National Records of Scotland

Preserving the past, Recording the present, Informing the future

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame provides images of the birth, death, marriage and census records, valuation rolls, and wills and testaments of famous people. It brings together information from previously published resources and new subjects recommended by members of the public. There are about 300 entries. It is very much a work in progress.

Please note that we don't include any living persons.

Each Hall of Fame entry has an introduction which outlines the person's achievements and highlights any periods when they were living outside Scotland. In most cases this is based on information from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The jpeg images of the records are Crown copyright. They are presented in chronological order with content summaries and full references:

  • Old Parish Registers (pre-1855) and statutory registers (from 1855) provide the main biographical details - births, marriages and deaths;
  • Census returns (1841-1911) present snapshots of their households and the occupation field can track developments in their careers;
  • Valuation rolls (1855-1940) are included in some entries to show details of associated properties or locations after 1911; 
  • Wills and testaments confirm (or provide) date and place of death; in most cases an inventory of the person's estate; and details of family members.

Browse the entries in the Hall of Fame A-Z.

You can search these records on our ScotlandsPeople website.

Archivists’ Garden

Find out which plants in the Archivists’ Garden have associations with famous Scots.

Image Gallery

Images of records relating to David Livingstone, Mary Queen of Scots and Saint Andrew can be found in the Image Gallery.