Statutory Certificates

The statutory registration of births, marriages and deaths in Scotland started on 1st January 1855. The law was enacted as the Registration of Births Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act of 1854. This act not only made it compulsory to register these events but also established the General Registry Office, provided for the appointment of the Registrar General and his staff and required local authorities to appoint a Registrar for every parish.

William Pitt Dundas was the original Registrar General, appointed on 12th September 1854 in preparation for compulsory registration the following year. He held the post for almost 26 years before being succeeded by Roger Montgomerie. The present, and 18th Registrar General is Duncan Macniven who took up his post in August 2003.

There had been a growing desire for compulsory civil registration in Scotland throughout the 19th century and although a Scottish Bill was presented in 1847 (10 years after their English neighbour) the Act did not reach the statute book for a further 7 years until the last few years when a massive programme to digitise the entire records collection was begun. Now most of the certificates can be viewed as scanned documents on a computer.

There have been many amendments to the Act and subsequent Acts passed which have a bearing on the system of statutory registration but the original principles still hold good to the present day. The general public can gain access to all statutory records by visiting the search rooms at New Register House in Edinburgh. The original paper records were withdrawn in 1966 and access was provided on Microfiche on a self-help basis.

These certificates are a treasure trove of information. Birth certificates, as you would expect, give the place of birth and parents' name but you will also find the date and place of the parents’ marriage. Marriage certificates are quite detailed: you can expect to find the place and date of the wedding, religious denomination, age, occupation and address for both the bride and groom with details of their parents and their parents’ occupations, along with the mothers’ maiden names. Death certificates, in addition to the expected details give the name and occupation of any spouse and parents’ names and occupations.

Although this can seem a straight forward process it is here that the skill and experience of the professional genealogist is most evident - ensuring that data is faithfully transcribed and mistaken leaps of faith are not taken.