The Scottish Registration Act of 1854 introduced compulsory civil registration of births, deaths and marriages under the GROS. The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh had long campaigned for such legislation, but was dissatisfied with certain sections of the Act. The College possessed strong views on how causes of death ought to be recorded, on the need for a medical Superintendent of Statistics to tabulate and analyse the causes of death for the GROS, on whether or not doctors should be fined for failing to provide certificates of cause of death, and on the importance of including meteorological data in the GROS’s reports. Its Fellows accordingly strove to have the new registration measures tailored to their specifications. Drawing upon the College minutes, the GROS archives, and other contemporary sources, this article explains how the College succeeded in influencing some, but not all of these aspects of vital registration in Scotland.
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References
1.
PP 1801–2 (112) VII. Abstract of answers and returns under Act for taking account of population of Great Britain (parish register abstract); 461.
2.
SetonG.Sketch of the history and imperfect condition of the parochial records of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, in illustration of the important advantages which would be derived from the introduction of a system of compulsory registration. Edinburgh: Thomas Constable &Co.; 1854; 48–9.
3.
Letter from James Stark to James Martin, 20May1847, NAS, AD58/126, Lord Advocate’s Department: Births, marriages and deaths registration: Act, report, memorials, etc [1846–9].
4.
Memorial of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh to the Home Secretary, College Minutes, 26 Feb 1846.
5.
CameronA.The establishment of civil registration in Scotland. Historical Journal 2007; 50(2):1–19.
6.
Ibid.
7.
The College Minutes indicate that registration committees were appointed on 3 Nov 1835, 3 Nov 1840, 3 Feb 1846, 23 Mar 1847,
8.
Apr 1849, and 2May1854.
9.
College Minutes, 3 Nov 1840.
10.
PP 1842 (423) XIX. Fourth annual report of the Registrar General of births, deaths, and marriages in England; 124. This stipulation appears in the regulations for registrars issued by the Registrar General, but not in the original Act.
11.
MartinSMK.William Pulteney Alison: activist, philanthropist and pioneer of social medicine. St Andrews University: unpublished PhD thesis; 1997; 309.
12.
For a detailed discussion of the College’s views and its ensuing dispute with William Farr of the General Register Office for England, see ibid. 304–15.
13.
College Minutes, 23 Mar 1847.
14.
PP 1847 (95) III. A bill for registering births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, schedule B; 1836, 6 &7 Gulielmi IV, c.86, An Act for registering births, deaths, and marriages in England, schedule B; PP 1847 (314) III. A bill [as amended by the committee] for registering births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, schedule B.
15.
MartinSMK.William Pulteney Alison: activist, philanthropist and pioneer of social medicine. St Andrews University: unpublished PhD thesis; 1997; 311–12.
16.
College Minutes, 9May1854.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Ibid.
19.
Copy of a letter from Lord Elcho to the College Secretary, Alexander Wood, College Minutes, 26May1854. The differences over nosology between the Edinburgh and London Colleges are outlined in: Robb-Smith, AHT. A history of the College’s nomenclature of diseases: its preparation. J R Coll Physicians Lond 1969–70; 3(4):341–58, 346–7.
20.
College Minutes, 26May1854.
21.
College Minutes, 1 Aug 1854.
22.
1854, 17 &18 Vict., c.80, An Act to provide for the better registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, schedule B; Regulations for the duties of registrars of births, deaths, and marriages, and of Assistant-Registrars. Edinburgh: Murray and Gibb; 1855; 14.
23.
Letter from WP Dundas to Major Graham, Registrar General [England], 3 Nov 1854, NAS, GRO1/465, General Register Office letterbook (outletters), 1854; 28.
24.
College Minutes, 9May1854. The 1854 bill, which ultimately became the Registration Act, only specifically provided for a Secretary to be nominated by the Registrar General, but it did permit the Registrar General ‘to appoint such [other] Clerks, Officers, and Servants as shall be deemed necessary’, with Treasury approval. 1854, 17 &18 Vict., c.80,An Act to provide for the better registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, sections 3 and 4.
25.
Letter from WP Alison to Alexander Pringle, 11 Jul 1854, NAS, SRO8/78, Scottish Record Office Records: Letters to Deputy Clerk Register [William Pitt Dundas], 1854, item 42.
26.
College Minutes, 1 Aug 1854. The committee’s letter appeared in various Edinburgh newspapers in mid-July1854.
27.
Alison requested Alexander Pringle, a mutual friend at General Register House, to relay his comments to Pitt Dundas. Letter from WP Alison to Alexander Pringle, 11 Jul 1854, NAS, SRO8/78, Scottish Record Office Records: Letters to Deputy Clerk Register [William Pitt Dundas], 1854, item 42.
28.
Letter from WP Dundas to Lord Elcho, 16 Oct 1854, NAS, GRO1/465, General Register Office letterbook (outletters), 1854; 8–9.
29.
Letter from WP Dundas to Major Graham, Registrar General [England], 23 Oct 1854, NAS, GRO1/465, General Register Office letterbook (outletters), 1854; 14–15.
