General Register Office for Scotland

The General Register Office for Scotland is a of the  that administers the registration of s, s, s, s and s in. It is also responsible for the s relating to the formalities of marriage and conduct of in Scotland. It administers the of  and the keeps the  Central Register.

History
Initially s of the were responsible for keeping  records of  s and s, but only for their own church members. Later the, following the suggestion of the  enacted that all parish ministers should keep a record of s, s and marriages. This situation continued until when  passed an Act transferring responsibility to the State.

The created the General Registry Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages, headed by the Registrar General with the appointment of s in every parish. It also provided that the Registrar General should produce an annual report to be forwarded to the to be laid before Parliament containing a general abstract of the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered during the previous year. The first general abstract (relating to ) was submitted in.

Registrars General for Scotland
The Registrar General was also Deputy to the. The Deputy Clerk Register had to be an of not less than ten years standing.

was the first holder of the combined post of Deputy Clerk Register and Registrar General from September until April. His successor,, died six months after his appointment, and Mr Pitt Dundas resumed office for around a year, until the appointment of Sir KCB. The last person to hold the combined posts was KCB, in office from May  to March.

Originally, this was the supervision of birth, death and marriage registration. It was expanded to include the conduct of the Census and all subsequent ones (working closely with the Registrar General to ensure consistency) and other statistical functions.

In the  was passed which provided for the appointment by the Secretary of State for Scotland a whole-time Registrar General,, (previously ) was appointed.

List of Registrars General for Scotland

 * William Pitt Dundas, 12 September 1854 - 28 April 1880
 * Roger Montgomerie, 19 April 1880 - 25 October 1880
 * William Pitt Dundas CB, 17 November 1880 - 12 January 1881
 * Sir KCB, 13 January 1881 - 30 April 1909
 * Sir James Patten McDougall KCB, 1 May 1909 - 7 March 1919
 * Dr James Craufurd Dunlop, 1 January 1921- 2 September 1930
 * Andrew Froude ISO, 3 September 1930 - 14 February 1937
 * James Gray Kyd CBE, 1 September 1937 - 30 November 1948
 * Edmund Albert Hogan CBE, 1 December 1948 - 31 May 1959
 * Alexander Burt Taylor CBE D Litt, 1 June 1959 - 4 September 1966
 * James Allan Ford CB MC, September 1966 - September 1969
 * Archibald L Rennie, October 1969 - 11 June 1973
 * William Baird, 12 June 1973 - 3 August 1978
 * Victor Colvin Stewart, 4 August 1978 - 12 April 1982
 * Dr Charles Milne Glennie CBE, 13 April 1982 - 31 October 1994
 * James Meldrum, 1 November 1994 - 21 February 1999
 * John Randall, 22 February 1999 - 1 August 2003
 * Duncan Macniven, 4 August 2003 - present

New Register House
New Register House, the main building of the General Register Office for Scotland, is close to the east end of in. It was designed by, the at the. Initially, the General Registry Office had been located in General Register House, but on  was moved to New Register House.