The Scottish Way of Birth and Death

The Scottish Way of Birth and Death, is a history of civil registration in Scotland from its beginning in 1855 until the Second World War.  It shows how the basic tools of Scotland's 'vital statistics' - the registers of births, marriages and deaths, were produced.  This site describes some of the people responsible for Scotland's vital records, the difficulties they experienced, and some of the characteristics of the Scottish registration system.  Amongst other things, it looks at the problems of producing accurate death certificates, regular and 'irregular' marriages (including those at Gretna Green), divorce, compulsory smallpox vaccination, the compiling of the census, and the work of the General Register Office for Scotland in times of war.

(http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/)