ScotlandsPeople Network

Explore the essential building blocks for family history for the whole of Scotland, from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first.

What do I need to know before I start?

 The records are varied, and depending on your search you may need:

  • name of the person

  • when they were born, lived, married or died

  • where they were born, lived, married or died

  • religion

​What records can I find in the Mitchell: Registrars?

Update, April 2021: “At the moment the Registration Service are currently dealing with essential registration business. The re-opening date of the Centre at the Mitchell Library is currently under review and will be advised in due course”​


Accessing the ScotlandsPeople network through the Registrars allows you to explore the most comprehensive collection of Scottish vital records. This is the best option if you are just starting your family history research - or need to do lots of digging - and lets you really delve into records dating back almost 500 years. Using the network through the Registrars gives you access to images of more recent records that are not available offsite through the ScotlandsPeople website.

You can access the ScotlandsPeople network in the Registrars on payment of a daily fee. This includes access to digital images and a full index of the following records for all of Scotland:

 

Civil registration records

  • births, deaths and marriages, 1855 to present

  • divorces, 1984 to present

  • civil partnership indexes, 2005 to present

  • ‘minor’ records of births, deaths and marriages of Scots abroad which are recorded in foreign returns, service returns, war returns and marine registers

     

Old Parish Registers

  • births, baptisms, deaths and marriages, 1538 - 1854

     

Catholic Parish Registers

  • births and baptisms, 1703 – 1913

  • marriages, 1703 – 1938

  • deaths (including burials at St Peter’s, Dalbeth and Mount Vernon, Edinburgh), 1703 – 1963

     

Census returns, 1841 – 1911


Valuation rolls for all of Scotland, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920


Wills and testaments, 1513 – 1925


Soldiers' wills, 1857 - 1966


Military Service Appeals Tribunal records, 1916 - 1918


For more information on each of the above record types please see the relevant related guides.

​What records can I see online?

Images of many of these records can be purchased on the ScotlandsPeople website, although please note that there are restrictions on more recent records. This website includes images of births up to 1913, marriages to 1938 and deaths to 1963. Charges apply.