Scottish civil registration commenced in 1855 following the creation of the General Record Office for Scotland, some seventeen and half years after England and Wales. But since its creation Scottish statutory records have been compiled under the authority of Scots law, with many major differences between how things were done north of the border compared to the south – not least within the area of marriage. In this talk genealogist Chris Paton examines the history of Scottish civil registration, and the differences between Scots records and those of the rest of the United Kingdom.
Scottish roots, Chris Paton works full time in Scotland as a professional genealogist, lecturer, tutor and writer. Author of ten books, and with daily contributions to his British GENES blog (www.britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk), he also teaches Scottish based genealogy courses for Pharos Tutors (www.pharostutors.com) and has tutored on the Postgraduate Genealogical Studies programme at the University of Strathclyde.