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General Register Office for Scotland

 
General Register Office for Scotland

 
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General Register Office for Scotland
 
 
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The General Register Office for Scotland is a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administers the registration of birth
Birth

Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring . The offspring is brought forth from the mother. Different forms of birth are oviparity, vivipary or Ovoviviparity....
s, death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
s, marriage
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
s, divorce
Divorce

Divorce or dissolution of marriage is a legal process in which a judge or other authority dissolves the bonds of matrimony existing between two persons, thus restoring them to the marital status of being single....
s and adoption
Adoption

Adoption is the act of Family law placing a child with a parent or parents other than those to whom they were born. An adoption order has the effect of severing parental responsibilities and rights of the original parent and transferring those responsibilities and rights to the adoptive parent....
s in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. It is also responsible for the statute
Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
s relating to the formalities of marriage and conduct of civil marriage
Civil marriage

Civil marriage or secular marriage is a marriage which is performed by a government official and not a religious organization....
 in Scotland.






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The General Register Office for Scotland is a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administers the registration of birth
Birth

Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring . The offspring is brought forth from the mother. Different forms of birth are oviparity, vivipary or Ovoviviparity....
s, death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
s, marriage
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
s, divorce
Divorce

Divorce or dissolution of marriage is a legal process in which a judge or other authority dissolves the bonds of matrimony existing between two persons, thus restoring them to the marital status of being single....
s and adoption
Adoption

Adoption is the act of Family law placing a child with a parent or parents other than those to whom they were born. An adoption order has the effect of severing parental responsibilities and rights of the original parent and transferring those responsibilities and rights to the adoptive parent....
s in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. It is also responsible for the statute
Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
s relating to the formalities of marriage and conduct of civil marriage
Civil marriage

Civil marriage or secular marriage is a marriage which is performed by a government official and not a religious organization....
 in Scotland. It administers the census of Scotland's population every ten years. It also keeps the Scottish National Health Service
NHS Scotland

NHS Scotland is the Publicly-funded health care of Scotland. It is one of the original three National Health Service created in the United Kingdom in 1948 and though a separate body from the other systems, co-ordination and co-operation with the other systems in the UK tends to hide the organisational separation from their users where "cr...
 Central Register.

History

Initially ministers of the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterianism church , decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
 were responsible for keeping parish
Parish

A parish is a local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Methodist, and Presbyterianism churches....
 records of baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
s and marriage
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
s, but only for their own church members. Later the Privy Council of Scotland
Privy Council of Scotland

The Privy Council of Kingdom of Scotland was a body that advised the King of Scots.In the range of its functions the council was often more important than the Estates of Scotland in the running the country....
, following the suggestion of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the Sovereignty and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body....
 enacted that all parish ministers should keep a record of baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
s, burial
Burial

Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over....
s and marriages. This situation continued until 1854 when Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislature in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories....
 passed an Act transferring responsibility to the State.

The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854 created the General Registry Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages, headed by the Registrar General with the appointment of registrars in every parish. It also provided that the Registrar General should produce an annual report to be forwarded to the Home Secretary
Home Secretary

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is one of the Great Offices of State....
 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.

Registrars General for Scotland

The Registrar General was also Deputy to the Lord Clerk Register
Lord Clerk Register

The office of Lord Clerk Register is the oldest surviving Great Officer of State in Scotland, with origins in the 13th century.The Clerk-Register was from ancient times the principal Clerk in the kingdom, from whom all other clerks, whatever their government positions, and who were essentially his deputies, derived their immediate authority...
. The Deputy Clerk Register had to be an Advocate
Advocate

An advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another person, especially in a legal context. It is used primarily in reference to the system of Scots law, Anglo-Dutch law, Scandinavian law and Law of Israel....
 of not less than ten years standing.

William Pitt Dundas was the first holder of the combined post of Deputy Clerk Register and Registrar General from September 1854 until April 1880. His successor, Roger Montgomerie, died six months after his appointment, and Mr Pitt Dundas resumed office for around a year, until the appointment of Sir Stair Agnew
Stair Agnew

Sir Stair Agnew Order of the Bath Royal Society of Edinburgh was a Scotland public official.The fifth son of Sir Andrew Agnew, 7th Baronet, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1855....
 KCB. The last person to hold the combined posts was Sir James Patten McDougall KCB, in office from May 1909 to March 1919.

