OCCUPATIONS

KIRK MINISTERS archive.org If your ancestor was a Church of Scotland minister, a biographical description of his career may be found in the volumes of the Fasti Ecclesiae

Scoticanae. These are freely available on the Internet Archive, and are arranged by synod, the ecclesiastical court jurisdiction, which oversaw presbyteries and kirk sessions. WITCHCRAFT www.shc.ed.ac.uk/ Research/ witches

Was your ancestor a witch or ever bewitched? The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft holds details of almost 4,000 people tried from 1563-1736 for allegedly dabbling in the dark arts, or who appeared as court witnesses. The cases are sourced from contemporary records including kirk session registers and court papers.

MILITARY RESEARCH scottishmilitaryresearch.co.uk

The Scottish Military Research Group is a charitable organisation set up to educate and inform the public about how to research their Scottish military ancestry. As well as providing free access to rolls of honour, it has the most comprehensive collection of Scottish military war memorials online, accessible via its Commemorations Project.

SCOTTISH ARCHITECTS scottisharchitects.org.uk

The Dictionary of Scottish Architects is a useful platform, containing information on architects and assistants who worked in Scotland between 1660 and 1980. The database includes detailed information on projects completed by Scottish architects, plus Irish and English architects known to have worked in Scotland.

BUSINESS RECORDS gla.ac.uk/ services/ archives/ collections/ business

An important finding aid is the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Business Archive. This provides detailed downloadable guides to holdings on a variety of employment records gathered by the university, from shipbuilding and undertakers to the House of Fraser and passenger lists.

MINERS www.scottishmining.co.uk

The Scottish Mining Website provides a veritable treasure trove of information and resources on those who worked in Scotland’s central belt. There are detailed parish reports, gazetteer and newspaper articles, reports on accidents and strikes and more, with some 22,000 miners named, including information on 15,000 fatalities.

CROFTERS www.whc.uhi.ac.uk/ research/ napier- commission

The Napier Commission report of 1884 presented evidence from crofters about the increase of rents in crofting townships, their lack of secure tenure and evictions from their properties, leading to the Crofting Act of 1886. The report, which includes many witness statements, has been digitised.