The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

• • Over one million Scottish epitaphs, monuments and memorial inscriptions now fully searchable online at Findmypast.
  • Spanning 1000 years of Scottish history, new collection covers over 800 burial grounds across the country and includes monuments that have long been lost to time
  • Published online for the first time thanks to new technology and a grassroots project between Findmypast and local volunteers
  • Contains some of the most interesting figures for Scottish history including Kings, Queens, the Maid of Norway, Flora MacDonald and Adam Smith.

Leading UK family history website Findmypast has today announced the publication of a vast new online collection of Scottish Monumental Inscriptions in collaboration with Society partners across the country.

Published online for the first time and available exclusively at Findmypast, “Scotland Monumental Inscriptions” enables anyone, anywhere in the world to discover their Scottish ancestors and explore the nation’s historic burial grounds from the comfort of home.

Spanning almost 1000 years of history with records dating back to 1093, this comprehensive online archive covers over 800 burial sites in 688 parishes (80% of the nation) across all 34 historical Scottish counties.

Inscriptions from some the most famous burial sites in Scotland such as Edinburgh Greyfriars & Canongate Kirkyards, the Dundee Howff, and Dunfermline Abbey Churchyard can now be accessed by family historians and history enthusiasts alike, to discover the stories behind the stones. 

This revolutionary new resource is the result of a collaborative grassroots project between Findmypast and 10 Scottish local and national family history societies including:

• • Aberdeen & North East Scotland FHS
  • Caithness FHS
  • Dumfries & Galloway FHS
  • East Ayrshire FHS
  • Highland FHS
  • Lanarkshire FHS
  • Moray Burial Ground Research Group
  • Scottish Genealogy Society
  • Tay Valley FHS
  • Troon@Ayrshire FHS

The work of hundreds of passionate volunteers to transcribe memorials and gravestones from all over Scotland has now been made fully searchable online for the very first time.

Names, dates, locations and other biographical details such as additional family members, occupations, causes of death and more were transcribed and then digitally converted thanks to new, proprietary technology to create a national index that unlocks the long-forgotten secrets of Scotland’s dead.

Chronicling the lives and deaths of almost 1.1 million deceased, the collection has been created by merging almost 600,000 newly created records with existing documents already available on Findmypast, to create the largest single collection of its kind.

This collection also includes records of inscriptions found on buried stones, uncovered through archaeological survey with their details recorded for the first time in centuries. In addition, old books and local histories were used to document memorials that have long since been lost due lost to erosion, weathering or simply time itself, allowing researchers to gain unique new insights into to the lives of those who lived and died many centuries ago.

Some of Scotland’s most renowned sons and daughters can be found within the collection, including monarchs and their favored courtiers, Covenanters, Jacobites and revolutionaries, not to mention many thousands of poets, artists, musicians, artisans, tradespeople, laborers and more.

Myko Clelland, Regional Licensing & Outreach Manager at Findmypast said ‘Scotland is a nation of stories, but so many lie forgotten in cemeteries across the country. Through the tireless efforts of local expert volunteers, combined with new technology, these stories can be told for the first time online. What better way to bring these tales to life, than to let descendants tell these tales for themselves?’

Other new additions available to search this Findmypast Friday:

Caribbean First World War Rolls of Honour

Find out if your Caribbean ancestor fought for Britain in the First World War with new rolls of honour from The Bahamas, Barbados, St Kitts & Nevis and Bermuda. Many of the men listed in this collection served in the British West Indies Regiment. These records can reveal their names, service numbers and, sometimes, how, when and where they died.

United States, World War II Casualty Lists

Held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), these records can tell you your family heroes' names, ranks and parents' details. This initial release covers the U.S. Navy. Records from the other arms of the military services will be added over time.

British Army, Coldstream Guards 1800-1947

Now available in their own standalone record set, Findmypast have added even more service records from this famous regiment. Each record features a transcript and a full-colour, digitised copy of the original record. Use them to discover details about your army ancestors that you won't find anywhere else.

Newspapers

Four brand new publications and updates to over 20 others are now available to search on Findmypast. New to the collection are:

• • Coleshill Chronicle from 1874, 1878-1880, 1882-1887, 1889-1895 and 1897-1900
  • Leicester Evening Mail from 1929-1931
  • Rugeley Times from 1926-1984
  • Warrington Examiner from 1870-1875, 1884-1888, 1891, 1894, 1903 and 1905-1908

While the following 23 newspapers have been supplemented with additional coverage:

• • Aberystwyth Times covering 1870
  • Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, Glamorgan, Monmouth, and Brecon Gazette covering 1845, 1848-1849, 1854-1855, 1858 and 1866-1867
  • Cardiff Times covering 1871 and 1876
  • Carmarthen Weekly Reporter covering 1896-1900
  • Civil & Military Gazette (Pakistan) covering 1881-1883, 1885, 1887, 1895-1898, 1900-1905 and 1907-1909
  • Dundee Courier covering 1992
  • Glamorgan Free Press covering 1899
  • Halifax Evening Courier covering 1960
  • Kinematograph Weekly covering 1932
  • Lynn Advertiser covering 1913-1925 and 1929-1944
  • Mansfield & Sutton Recorder covering 1989
  • Monmouthshire Merlin covering 1841-1842, 1844-1848, 1852-1853, 1856-1870, 1872-1873, 1875-1877 and 1879-1880
  • Montgomery County Times and Shropshire and Mid-Wales Advertiser covering 1894-1896 and 1899-1900
  • Pontypool Free Press covering 1886-1889
  • Reynolds’s Newspaper covering 1901-1911
  • Rhyl Record and Advertiser covering 1878 and 1888-1900
  • South Wales Daily News covering 1874, 1891, 1893 and 1898
  • South Wales Daily Post covering 1895
  • South Wales Echo covering 1881, 1886 and 1889
  • Tablet covering 1908
  • Usk Observer covering 1856-1858, 1861 and 1866
  • Widnes Examiner covering 1885-1886, 1888, 1890 and 1892
  • Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser covering 1875 and 1877-1879