Originally, this was the supervision of birth, death and marriage registration. It was expanded to include the conduct of the 1861 Census and all subsequent ones (working closely with the Registrar General to ensure consistency) and other statistical functions.

In 1920 the Registrar General (Scotland) Act 1920 was passed which provided for the appointment by the Secretary of State for Scotland a whole-time Registrar General, Dr James Craufurd Dunlop, (previously Medical Superintendent of Statistics) was appointed.

List of Registrars General for Scotland


  • William Pitt Dundas, 12 September 1854 - 28 April 1880
  • Roger Montgomerie, 19 April 1880 - 25 October 1880
  • William Pitt Dundas CB, 17 November 1880 - 12 January 1881
  • Sir Stair Agnew
    Stair Agnew

    Sir Stair Agnew Order of the Bath Royal Society of Edinburgh was a Scotland public official.The fifth son of Sir Andrew Agnew, 7th Baronet, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1855....
     KCB, 13 January 1881 - 30 April 1909
  • Sir James Patten McDougall KCB, 1 May 1909 - 7 March 1919
  • Dr James Craufurd Dunlop, 1 January 1921- 2 September 1930
  • Andrew Froude ISO, 3 September 1930 - 14 February 1937
  • James Gray Kyd CBE, 1 September 1937 - 30 November 1948
  • Edmund Albert Hogan CBE, 1 December 1948 - 31 May 1959
  • Alexander Burt Taylor CBE D Litt, 1 June 1959 - 4 September 1966
  • James Allan Ford CB MC, September 1966 - September 1969
  • Archibald L Rennie, October 1969 - 11 June 1973
  • William Baird, 12 June 1973 - 3 August 1978
  • Victor Colvin Stewart, 4 August 1978 - 12 April 1982
  • Dr Charles Milne Glennie CBE, 13 April 1982 - 31 October 1994
  • James Meldrum, 1 November 1994 - 21 February 1999
  • John Randall, 22 February 1999 - 1 August 2003
  • Duncan Macniven, 4 August 2003 - present


New Register House

New Register House
New Register House, the main building of the General Register Office for Scotland, is close to the east end of Princes Street
Princes Street

Princes Street is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland, and its main shopping street. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, stretching around 1 mile from Lothian Road in the west to Leith Street in the east....
 in Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
. It was designed by Robert Matheson
Robert Matheson

Robert Matheson was an USA entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.He was Professor of Entomology, New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University....
, the Clerk of Works
Clerk of Works

Clerks of Works are the most highly qualified non-commissioned officer tradesmen in the Royal Engineers. The qualification can be held in three specialisations: Electrical, Mechanical and Construction....
 at the Office of Her Majesty's Works in Scotland. Initially, the General Registry Office had been located in General Register House, but on 30 March 1861 was moved to New Register House.

See also

  • Demographics of Scotland
    Demographics of Scotland

    Scotland covers an area of 78,782km? or 30,341mi?, giving it a population density of . Around 70% of the country's population live in the Central Belt - a broad, fertile valley stretching in a northeast-southwest orientation between the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and including major settlements such as Paisley, Stirling, Falkirk, Perth, Scotl...
  • General Register Office (England and Wales)
    General Register Office

    The General Register Office is that part of the government of England and Wales that deals with the civil registration of childbirth , adoptions, marriages and civil partnerships, and deaths in both England and Wales....
  • General Register Office for Northern Ireland
  • General Register Office (Ireland)
  • Genealogy
    Genealogy

    Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigree of its members....
  • National Archives of Scotland
    National Archives of Scotland

    Based in Edinburgh, the National Archives of Scotland are the national archives of Scotland. The NAS claims to have one of the most varied collection of archives in Europe....
  • Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965
    Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965

    The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1965, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which amended the existing legislation controlling the registration system of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland founded in 1855....


External links

  • - A genealogical research site administered by the GRO for Scotland