More Scottish Interests
Thes items were originally published on the WAGS Blog between November 2012 and February 2014. 
Great War Pension Cards
The Western Front Association (WFA) is delighted to announce that it has secured the safe storage of a major archive of over six million Great War soldiers' pension record cards.The key aspect of the records is that, uniquely, they unite genealogical information with military information.
In order that the information on the card records can be preserved for posterity, the WFA wish to create an online, searchable archive. They plan to scan the records digitally and to make them findable with a searchable database.The full Press Release can be read at The Western Front Accociation website
Deceased Online
Another 15 cemeteries and burial grounds have been added to the Scottish Memorial Inscriptions collection now available at deceasedonline and these include cemeteries from Edinburgh, Highlands and South Lanarkshire, plus lots more. Two of these new ones Kildalton Kirkyard on the isle of Isla and Roshven in the Highlands include photos.
For full information go to Deceased Online website
Harris families revealed!
Northton Heritage Trust is happy to announce that the second installment of their www.hebridespeople.com database is now available.
The first stage was the publication of the emigrant database, and this has now been followed with the database for families connected with the Isle of Harris, Berneray and St Kilda.
The site works on the principle of purchasing credits, which will be familiar to those who have used the scotlandspeople website. Entering a name will show all persons of that name on the database, their date of birth and parish of birth, and by choosing the appropriate entry you can find access directly to place of birth, parents (where known) date and place of marriage and death, together with a note of where that person appears in the census records from 1841 to 1901. Dates are only shown as years, but with this information exact dates and certificates etc. can be accessed from scotlandspeople if desired.
The database also allows access to two further unique features - family notes and family sheets. These take the researcher beyond research into individual persons to research into whole families. The family notes give a summary of the family history. They are based on the 1851 census as a datum-line, working back as far as possible usually to the generation born in about 1750/60, and forward as far as 1920. The family sheets are hand-written work-sheets, compiled by Bill Lawson for each family, showing the lines of descent in the male line, together with cross referencing of the female line to their spouses' family sheets. There is also a gazetteer available, with a summarised history of each township for those less familiar with Harris.
So there we have stage 2 of the database. Stage 3, comprising the families of the Point peninsula in Lewis should be ready soon, and it is hoped to gradually add all the other parishes of the Outer Hebrides over the next few years.
The project is funded by HIE, LEADER Innse Gall, Heritage Lottery Fund and Comunn na Gaidhlig.
The website has been created and managed by Reefnet Ltd. Bill Lawson BL, FSA(Scot), ASGRASeallam! Visitor CentreAn Taobh Tuath (Northton) Na Hearadh (Isle of Harris) HS3 3JA01859520258 www.hebridespeople.comwww.seallam.comwww.BillLawson.com
Check it out at www.hebridespeople.com now.
Trade Directories
The National Library of Scotland's trade directories holdings on its Internet Archive page has added one more directory for Aberdeen and several from Glasgow during the Second World War:
Post Office Aberdeen directory (Volume 1931-32)
The Post-Office annual Glasgow directory (Volume 1941-42)
The Post-Office annual Glasgow directory (Volume 1940-41)
The Post-Office annual Glasgow directory (Volume 1939-40)
The Post-Office annual Glasgow directory (Volume 1938-39)
The NLS pages on the site can be found at http://archive.org/details/nationallibraryofscotland - including 987 trade directories (compared to just over 700 on the library's own site at www.nls.uk
Thanks to Chris Paton for keeping us updated - Visit Chris at http://britishgenes.blogspot.com.au/
Valuation Rolls
5)It has been announced that the Valuation Rolls in Scotland for 1905 have just been added to the ScotlandsPeople website.
The new records, comprising over 2.4 million indexed names and over 74,000 digital images, cover every kind of building, structure or property in Scotland which were assessed as having a rateable value in 1905. Fully-searchable both by name and address, the 1905 Valuation Rolls (VRs) provide a terrific snapshot of Scottish society during the Edwardian era, and will be a valuable resource for genealogy researchers and local/social historians.
What do the Rolls contain?
The rolls record the names of owners, tenants and occupiers of each property, unlike the full lists of family members to be found in the censuses. The named person is usually the head of the household, but sometimes a husband and wife might be listed. Frequently, the wife is the named tenant of rented property. The VRs include all social classes - so you can read about folk who lived in tenements to owners of mansions and country estates.
What can I learn from the 1905 Valuation Rolls?
You can learn about who was living at a certain address, and whether they owned or rented the property. You can also see the rent that was paid for the house or flat, and also the rateable value of the property. As the 1905 VRs appear between the census years of 1901 and 1911, the new records will also help researchers to find ancestors who disappeared between censuses.
Summary - from tenement dwellers to owners of mansions
So whether you're a genealogist or a social/local historian, the 1905 Valuation Rolls will be a rich resource for historical research. The 1905 Rolls will also complement the 1915 VRs, which were launched in March 2012. Taken together, the 1905 and 1915 VRs offer researchers an excellent set of records for learning about the owning/renting of property by Scotland's people in the early 20th Century.
To start searching and browsing these new records,visit the ScotlandsPeople website at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
Scottish Diaspora - Homecoming Tapestry
The Scottish Special Interest Group have just received the material and wools to embroider a panel (50x50 cms), of a Scottish Homecoming Diaspora Tapestry.
We have been supplied with very specific details of the stitches to be used, and the methods of presentation - very daunting for many - but WAGS member Grace Campbell, a very experienced embroiderer has offered to start us off, by explaining and exhibiting everything involved.
We only have two months to return the finished panel, so we are looking for any volunteers (You don't have to have any Scottish Interests) who would like to join us at our first get-together in Unit 4, 48 May St., Bayswater at 10.00am, next Thursday Feb 27.
For a look at the tapestry image click on the following link to WAGS website News item: Scottish Diaspora.
Ian Scott
WAGS Scottish Special Interest Group
