Scotland School Records

If your ancestor went to one of Scotland’s colleges, universities, or schools, he or she may be in the institution’s enrollment records. Some of these records have been published, notably for the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

These records may contain valuable information about your ancestor, such as name, birthplace, residence, father’s name, and other biographical details.

Universities
Scotland's universities developed in three distinct stages: the ancient universities (St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh) were founded in the 15th and 16th centuries; the plate glass universities (Dundee, Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt, Stirling) raised to university status in the 1960s; and the newest group (Glasgow Caledonian, Napier, Paisley, Robert Gordon, Abertay) elevated to university status in the 1990s.

The Ancient Universities
The term Ancient Universities refers to the seven British and Irish universities which were founded in the medieval and early modern period. Of these, four were established in the Kingdom of Scotland.

St. Andrews
After Oxford and Cambridge, the third university founded (1410) in the British Isles.

James Maitland Anderson collected the names of early graduates in a series of works:


 * Early Records of the University of St Andrews: The Graduate Roll, 1413–1579 (1926);
 * Matriculation Roll, 1473–1579 (1926); and
 * The Matriculation Roll of the University of St Andrews, 1747–1897 (1905).

The University's Keeper of Manuscripts and Muniments from 1974 to 1995, Dr. Robert N. Smart has compiled biographical sketches of almost 12,000 of the students, officers and external graduates of the University named in Maitland Anderson's The Matriculation Roll of the University of St Andrews, 1747-1897 (1905):


 * Robert N Smart, Biographical Register of the University of St Andrews 1747-1897 (2004, St Andrews University Library, ISBN 0900896 18 X).

Glasgow
Founded 1451.

The University is compiling a searchable database of graduates and has reached 1913:
 * Browse an alphabetical list of graduates to 1913

This builds on the work of W. I. Addison who compiled A Roll of the Graduates of the University of Glasgow from 1727 to 1897 (1898).

Aberdeen
Founded 1494.

The names of early graduates and officers can be found in:
 * P. J. Anderson and J. F. K. Johnstone, Fasti Academiae Mariscallanae Aberdonensis, 1593–1860 (3 vols, 1889–98)
 * P. J. Anderson, Officers and Graduates of University and King's College, Aberdeen, 1495–1860 (1893).

Edinburgh
Founded 1582.

An incomplete list from 1587 (see the note on sources and coverage):
 * / Alumni, The University of Edinburgh

Family History Library
The Family History Library has very few Scottish school records, but there are some records for larger cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow. You can find school records in the Place Search of the

Family History Library Catalog under:

SCOTLAND - SCHOOLS SCOTLAND

[COUNTY] - SCHOOLS SCOTLAND

[COUNTY], [CITY or PARISH] - SCHOOLS