New Scottish crime and punishment records
2-3 minute read
By Alex Cox | August 22, 2019
Did your ancestors have a brush with the law?
Scotland, Court & Criminal Database
Were your Scottish ancestors in trouble with the law or a victim of a crime? Search from them in this database of more than 28,000 Crown Office Precognitions and High Court Trial Papers between 1801 and 1917. The collection also includes The Fife Kalendar of Convicts, and index to many of the Courts in Fife from 1708 to 1909, as well as the High Court Records.
Each result will include both a transcript and an image of the original document. The amount of information listed in each documents will vary, but most will reveal a combination of the accused’s name, birth year, birth place, address, occupation, the nature of their offence, the date and location of their trail as well as the sentence they received. Some records will also include trial notes, verdict comments, and previous convictions and additional comments (added by the licensor as opposed to being factual information included or taken from the records).
Crown Office Precognitions are factual statements that have been given by witnesses to both the prosecution and defence before the case goes to trial. Precognitions differ from a witness statement, a witness statement is an account of what the witness has said or seen were as a precognition is an account of the witness’s evidence.
Church of Scotland Ministers 1560-1949
Explore PDF images of the “The Succession of Ministers on the Church of Scotland from the Reformation”. Compiled by Hew Scott, D.D., The work was revised and continued up to 1949 under the Superintendence of a Committee appointed by the General Assembly.
As quoted in the book, “the design of the present work is to present a comprehensive account of the Succession of Ministers of the Church of Scotland since the period of the Reformation. An attempt is made to give some additional interest by furnishing incidental notices of their lives, writings and families, which may prove useful to the Biographer, the Genealogist, and the Historian.”
Isle of Man Roll Of Honour WW1
Find your Isle of Man ancestors who fell in the Great War. The Isle Of Man Roll Of Honour recorded the names of more than 1,900 men who died during the First World War or died as a result of wounds, injury or disease contracted on active service. These transcripts will reveal your ancestor’s rank, regiment, parish and biography.
Originally published in 1934 by the War Pensions Committee, the publication was funded entirely by Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby. In 1936, the War Pensions Committee donated copies to each parish church throughout the island. The foreword, provided by Lord Stanley, reads ‘It is well that the deeds of those who died in the Great War should find a permanent memorial in such a list. Whilst this generation lives their names will not be forgotten, but other generations will arise to whom they will not be personally known. This Roll will serve to keep their memory green and future Manxmen and Manxwomen, when reading it, will realise that in our great struggle the Isle of Man played a noble part’.
International Records – Liechtenstein
Discover if your ancestors were born in Liechtenstein. Search through thousands of records from the Liechtenstein birth and baptism index. The records were created through the International Genealogical Index.
Each transcript will reveal a combination of your ancestors’ birth year, baptism date, baptism place and parents’ names.
British & Irish Newspaper Update
Over 94,000 new pages covering 123 years of history are have been added to our newspaper collection this week. We have updated seven of our existing titles, with significant updates to Newcastle publication the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, to which we have added over 60,000 pages spanning the years 1870-1914.
We also have significant updates to society publication The Queen, as we continue to augment our early twentieth-century holdings for this newspaper. We have added pages to regional titles covering the North West of England – Penrith Observer and Lichfield Mercury – as well as Aberdeen – Aberdeen Press and Journal and Aberdeen Evening Express. Rounding off our updates this week is the Sunday World (Dublin).
