Scottish Family History

National resources for Scotland genealogy research

Find your Scottish ancestors, local history and details of their lives with these online family history and genealogy resources.

General Family History

ScotlandsPeople
A comprehensive resource for Scottish records — census returns, wills, birth certificates, death certificates and more. Build the complete picture of your Scottish ancestry with ScotlandsPeople.
Scottish Indexes
A large collection of indexes from unique sources such as prison and court records to more commonly used sources such as birth, marriage, death and census records. Quaker records and mental health records cover all of Scotland.

Scotland Births & Baptisms 1564–1929
Discover your Scottish ancestor among millions of records covering almost 400 years of births and baptisms. Find their name and date of birth as well as their place of baptism.
Scotland Marriages and Banns 1561–1893
The most comprehensive and fully indexed collection of Scottish marriage records available online.
Scotland Deaths and Burials 1564–2017
Search millions of parish records from many primary sources and family history societies from all over the country.
Scotland BDM
A place for submitting and viewing BMDs (births, marriages and deaths) for free. Sharing information this way is a great way of adding to your Scottish family history research.
Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
Discover your Catholic Scottish ancestors. This collection holds baptism registers from all eight Scottish dioceses and encompasses over 300 years of records.
Roman Catholic Parish Marriages
Explore thousands of Roman Catholic sacramental registers, and discover your ancestor's wedding location and date, as well as the names of those who witnessed the occasion.
Roman Catholic Parish Burials
Discover your Catholic Scottish ancestry with these Roman Catholic burial registers — location, date and in many cases cause of death.
Free REG
Provides free parish registers for the UK, with information on births, marriages and deaths.

Find A Grave in Scotland
Find the final resting place of a loved one or an ancestor. Search by name, region, date of death and more. View lair details, headstone photographs and aerial photographs of cemeteries.
Memento Mori — Scottish Monumental Inscriptions Archived
PDF files for many Scottish burial grounds. Now archived, but most records still available.

FreeCEN Scotland
A free-to-view online searchable database of the 19th-century Scottish census returns.
Register of Sasines 1701–1720
Includes the names, dates and location of registered land.

Criminal Ancestor Records
Browse our record categories for criminal and legal ancestor records.
Scottish Borders Prison Database
Search for your criminal ancestors for free. Search by name, surname, birth year, prison or place.
Scottish Court and Criminal Database
Were your Scottish ancestors in trouble with the law or a victim of a crime? Find out details of the crime and where the trial was held.

Scottish Post Office Directories
Over 700 digitised directories covering most of Scotland and dating from 1773 to 1911. A perfect resource for researching Scotland's family, trade and town history.

Gazetteer for Scotland
A vast geographical encyclopaedia featuring details of towns, villages, bens and glens from the Scottish Borders to the Northern Isles. Includes histories of family names and clans, biographies of famous Scots and descriptions of historical events.
GENUKI Scotland
An online directory and library of genealogy and family history resources and information for Scotland.
Happy Haggis Archived
Claims to be "probably the best Scottish family tree site in the world". I'm not sure if that's true but you can certainly find loads of information about Scottish family history plus over 2,000 Scottish links listed by county.
People of Medieval Scotland
A database of all known people of Scotland between 1093 and 1314 mentioned in over 8,600 contemporary documents. Searchable or browsable by name or document type.
Scotlands Places
A free resource that lets you explore thousands of records about Scotland by searching for a place name, clicking on a map or typing in a postcode. Brings together maps, photographs and written records.

Historic Maps of Scotland
Browse and view historic and ancient maps of Scotland. Town maps, military maps, marine charts and more.

British Military Records
Browse the military records category for links to service records, medal rolls and more.
Great War Forum
A very active place to discuss and find help about your military ancestors and their war experiences.
Naval & Military Archive
Ten databases covering most of those from Britain who died in military service in both World Wars. Includes the National Roll of the Great War, De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, Boer War Casualties 1899–1902, Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations and more.
Scottish First World War Doctors
Information transcribed from forms sent to all medical practitioners across Scotland between December 1915 and 1919.

Scotsman Digital Archive
Search and view every Scotsman newspaper between 1817 and 1950.

Occupations & Professions
An index of occupational and trade records from many parts of Scotland — mariners, photographers, merchants, police officers, watchmakers, veterinary surgeons and more.
Scottish Mining History
Over 22,000 names of those involved in mining in Scotland, including almost 15,000 fatalities.

Britain From Above
Over 16,000 historic aerial photos of Britain from 1919 to 1953, searchable by place name or map.

Scottish Genealogy Society
Based in Edinburgh and founded in 1953. Run by volunteers, they can advise at all stages of your research. Members and visitors are always welcome at the Library & Family History Centre.
RootsChat Scotland
An easy-to-use messaging forum for everyone researching their family history roots or local history, with a focus on Ireland and the British Isles.

British Surnames
Research the origins and distribution of your surname.
Guild of One-Name Studies
The biggest organisation for surname research, with thousands of surname studies available.
Surnames of Scotland
The surnames of Scotland, their origin, meaning and history.
Scottish Surnames
The origin and signification of Scottish surnames; an online book originally printed in 1862.

Scottish First World War Rolls of Honour
Rolls of honour containing listings of casualties and those who died on active service. Includes rolls for organisations such as schools, universities, clans, businesses and churches, as well as for places all over Scotland.
Scottish National War Memorial
Free access to the Scottish Roll of Honour listing World War One, World War Two and Post 1945 casualties. Search by surname, service number and date of death.

Scotland Will and Testament Index 1481–1807
Explore this index of records from the commissariat courts of Scotland from 1481 to 1807. The index will reveal the date of your ancestor's last will and testament.

Scottish Gypsies Archived
The Gypsies of Scotland are part of a close-knit communal people with a shared background scattered throughout the world. This site explores their origins and history.
Legacy UK Obituaries
The place to find and share news of a death in the UK.