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Old Parish Registers

What proportion of contemporary events came to be recorded in the OPRs?

Gauging the level of inaccuracy/omission in the OPRs and putting an all-Scotland figure on it, is well-nigh impossible, particularly now that we are so far removed from the events themselves. The level of registrations varied from period to period. There are a lot of contemporary accounts, particularly in the Old Statistical Account of Scotland published in the late 18th century, that made frequent references to the unsatisfactory state of the parish registers. The principal causes attributed were i) the 'negligence' of people, particularly the Dissenters, and ii) the provisions of the Act of 1783 (23 Geo.III c.67). This Act is believed to have contributed more than any other cause to the imperfect state of the registers. Under this statute, a stamp-duty of 3 old pence was imposed upon the registered entry of every Scottish burial, marriage, birth and christening. Ministers and session clerks were empowered to demand the duty. Refusal to pay rendered people liable to a penalty of five pounds. Needless to say it was very unpopular, and it is alleged that whole parishes, and even some counties (Sutherland), ceased maintaining registers entirely.

One of the best sources for a contemporary assessment is that made by George Seton, who prior to the introduction of the Scottish Civil Registration Act of 1854 wrote a book entitled "Sketch of the History and Imperfect Condition of the Parochial registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Scotland". He was advocating the introduction of civil registration, and therefore his findings need to be treated with some caution, but he attempted to assess the levels of omission in the registers. In 879 parishes in existence between 1842 to 1850, the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered were recorded as falling, despite census numbers for 1841 and 1851 that clearly reflected a rising Scottish population (2.62 million to 2.88 million). The numbers registered also reflected variable rates from year to year and falling registrations. Seton estimated that a rural area such as Sutherland should reflect annual births of c.800. In reality registrations there fell from 470 in 1842 to 74 in 1850. Similar discrepancies occur for the major cities - Glasgow should have reflected 10,000 births, but actually averaged only 2,467; Edinburgh should have averaged 4,800 births, but averaged only 1,077; Dundee should have seen 2,250 births, but averaged only 531.

Given these obvious omissions, it is difficult to assess the under-registration rate for Scotland as a whole. It would be misleading to say that it was an overall percentage figure of only 20-30%, as clearly some parishes recorded higher figures than others. It is unlikely that ANY parish in Scotland ever achieved 100% coverage.

Summary list of old Parish Registers/Registration Districts, including current Registration Districts.

 

Dates in English & Welsh parish registers sometimes have two years shown. What about Scotland's old parish registers?

Using the old Julian calendar, each new year began in the spring, on 25 March, instead of on 1 January,as with the present Gregorian calendar. Calendar reform began in continental Europe, and King James VI of Scotland proclaimed that it should take place in Scotland on 1 January 1600. With the Union of the Crowns in 1603, James went on to become King James I of England & Wales, but south of the Border the calendar change did not take place until nearly 150 years later, in 1752.

In many old legal documents in England & Wales, therefore, dates in the months of January, February and early March are referred to with two years, eg 1 January 1699/1700, and this has been the cause of much confusion. Scots legal documents of the period can sometimes reflect this double-dating too, probably because contemporary lawyers were used to working with both systems.

Scotland's old parish registers are however unequivocal. A date of 1 January 1700 means precisely that.

When calendar reform belatedly came to England, it did nevertheless affect Scotland also, for it occasioned a minor re-alignment of dates. Neither the English Julian calendar nor the Scots Gregorian calendar in use had accurately taken into account the length of the year, and differences had persisted between Britain and other countries in Europe. An adjustment was needed, and Parliament decided that the date should jump directly from 2 to 14 September 1752, with no intervening days numbered 3 to 13. This change caused riots in places in England & Wales, where some people felt that eleven days were being stolen from their lives. In Scotland there seem to have been no such problems.

The page below from the OPR for Inveraray and Glenaray in Argyll includes a contemporary note of the change to the calendar. (Reference OPR 513, vol 2, p 196)

For further information go to the Scottish Archive Network Research Tools and select Knowledge Base, then Days, dates and calendars from the list of subjects.