No new members this week. If you haven't already contributed, we hope to hear from you soon. ****** ****** ****** One Peter Jones has recently posted on English lists information on the PRO Catalogue site (To pass on the acknowledgements, these were based on an earlier advice from Pete Brown). --- "Go to site http://www.pro.gov.uk Click on 'Finding Aids' in the top right hand corner Click on 'Online Catalogue' Click on 'Search Catalogue' Enter just one surname (I initially entered three spelling variations and didn't find anything because the search engine was looking for a document with all three names in it - which of course it was highly unlikely to find) Click on the 'Search' button At this stage you will probably find that there is no 'Class description' for your surname (you should be so lucky) Therefore Click on 'Search Documents' Now, if you are lucky, you will find that this produces a summary of one or more documents for your surname which are stored at the PRO in Kew, Click on the first summary and either take notes or print off a copy. You can then move to the 'next document' by pressing the appropriate button at the bottom or go back to the 'Search' page to enter a new surname or spelling variation. Note : If you do the latter make sure that there is nothing in the 'Letter Code' or 'Class/Subclass' boxes otherwise you will restrict the next search to the area you last found a summary in." - -------------------------------------------------------- This begs the question of "what has the English PRO got that will help with our Scottish research?" Quite a bit if these simple examples of the results of searches I made on some simple Buteshire non surname keywords are any indication - note that there are 30 items per page - you will need to scroll to see all items on a page ... Bute: 635 items on 22 pages - there was a single entry in the class descriptions, but this was for a Dock in Cardiff. With such a large selection some refining is needed, for example ... Bute plus Rothesay in second box: 4 items on 1 page including two in the T 1/... Customs series - see Arran sample below. Cumbrae: 18 items on 1 page including some Millport references. (Researchers interested in these islands would also need to search on the alternate spellings Cumbray and Cambray ! - see examples below) Millport: again 18 items on 1 page - including those found under Cumbrae plus others. Brodick: 9 items on 1 page. Arran: 150 items on 5 pages - this search needs refining as there are a lot of entries on the Earls of Arran, entries for the Irish Arran Isles etc. I've extracted some items from this overall list below ... HO 45/7520 LUNACY: Lunatics in private detention. Lunacy Act ss 104 and 105 did not empower secretary of state to give an order in general time, for a whole district, to Scottish Lunacy Board to visit houses (case of Isles of Arran, Bute and Cambray) 1863 HO 45/7520 SCOTLAND (See separate headings FACTORIES, MINES, TITLE ROYAL, KNIGHTHOOD, and POOR LAW (for removal of Scottish paupers to Ireland): Lunatics in private detention: Isles of Arran, Bute and Cumbray; secretary of state could not make order in general terms 1863 MAF 43/18 Aberdeen Favourite 1927: Aberdonian 1924: Argyll Favourite 1927: Arran Banner 1927: Arran Consul 1925: Arran Crest 1929: Avondale 1924: Balcarris 1924: Balvaird 1925: Baron 1927: Benalt 1924: Ben Cruachan 1923: Ben Lomond 1923: Best of the Bunch 1929: Bou Clicking the Details button for this last one provides ... Lettercode Title Records created or inherited by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Departments, and of related bodies Class Title Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and predecessors: Horticulture Correspondence and Papers Piece Title Aberdeen Favourite 1927: Aberdonian 1924: Argyll Favourite 1927: Arran Banner 1927: Arran Consul 1925: Arran Crest 1929: Avondale 1924: Balcarris 1924: Balvaird 1925: Baron 1927: Benalt 1924: Ben Cruachan 1923: Ben Lomond 1923: Best of the Bunch 1929: Bou Header Title POTATOES: CERTIFICATES OF IMMUNITY FROM WART DISEASE SubHeader Title Varieties: 1920-1929 Closure Status Open Place of Deposit Public Record Office, Kew Note Text Open without restriction (See MAFF letter of 13 Apr. 1965 on 2/CK/9). Transferred: 6 April1965 NB when you select "details" then return to the list page, when you select "next page" the search criteria are changed to include the reference information from the details page. The next page does not appear at this point, but the current page is refreshed. DON'T worry, the list has not been changed, just select next page again, and you will move on to the next page of items that match your original search data. The note in the original instructions about the "Lettercode" & "Class.." fields on the search form applies here - note also that the information entered by the system will always be from the last details page you viewed. Another interesting group of 4 records from the Arran list - contents of which may help some ... T 1/436/59 Customs: letter from Philip Stephens at the Admiralty Office enclosing a report of Lieutenant Barker about being attacked by smugglers at Arran. 1764 Aug.28 T 1/436/60 Customs: Lieut.Barker's account of his attempting to apprehend a suspected ship approaching Arran and coming under attack from the smugglers and a crowd on shore. 1764 Aug.15 T 1/436/61 Customs: letter from the Commissioners for Customs for Scotland reporting on the insufficiency of the existing sworn statement about the incident with the smugglers at Arran, and explaining that new examinations are being made of the witnesses. 1764 Sept.11 T 1/436/62 Customs: letter from the Commissioners for Customs for Scotland giving the results of the examination of witnesses of the incident with smugglers at Arran, and the action taken to apprehend the suspected offenders. 1764 Sept.18 - ---------------------------------------------------- Ok so you find an interesting entry - what next? Peter Jones to the rescue ... "If you go to http://www.pro.gov.uk and look on the left hand side of the page you will find a number of buttons of interest. The "Record Copying" button will for example show you how to order a copy and how to get an estimate of the costs beforehand, ie you pay £10 up front for the estimate which is deductible from any subsequent order. I don't know whether this is cheaper than getting an agent to obtain a copy for you. I do however note that you can receive copies on either paper, microfiche, film or CD as appropriate. ..." - -------------------------------- In closing, here is a short cut to the PRO Catalogue Search form ... http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/ListInt/browse_keywords_frameset.asp and there IS a link back to the main page from this page. ****** ****** ****** Feel free to join in and present your own items. Peter Cook [email protected] List maintainer and Co-host with Barbara < [email protected] > of the ButeshireGenWeb mailing list.