Search new Scottish records this Findmypast Friday

2-3 minute read

By Daisy Goddard | March 22, 2024

There are over 1.3 million new additions for you to explore.

This Findmypast Friday sees a huge update to our collection - we've added a total of 1,312,523 new Scottish records.

If your ancestor spent time in a mental health institution in years gone by, their name may appear in this week's new Mental Health Institution Admission Registers. You can also explore over a million new Poor Law and crime records.

From Scarborough to St. Andrews, we also added five new titles to our newspaper collection.

Scotland, Mental Health Institutions Registers & Admissions

We've added a brand new set of 220,7317 Scottish mental health institutional records this week, spanning 1858 to 1921.

Scotland, Court & Criminal Database

We've also added over a million Scottish court database transcriptions to this existing collection, making it easier than ever to uncover those criminal connections within your family's history.

These records are taken from the Court of Sessions, Crown Counsel Procedure Books and the Scottish Prison Records Index.

Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists

If your Scottish ancestor received Poor Law relief between 1845 and 1930, their name may appear within these 7,906 new records.

This week we added registers from Wigtownshire and the Scottish Borders to this existing collection, meaning it's easier than ever to locate your Scottish ancestors within our records.

Discover the Prisoners of War News and more

We added five new titles to our newspaper archive this week. For anyone interested in Second World War history, the Prisoners of War News isn't to be missed - first published in November 1940, this British Red Cross publication was printed in Aberdeen.

Prisoners of War News.

It details the names and other details of British soldiers who were held as prisoners of war in Germany. If you're having trouble finding your ancestor in our traditional POW records, this title may help to fill in the gaps.

With a total of 292,085 brand new pages added to the newspaper archive, we've also updated a further 17 publications this week.

Here's everything that's been added to our newspaper archive this week.

New titles:

Gravesend Messenger, 1998-1999
Kent County Examiner and Ashford Chronicle, 1888-1889
Prisoners of War News, 1940-1945
Scarborough Evening News, 1889, 1986-1992, 1995-1997
The Regiment, 1896, 1898-1901

Updated titles:

Arbroath Herald, 1985
Bridlington Free Press, 1986
Broughty Ferry Guide and Advertiser, 1974-1978
Fife Free Press, & Kirkcaldy Guardian, 1971-1973, 1979-1982
Forfar Dispatch, 1985
Fraserburgh Herald and Northern Counties’ Advertiser, 1959
Galloway Gazette, 1986
Halifax Daily Guardian, 1915-1917
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 1983
Horncastle News, 1972-1976
Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail, 1992
Melton Mowbray Times and Vale of Belvoir Gazette, 1992-1993
Middleton Guardian, 1988-1989
Northampton Mercury, 1987
Ripon Gazette, 1958, 1973-1977, 1988, 1997
St. Andrews Citizen, 1992
Star Green ‘un, 1907-1908, 1962-1974

Last week, we added new Irish records to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. View the full release here.

Join us on Friday at 4pm

This week Ellie is joined by genealogist Emma Maxwell to take a deep dive into our new Scottish records. We'll also be giving you a peek at some new features on our site - this session is not to be missed.