warrant 1906: National Archives of Scotland C3/24, No 184.
  10. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  11. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  12. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  14. 1 2 Higgs, Edward, The development of the General Register Office (Scotland) Retrieved 26 March 2016
  15. ↑ Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 (c 44), ss 1, 2.
  16. ↑ Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 (c 44), section 6.
  17. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  18. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  19. ↑ "Registers of Scotland Manuals". rosdev.atlassian.net. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  20. ↑ "Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition". www.nrscotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  21. ↑ Report by the Committee of the Scottish Records Advisory Council, July 1943 (National Archives of Scotland HH1/1832)
  22. ↑ Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 s.1(2)
  23. ↑ Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 s.1(3).
  24. ↑ "The Archivists' Garden". - National Records of Scotland. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  25. ↑ "Cabinet Secretary for Economy Fair Work and Culture". Scottish Government. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  26. ↑ Team, National Records of Scotland Web (31 May 2013). "National Records of Scotland". National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  27. ↑ "ScotlandsPeople". ScotlandsPeople. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  28. ↑ Scottish Handwriting
  29. ↑ Team, National Records of Scotland Web (31 May 2013). "National Records of Scotland". National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  30. ↑ "Scottish Handwriting home page". www.scottishhandwriting.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  31. ↑ "Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland". Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  32. ↑ Team, National Records of Scotland Web (31 May 2013). "National Records of Scotland". National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  33. ↑ "COVID-19 in Scotland: Detailed Analysis. Deaths". The Scottish Government - data.gov.scot. 30 December 2020. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  34. ↑ "NRS: Baby Names". scotland.shinyapps.io. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  35. ↑ "The Scottish Register of Tartans". www.tartanregister.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  36. ↑ Team, National Records of Scotland Web (31 May 2013). "National Records of Scotland". National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  37. ↑ NRS Web Continuity Service
  38. ↑ Team, National Records of Scotland Web (31 May 2013). "NRS Web Continuity Service". National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Records_of_Scotland