Settling under the Saltire - The Irish in Scotland
(c) Irish Geneaography
I recently gave a talk in Dublin for the Irish Genealogical Research Society's Open Day in Dublin on "Finding the Irish in Scotland", which this page supports. Remember, if you have "mislaid" an ancestor's sibling, don't assume they automatically emigrated across the Atlantic - Scotland was much closer to home and cheaper to get to.
If you do find kin in Scottish records, I promise you, you are blessed as the level of detail recorded is wonderful and may help you to further your research in older Irish records too. As this vexillogical depiction of my only family tree illustrates, this Scottish lass had at least 2 sets of Irish ancestors settled in Scotland lurking in her family tree well before her Irish father (of part Scots descent!) made his way to Glasgow.
If you do find kin in Scottish records, I promise you, you are blessed as the level of detail recorded is wonderful and may help you to further your research in older Irish records too. As this vexillogical depiction of my only family tree illustrates, this Scottish lass had at least 2 sets of Irish ancestors settled in Scotland lurking in her family tree well before her Irish father (of part Scots descent!) made his way to Glasgow.
History
The Irish have been both frequent visitors to and permanent settlers into Scotland for hundreds of years. The 18th century saw many seasonal agricultural workers crossing the Irish Sea to earn money during the harvest months and later returning home to Ireland. By the later years of this same century and into the early decades of the 19th century, more skilled workers, especially from the Ulster linen and textile working trades, were drawn to similar industries in Scotland's growing towns and cities. Sugar refining, coal mining, tanning and other arduous lines of work also had their employee ranks swelled by Irish immigrants too.
Then, as we know, came the Great Hunger and the flow of unskilled and desperate Irish into Scotland increased rapidly. As the majority of these were poor Roman Catholic Irish, strongly Presbyterian Scotland proved to be none to welcoming I'm afraid. Victorian industrialists on the other hand thought it a tremendously good idea that the Irish were prepared to work for lower wages or be thrown into the fight against well -organised and unionised indigenous labour. There is also some evidence that skilled Scots decided to try their luck in further flung Empire outposts such as New Zealand in large numbers at this time and thus also created opportunities for Irish workers.
Much has of course been written on the subject - here are a few links to some academic works that I found when researching the subject. I can't swear to the accuracy of the research of course but I think some of the essays are good thought provoking fodder;
There have also been a fair few books written on the subject - one lent to me by a fellow Irish genie entitled "The Irish Diaspora in Britain, 1750-1939" by Donald M. MacRaild (2nd Edn, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) is a comprehensive academic work on the subject.
The Irish have been both frequent visitors to and permanent settlers into Scotland for hundreds of years. The 18th century saw many seasonal agricultural workers crossing the Irish Sea to earn money during the harvest months and later returning home to Ireland. By the later years of this same century and into the early decades of the 19th century, more skilled workers, especially from the Ulster linen and textile working trades, were drawn to similar industries in Scotland's growing towns and cities. Sugar refining, coal mining, tanning and other arduous lines of work also had their employee ranks swelled by Irish immigrants too.
Then, as we know, came the Great Hunger and the flow of unskilled and desperate Irish into Scotland increased rapidly. As the majority of these were poor Roman Catholic Irish, strongly Presbyterian Scotland proved to be none to welcoming I'm afraid. Victorian industrialists on the other hand thought it a tremendously good idea that the Irish were prepared to work for lower wages or be thrown into the fight against well -organised and unionised indigenous labour. There is also some evidence that skilled Scots decided to try their luck in further flung Empire outposts such as New Zealand in large numbers at this time and thus also created opportunities for Irish workers.
Much has of course been written on the subject - here are a few links to some academic works that I found when researching the subject. I can't swear to the accuracy of the research of course but I think some of the essays are good thought provoking fodder;
- “A History of the Scottish People Migration: Scotland’s Shifting Population 1840-1940” WW Knox Out of print document published on the Scottish Archives Network site - see Section 4 in particular for a discussion of Irish immigration into Scotland.
