View source for National Records of Scotland

{{short description|Non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government}}
{{Use dmy dates|cs1-dates=s|date=August 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox government agency
|agency_name = National Records of Scotland
|nativename='''{{lang-gd|Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba}}'''
|type = [[Non-ministerial government department]]
|logo = National Records of Scotland logo.svg
|logo_width =
|picture =
|picture_width =
|picture_caption =
|formed  = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|04|1}}
|preceding1 = [[National Archives of Scotland]]
|preceding2 = [[General Register Office for Scotland]]
|jurisdiction = [[Scotland]]
|headquarters = HM General Register House, 2 Princes Street,  Edinburgh EH1 3YY
|employees = 430
|budget = 
|minister1_name = [[Angus Robertson]]
|minister1_pfo = [[Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture]]
|chief1_name = Paul Lowe
|chief1_position = Keeper of the Records / Registrar General
|website =  {{URL|https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/}}
}}

'''National Records of Scotland''' ({{lang-gd|Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba}}) is a [[non-ministerial department]] of the [[Scottish Government]]. It is responsible for [[Civil registry|civil registration]], the [[census]] in [[Scotland]], [[demography]] and [[statistics]], [[family history]], as well as the [[national archives]] and historical records.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nationalrecordsofscotland.gov.uk/about-us/what-we-do |title=What we do |publisher=National Records of Scotland |access-date=2 October 2015}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.gov.scot/News/Releases/2011/03/10144001 |date=11 April 2011 |access-date=2 October 2015 | publisher=[[Scottish Government]] | title=National Records of Scotland}}</ref> 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 member|ex officio]]'' in the Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland, currently Paul Lowe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/about-us/corporate-governance|title=Corporate Governance|date=31 May 2013 |publisher=National Records of Scotland|access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref>

== Services and collections ==
NRS supports research in a number of ways, through guides, websites and training. <ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=National Records of Scotland Web|date=2013-05-31|title=National Records of Scotland|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20201013061343/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/|archive-date=2020-10-13|access-date=2021-01-11|website=National Records of Scotland|language=en}}</ref> 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]]. <ref>{{Cite web|title=ScotlandsPeople|url=https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20210101221252/https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/|archive-date=2021-01-01|access-date=2021-01-11|website=ScotlandsPeople|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/ Scottish Handwriting]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=National Records of Scotland Web|date=2013-05-31|title=National Records of Scotland|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/palaeography|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20200504110352/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/palaeography|archive-date=2020-05-04|access-date=2021-01-11|website=National Records of Scotland|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Scottish Handwriting home page|url=https://www.scottishhandwriting.com/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20170401010932/http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/|archive-date=2017-04-01|access-date=2021-01-11|website=www.scottishhandwriting.com}}</ref>

The NRS collects and publishes Scottish [[Official statistics|statistics]] and data relating to registers, notably deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland,<ref>[https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/covid19stats Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland]</ref> the source for data provided on the Scottish Government's COVID-19 dashboard.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=National Records of Scotland Web|date=2013-05-31|title=National Records of Scotland|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-a-z|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20201013061343/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-a-z|archive-date=2020-01-01|access-date=2021-01-11|website=National Records of Scotland|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-12-30|title=COVID-19 in Scotland: Detailed Analysis. Deaths.|url=https://data.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/detail.html#deaths|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20210101200929/https://data.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/detail.html#deaths|archive-date=2021-01-01|access-date=2021-01-11|website=The Scottish Government - data.gov.scot}}</ref> It also publishes statistics about first names given to babies in Scotland since 1998.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NRS: Baby Names|url=https://scotland.shinyapps.io/nrs-baby-names/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20210315193721/https://scotland.shinyapps.io/nrs-baby-names/|archive-date=2021-03-15|access-date=2021-03-25|website=scotland.shinyapps.io}}</ref> 

NRS maintains the [[Scottish Register of Tartans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Scottish Register of Tartans|url=https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/index|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20200413224314/https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/index|archive-date=2020-04-13|access-date=2021-01-11|website=www.tartanregister.gov.uk}}</ref>