30.
Letter from WP Alison to Alexander Pringle, 11 Jul 1854, NAS, SRO8/78, Scottish Record Office Records: Letters to Deputy Clerk Register [William Pitt Dundas], 1854, item 42.
31.
Ibid. Bell was a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
32.
Letter from WP Dundas to Major Graham, Registrar General [England], 3 Nov 1854, NAS, GRO1/465, General Register Office letterbook (outletters), 1854; 28.
33.
Copy of a letter from James Stark to Thomas Headlam, 12 Mar 1855, NAS, AD56/225, Lord Advocate’s Department: Letters etc relating to Border marriage, marriage affinity bill, marriage law commission, marriage with deceased wife’s sister and proclamation of banns [1855–1877]. For an example of his publications, see Stark J. Contribution to the vital statistics of Scotland. Journal of the Statistical Society of London 1851; 14(1):48–87.
34.
Pitt Dundas and Adam Black were on opposing sides of the political spectrum, but by this time in Scottish politics, being well connected in Edinburgh society was a more important way of advancing a career than actual political affiliation.
35.
Scotsman, 18 Mar 1846; 3. Mortality bills for Edinburgh had appeared in the Scots Magazine from 1739–1794, but had then ceased.
36.
Scotsman, 18 Mar 1846; 3.
37.
Letter from James Stark to WP Dundas, 12 Jul 1855, NAS, SRO8/79, Scottish Record Office Records: Letters to Deputy Clerk Register [William Pitt Dundas], 1855, item 56. It is noteworthy that Alison never mentioned Stark as a candidate for the Superintendent’s post, despite the fact that Stark had been compiling the mortality tables for Edinburgh since 1846. Alison perhaps had personal reasons for preferring Bell.
38.
Copy of a letter from the College Clerk, Christopher Douglas, to James Stark, with his answer, 10 Dec 1857, College Archives, Box 12: General correspondence, 1704–1885.
39.
NAS, AD56/306, Lord Advocate’s Department: Miscellaneous papers, series 1. See, especially, letter from W Pitt Dundas to the Lord Advocate, 9 Mar 1874; copy of a letter from W Pitt Dundas to the Secretary to the Treasury, 7 Mar 1874; copy of a letter from W Pitt Dundas to James Stark, 21May1874, and letter from W Pitt Dundas to the Lord Advocate, 22May1874. For Robertson’s appointment, see letter from W Pitt Dundas to the Lord Advocate, 25May1874.
40.
PP 1854 [163] VI, A bill [as amended in committee and on recommitment] to provide for the better registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, clause G.
41.
Copy of a letter from the College Secretary, Dr Wood, to Lord Elcho, 14 Jul 1854, College Minutes, 1 Aug 1854.
42.
Ibid.
43.
Elcho’s response suggests that he had failed to grasp the subtlety of the College’s reasoning. Copy of a letter from Lord Elcho to the College Secretary, 18 Jul 1854, College Minutes, 1 Aug 1854.
44.
Ibid.
45.
1855, 23 &24 Vict., c.85, An Act to amend two Acts of the seventeenth and eighteenth years, and of the eighteenth year, of Her Present Majesty, relating to the registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, section 14.
46.
StarkJ.Address to the Meteorological Society of Scotland. Edinburgh: 1858; 4.
47.
College Minutes, 15May1855.
48.
College Minutes, 7 Aug 1855.
49.
Ibid. Two Fellows of the College, Professors Alison and Traill,were also on the Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society. Stark J. Report on the meteorology of Scotland during the quarter ending 30th June1857. Edinburgh: 1857.
50.
‘Philosophical’ referred to natural philosophy. College Minutes, 7 Aug 1855.
51.
Ibid. p. 4425.
52.
StarkJ. Report on the meteorology of Scotland during the quarter ending 31st March1856. Edinburgh: 1856; 3.
53.
College Minutes, 7 Aug 1855; Printed circular soliciting subscriptions for the Scottish Meteorological Society, Edinburgh, 26 Sep 1855, NAS, SRO8/79, Scottish Record Office Records: Letters to Deputy Clerk Register [William Pitt Dundas], 1855, item 83.
54.
StarkJ. Report on the meteorology of Scotland during the quarter ending 31st March1856. Edinburgh: 1856; 3.
55.
StarkJ. Interim report to the Council, as to the state and operations of the Meteorological Society of Scotland, July1857; 2; Watt A. The early days of the Society. J Scottish Meteorological Society 1911; 15:304–12, 308.
56.
WattA.The early days of the Society. J Scottish Meteorological Society 1911; 15:304–12, 309.
57.
Statement of claim of the Scottish Meteorological Society for government support, enclosed with a letter from David Milne Home to the Lord Advocate [Young], 14 Jul 1870, NAS,AD56/327, Scottish Meteorological Society [1869, 1870], item 10; Watt A. The early days of the Society. J Scottish Meteorological Society 1911; 15:304–12, 309.
