Explore this comprehensive history of the Scottish peerage 1716-1914. The collection includes nine volumes of The Scots Peerage along with six other titles including a single-volume Jacobite peerage.
Explore this comprehensive history of the Scottish peerage 1716-1914. The collection includes nine volumes of The Scots Peerage along with six other titles including a single-volume Jacobite peerage.
Each record is available in a PDF format. Use the previous and next buttons at the top of the page to browse through the publication. The PDF search experience can be different from searching transcribed records. Use our search tips below to get the most out of this collection.
The detail in each record will vary. In the records you may find a combination of the following information:
Name
Year of Peerage
Death date
Spouse's name(s)
Children's names
Place
To the left of the PDF, you will find the Transcription Box, which includes:
Title – the title of the publication
Publication Year
Country
Page number
Pages
Page number and pages – this will tell you where you are in the publication and help you to explore the publication further.
We used the following sources to create this collection:
Notes On Dignities Of The Peerage Of Scotland, 1882
Peerage Of Scotland, 1716
Peerage Of Scotland, 1764
Peerage Of Scotland, 1767
Peerage Of Scotland, Vol 2, 1813
The Jacobite Peerage, 1904
The Scots Peerage, Vol 1, 1904
The Scots Peerage, Vol 2, 1905
The Scots Peerage, Vol 3, 1906
The Scots Peerage, Vol 4, 1907
The Scots Peerage, Vol 5, 1908
The Scots Peerage, Vol 6, 1909
The Scots Peerage, Vol 7, 1910
The Scots Peerage, Vol 8, 1911
The Scots Peerage, Vol 9, 1914
The Scots Peerage is a nine volume book series compiled and edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, published in Edinburgh from 1904 to 1914.
The series of books of the Scottish nobility begins with the Kings of Scotland, is a comprehensive history of Scottish peerage which includes both extant and extinct titles.
The full title is The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood’s Editions of Sir Robert Douglas’s Peerage of Scotland, containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom and refers to earlier work by Sir Robert Douglas published in 1764 as a one volume book, The Peerage of Scotland. Sir Robert was working on a second volume but sadly died before it was completed in 1770. Editors finished the volume, and it was published in 1798 as Baronage of Scotland, Containing a Historical and Genealogical Account of the Gentry of that Kingdom. Edited by John Philip Wood, a revised edition was published in 1813.
Serving as the Lord Lyon King of Arms from 1890 through to 1926, Sir James Balfour Paul wrote of the need for a new work to be published on the subject. The book is dedicated to Sir William Fraser, who left funds in his will for ‘printing works which would tend to elucidate the history and antiquities of Scotland’.
Searching through a PDF (Portable document format) is different from searching through fully transcribed record sets. Here are some tips to keep in mind while you search for your ancestors:
Direct Search
Name searches
A name search will return results which have the search terms on the same page within the document. This means that searching for John Smith will return pages where the names 'John' and 'Smith' occur. For this reason your search may return the name William Smith or John Brown. By inserting quotations around the full name the search function will locate the terms together; for example, “John Smith.”
To search for your ancestor by their name, write it as it would appear on the document. For example, if your relative was known as ‘Will’ it is likely that the name used for official records was ‘William.’
If you are unable to find your relative on your first search you can try different name variations. A number of register books only use abbreviations for first names. For example, if your search is unsuccessful for William Smith, try W Smith or Wm Smith.
Perusing the PDF
If you wish to read through the whole document you are searching, then order the results by page number. You can start from the beginning of the document and read through to the end using the next button above the image.
Page numbers often correlate with the individual images of the documents rather than the page numbers used within the publication. Therefore page 1 starts with the cover page.