- “Where’s Poor Paddy? The Contrasting Results of Irish Migration to Glasgow and Liverpool, 1790-1850” Shawn Day An essay published as part of an academic course contrasting the experiences of the Irish immigrants to these two great Victorian cities. *** THIS LINK IS CURRENTLY BROKEN - SEARCHING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE ***
- “The Irish Famine in a Scottish Perspective 1845-1851” Geraldine Vaughan Another research paper published in English on a French Canadian site.
There have also been a fair few books written on the subject - one lent to me by a fellow Irish genie entitled "The Irish Diaspora in Britain, 1750-1939" by Donald M. MacRaild (2nd Edn, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) is a comprehensive academic work on the subject.
Geography
If everything north of Hadrian's Wall is all a bit "Here be Dragons" to you then have a roam around the following free websites to familiarise yourself, literally, with the lay of the land. You will need this knowledge when you come to search by place on most of the online databases;
If everything north of Hadrian's Wall is all a bit "Here be Dragons" to you then have a roam around the following free websites to familiarise yourself, literally, with the lay of the land. You will need this knowledge when you come to search by place on most of the online databases;
- National Library of Scotland's Digital Maps Collection. Excellent collection of maps at different scales and covering different time periods. In particular, explore the very large scale town maps with every building marked - these will help you find not only places of residence but also work places, churches, cemeteries and poorhouses.
- GENUKI for Scotland. Volunteer site organised by historic county and populated with a wide range of useful information and links to other websites.
- ScotlandsPlaces. Useful gazetteer to help you find out more about unfamiliar localities plus some unusual digital resources, including one of my favourites - Horse Tax records! No joke, these helped me find a (cuckolded!) husband of a Scottish ancestor!
Record Sources
Although the big online players like Ancestry and FindMyPast have Scottish records aplenty if you have a subscription and free FamilySearch also has a good selection, these vary in coverage and format (many are just transcriptions for example.) The definitive place to go to search for your Irish kin by vital life events is ScotlandsPeople, where you will find births/baptisms, marriages, deaths/burials, wills and testaments, censuses and valuation rolls. It is a pay-per-view site where you will have to purchase credits to view actual records (and is the only place you can view certain images) but all results pages are free and it is very reasonably priced. They also have some great help and information pages. You can also visit the ScotlandsPeople Centre at New Register House in Edinburgh and buy a day pass to browse as many records as you want too, although for some reason they won't let you download the images but only pay to print them. I am also reliably informed by a (miffed) fellow genie who had long planned a visit to the centre that the prices were revised up in early 2018, so check the website carefully if you are planning to spend a few days there.
Although the big online players like Ancestry and FindMyPast have Scottish records aplenty if you have a subscription and free FamilySearch also has a good selection, these vary in coverage and format (many are just transcriptions for example.) The definitive place to go to search for your Irish kin by vital life events is ScotlandsPeople, where you will find births/baptisms, marriages, deaths/burials, wills and testaments, censuses and valuation rolls. It is a pay-per-view site where you will have to purchase credits to view actual records (and is the only place you can view certain images) but all results pages are free and it is very reasonably priced. They also have some great help and information pages. You can also visit the ScotlandsPeople Centre at New Register House in Edinburgh and buy a day pass to browse as many records as you want too, although for some reason they won't let you download the images but only pay to print them. I am also reliably informed by a (miffed) fellow genie who had long planned a visit to the centre that the prices were revised up in early 2018, so check the website carefully if you are planning to spend a few days there.
Archives, Resources and Contacts
The National Records of Scotland are also located at New Register House, combining what was previously the National Archives of Scotland and the General Register Office of Scotland. This is where you will have to go to research land records in person for example. They also have some excellent research guides online. "Tracing your Scottish Ancestors - the official guide" by Tristram Clarke details the NRS holdings and can be widely purchased.