It aims to be a leader in archival practice and acts a source of guidance to records managers and [[Archivist|archivists]] in Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=National Records of Scotland Web|date=2013-05-31|title=National Records of Scotland|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/record-keeping|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20201009200122/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/record-keeping|archive-date=2020-10-09|access-date=2021-01-11|website=National Records of Scotland|language=en}}</ref>

The NRS Web Continuity Service<ref>[https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/ NRS Web Continuity Service]</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=National Records of Scotland Web|date=2013-05-31|title=NRS Web Continuity Service|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/researching-online/the-nrs-web-continuity-service/web-archiving-and-web-continuity|url-status=live|archive-url=https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20201220165157/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/researching-online/the-nrs-web-continuity-service/web-archiving-and-web-continuity|archive-date=2020-12-20|access-date=2021-01-11|website=National Records of Scotland|language=en}}</ref>

==Location==
[[File:HM General Register House, Edinburgh (geograph 2869117).jpg|thumb|left|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, Edinburgh|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==
{{further|Lord Clerk Register|General Register Office for Scotland|National Archives of Scotland}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our history|url=https://www.ros.gov.uk/about/what-we-do/our-history|website=Registers of Scotland|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> Registers, rolls and records were kept in [[Edinburgh Castle]] from about the 13th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our history|url=https://www.ros.gov.uk/about/what-we-do/our-history|website=Registers of Scotland|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref>  The role of the Clerk of the Rolls eventually became known as the [[Lord Clerk Register]], the oldest surviving great [[Great Officers of State|offices of state in Scotland]].<ref>A L Murray 'The Lord Clerk Register' 53 Scot Hist Rev 2 No 156, pp 124–156 (October 1974)</ref> However, records held by the Scottish Crown did not typically include personal data such as [[Birth certificate|birth]], [[Death certificate|death]] and [[Marriage certificate|marriage records]]. Instead, the clergy and other officials of the [[Church of Scotland]] kept [[parish]] records, which recorded personal data such as [[Baptism|baptisms]] and [[Marriage|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 [[Baptism|baptisms]], [[Burial|burials]] and marriages.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> However, in 1801, the first national Census found that, out of the 850 parishes in Scotland, not more than 99 had regular registers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> This was in part due to sporadic recording keeping and accidental destruction of registers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> 

In 1806, a Royal Warrant established the office of Deputy Clerk Register,<ref>Royal Warrant 1906: National Archives of Scotland C3/24, No 184.</ref> 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|Industrial revolution]] radically changed the population demographics of Scotland, with [[Central Belt|central belt]] parishes being swamped by migrants from the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]] and [[Scottish Lowlands|Lowlands]] which also contributed to the poor record keeping in registers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> 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:<blockquote>"Everybody knows that, by the law of Scotland, the marriage ceremony can be performed with as perfect legal effect by a blacksmith as by a clergyman"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref></blockquote>However, the proposals for reform were dropped and in 1854,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> the [[Registers of Scotland|Deputy Clerk Register]]'s duties were also extended to the care of the records of births, deaths and marriages in the role of ''Registrar General'' under the [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1965/49/enacted Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854], which established the [[General Register Office for Scotland|General Registry Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages]]. The 1854 Act also provided that the Registrar General should produce an annual report to be forwarded to the [[Home Secretary]] to be laid before Parliament, containing a general abstract of the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered during the previous year. The first general abstract (relating to 1855) was submitted in 1856. By the time of his first annual detailed report, published in 1861, the first Registrar General for Scotland, William Pitt Dundas, claimed that: "there is good reason for believing that very few births indeed now escape registration."<ref name=":0">Higgs, Edward,  [http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/View?path=Browse/Essays%20%28by%20kind%29/General&active=yes&mno=2003 The development of the General Register Office (Scotland)] Retrieved 26 March 2016</ref>

In 1855 and 1860, two further Acts, the [[Registration (Scotland) Act, 1855]] (18 & 19 Vict., c.29) and the [[Registration (Scotland, Amendment) Act, 1860]] (23 & 24 Vict., c.85), were passed which amended some of the sections of the 1854 Act. The 1854 Act had placed considerable burdens on the [[Sheriff principal|sheriffs]] of the Scottish counties, who had already played a role in the taking of decennial censuses. The amending Acts reduced their responsibilities by appointing registration district examiners to inspect the registers. They also made revised provision for the transmission of the parochial registers up to the year 1820 to the General Register Office Scotland (GROS), and the registers for the years 1820–1855 to the custody of the local registrars. These registers were to be retained by the local registrars for 30 years, after which they were to be sent to the GROS.<ref name=":0" />

