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Brief history
Anecdotal evidence exists for Scottish migration here well before 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart's Jacobites marched through the city. Many of our machine making firms had their roots in emigrant Scottish engineers, from McConnel and Kennedy in the 18th century to Galloway and Bowman in the 19th.Statistical data from the census tells us that the proportion of Scots-born people in the city rose from 1.3 per cent (4000) in 1841 to a peak of 1.9 per cent in 1871 and back down to 1.3 per cent by 1911.
The occupations of Scots-born adult males in 1851 were varied and included drapers, labourers, engineers, gardeners, weavers, tailors, joiners, and tea dealers. -
What's available
We hold some printed material:
- Ian Whyte, 'Invisible Immigrants: The migration of Scots to Manchester in the 18th and 19th centuries', Manchester Genealogist (Anglo-Scottish FHS) Vol 27 No. 4 (1991) (929.2 MA74)
- John H. Smith, 'The North-West: Magnet for Migrants 1750-1914' Manchester Genealogist (Anglo-Scottish FHS) Vol 28 No. 1 (Jan 1992)
- Dan Muir, 'Scots in England & Wales in 1851 Occupations', Manchester Genealogist (Anglo-Scottish FHS) Vol 36 No. 3 (2000)
- Scottish Genealogy: a digest of library sources, compiled by Margaret Mason, Anglo-Scottish Family History, 1988 (016 929341 Sc1)
In addition we have:
- Manchester Presbytery and its Constituent Churches (ref GB127.M641), 1801 to 1972: Presbyterian church records for the city and surrounding area, including school and orphanage records.
- The website of the Anglo-Scottish Family History Society is also useful.
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How to access
Materials marked with GB are available in the search room at Central Library, please make an appointment.
Library members can find and reserve the other resources mentioned by following the links to our library catalogue.