Many people left Scotland in the 1800s to start a new life in Australia. You can learn more about your Scottish ancestors by tracing them and their families back in Scotland.

Parish Registers

Digital images of Scottish parish registers are available for births and marriages. Burial registers were often not kept, or were lost. The information contained in parish registers of baptisms varies with the parish and the clerk, but most contain the mother’s maiden surname and often the date of birth. Marriages may contain the father and parish of the bride, and witnesses.

Censuses

Censuses of Scotland are available from 1841 to 1901 and contain much valuable information. They list everyone living in the household; their age, sex, relationship to the head of the household, occupation, and where they were born. Family members, boarders, servants, visitors, all are included. It can also show neighbours that appear on the same page in the census return.

The first census that recorded individuals was in 1841. Ages for adults were rounded down to the nearest 5 in most cases, and place of birth was reduced to “this county or not”. Later years added progressively more questions to the census return.The most recently released census is the 1901. The 1911 census will be released in 2012.

Birth, Death and Marriage Registration

Civil registration began in Scotland on 1st January 1855 and birth, marriage, and death registrations contain much more information than their English counterparts. Currently births are available from 1855 to 1906; marriages from 1855 to 1931 and deaths from 1855 to 1976.

Birth registrations from 1856 contain details about the child (date, place and time of birth, full name, sex), the parents’ names (including maiden surname of mother), father’s occupation, name of informant and relationship to child. An 1855 birth certificate also contains information on siblings, the ages and birthplaces of both parents, their usual residence and the date and place of their marriage, but this level of detail proved difficult to sustain. In 1861 the date and place of the parents’ marriage was reinstated.

Marriage registrations give full name, age, marital status, occupation, usual residence, date and place of marriage, name and occupation of father, name and maiden name of mother, and names of witnesses and the officiating clergy. Birthplaces and previous marriage details were included in 1855 but dropped in 1856, although the former was restored in 1972.

Death registrations show the date, time and place of death, deceased’s name, sex, marital status, age and occupation, cause of death, duration of last illness, doctor’s name and details of the informant, usual residence, spouse’s name, parents’ names, occupations and whether they were deceased. Up to 1860, the place of burial, the name of the undertaker and when the doctor last saw the deceased alive, were also included. The deceased’s birthplace and names of children were removed in 1855. The spouses name was also not required from 1856, but was reinstated in 1861.

It is interesting to note that in New South Wales, where civil registration began in 1856, the amount of information required was the same as that of Scotland in 1855.

Wills and testaments were left by comparatively few people but are worth searching for, as they can exist for people of quite humble origins.

ScotlandsPeople is the official government source of genealogical data for Scotland and has made available images of civil registrations, censuses and now parish registers.