In 1879, The Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 further provided that the office of Lord Clerk Register would remain as a ceremonial Great Officer of State,<ref>Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 (c 44), ss 1, 2.</ref> with all record keeping duties passing to the Deputy Clerk Register.<ref>Lord Clerk Register (Scotland) Act 1879 (c 44), section 6.</ref> In 1909 by Sir James Patten McDougall was appointed as Deputy Clerk Register, the last holder of the combined offices of Registrar General and Deputy Lord Clerk Register.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> The Registrar General (Scotland) Act 1920 provided for the appointment by the Secretary of State for Scotland of a full-time ''Registrar General'', separate from the Deputy Clerk Register.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> The recording of personal data was in effect severed from the Deputy Clerk Register, who continued to maintain the records and registers of Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Registers of Scotland Manuals|url=https://rosdev.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/2ARM/pages/77070887/Timeline+of+Property+Records+in+Scotland|website=rosdev.atlassian.net|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> Dr James Crawford Dunlop, who had served as medical superintendent of statistics since 1904, held the office of Registrar General from 1921 to 1930.  The 12 subsequent Registrars General were drawn from the civil service in Scotland and headed the [[General Register Office for Scotland]] independently from the Deputy Clerk Register.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scotland's Population 2004: The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends: 150th Edition|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref>

In 1928, the office of Deputy Clerk Register itself was abolished by the [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/18-19/34/contents/enacted Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Act 1928], becoming the ''Keeper of the Registers and Records of Scotland''.  However, it came to be recognised that the keeping of records and the keeping of registers was too cumbersome a task to be entrusted to a single department.<ref>Report by the Committee of the Scottish Records Advisory Council, July 1943 (National Archives of Scotland HH1/1832)</ref> In 1948, the [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/57 Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948] provided that the Registers of Scotland and Records of Scotland were to be split into two separate government organisations with two separate officials: (1) the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and (2) the Keeper of the Records of Scotland. The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland was given the duties to maintain and preserve the [[Registers of Scotland|General Register of Sasines]], the [[Registers of Scotland|Register of Hornings]], the [[Registers of Scotland|Register of Inhibitions and Adjudications]], the [[Registers of Scotland|Register of Deeds]] and other chancery and judicial registers.<ref>Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 s.1(2)</ref> The Keeper of the Records of Scotland, was given the duties to preserve the public registers, records and rolls of Scotland.<ref>Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Act 1948 s.1(3).</ref> 

From 1949, the Keeper of the Registers headed the Department of the [[Registers of Scotland]]. The Keeper of the Records of Scotland headed the Records Office, later called the National Archives of Scotland.  This left three departments and their respective officials managed the following: 

* Personal Data: The Registrar General and the [[General Register Office for Scotland]]. 
* Records: The Keeper of the Records of Scotland and the Records Office, later the [[National Archives of Scotland]]. 
* Registers: The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and [[Registers of Scotland]].

=== Recent mergers ===
The current body (NRS) was created on 1 April 2011 by the merger of the [[General Register Office for Scotland]] and [[National Archives of Scotland]] and is a [[Public bodies of the Scottish Government|Non-ministerial office]] of the [[Scottish Government]]. NRS is one of the [[National Collections of Scotland]] and falls with the ministerial portfolio of the [[Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.scot/about/who-runs-government/cabinet-and-ministers/cabinet-secretary-for-economy-fair-work-and-culture/|title=Cabinet Secretary for Economy Fair Work and Culture|publisher=Scottish Government|access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref> The [[Registers of Scotland]] remain a separate organisation and fall within the ministerial portfolio of the [[Cabinet Secretary for Finance]]. 


==References==
<references />

== Acknowledgements ==
{{Wikipedia}}

== External links ==
*{{Official website|https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/}}

[[Category:Archives in Scotland]]
[[Category:Demographics of Scotland]]
[[Category:Scottish genealogy]]
[[Category:State archives]]