The Scottish Archive Network site will help you to navigate the collections of 52 national and local archives, where you may well have to hunt for more specialist records that may never make it online. Their Research Tools and Knowledge Base pages are also very informative e.g. see their Poor Registers topic page for information on the content and whereabouts of these key records.
If you are planning a visit to Glasgow, where many Irish settled, then be sure to take advantage of the excellent Mitchell Library's Family History Centre. There is a guide to their resources online and also a fascinating collection of historic images entitled "Virtual Mitchell".
The University of Glasgow's School of Social and Political Sciences has posted some informative background reading on "The Scottish Way of Birth and Death", which I recommend to help understand the context in which these records have been created.
Some of the earliest wills and testaments that survive can be written in a challenging hand. The National Records of Scotland's microsite on Scottish Handwriting should help you get your eye in through online tutorials and coaching.
Poorhouse records can be some of the most wonderfully rich genealogical fare with which to enrich your family history, as I found when I discovered my erstwhile "bigamist" Irish 3xgreat grandfather and his extended families lurking within the pages of the Paisley registers! You can search a PDF index for these same registers yourself via Paisley Archives Poor Law site. With nearly 9000 mentions of "Ireland", you could be lucky too. You can also learn more about the architecture and history of the various Scottish establishments via Peter Higginbotham's hugely informative Workhouses site.
Once you establish a locale where you think your Irish kin may have settled, it can be worth getting in touch with and even joining the relevant local family history society. Members often venture out in all weathers to transcribe the rapidly eroding memorial inscriptions of local cemeteries for example or may be prevailed upon to do local record look-ups for you if you cannot travel yourself. The Scottish Association of Family History Societies is the national organisation that can help you get in touch with the right regional society. There is also a useful gazetteer to over 3500 burial grounds on their site.
The National Records of Scotland are also located at New Register House, combining what was previously the National Archives of Scotland and the General Register Office of Scotland. This is where you will have to go to research land records in person for example. They also have some excellent research guides online. "Tracing your Scottish Ancestors - the official guide" by Tristram Clarke details the NRS holdings and can be widely purchased.
The Scottish Archive Network site will help you to navigate the collections of 52 national and local archives, where you may well have to hunt for more specialist records that may never make it online. Their Research Tools and Knowledge Base pages are also very informative e.g. see their Poor Registers topic page for information on the content and whereabouts of these key records.
If you are planning a visit to Glasgow, where many Irish settled, then be sure to take advantage of the excellent Mitchell Library's Family History Centre. There is a guide to their resources online and also a fascinating collection of historic images entitled "Virtual Mitchell".
The University of Glasgow's School of Social and Political Sciences has posted some informative background reading on "The Scottish Way of Birth and Death", which I recommend to help understand the context in which these records have been created.
Some of the earliest wills and testaments that survive can be written in a challenging hand. The National Records of Scotland's microsite on Scottish Handwriting should help you get your eye in through online tutorials and coaching.
Poorhouse records can be some of the most wonderfully rich genealogical fare with which to enrich your family history, as I found when I discovered my erstwhile "bigamist" Irish 3xgreat grandfather and his extended families lurking within the pages of the Paisley registers! You can search a PDF index for these same registers yourself via Paisley Archives Poor Law site. With nearly 9000 mentions of "Ireland", you could be lucky too. You can also learn more about the architecture and history of the various Scottish establishments via Peter Higginbotham's hugely informative Workhouses site.
Once you establish a locale where you think your Irish kin may have settled, it can be worth getting in touch with and even joining the relevant local family history society. Members often venture out in all weathers to transcribe the rapidly eroding memorial inscriptions of local cemeteries for example or may be prevailed upon to do local record look-ups for you if you cannot travel yourself. The Scottish Association of Family History Societies is the national organisation that can help you get in touch with the right regional society. There is also a useful gazetteer to over 3500 burial grounds on their site.
