Place:Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland

source: Family History Library Catalog

Blantyre is a civil parish in South Lanarkshire with a population of about 17,500 in 2001, the most recent census available. It is located between Hamilton on the east and East Kilbride on the west, 8.5 miles southeast of central Glasgow. It is made up of a number of small communties, including High Blantyre and Low Blantyre. Area: 6.1 sq. miles (16km²)

Like many of the surrounding parishes, Blantyre was dependent on the industries of cotton milling and coal mining. Scotland's worst mining disaster took place at the High Blantyre pit in 1877 when 207 men were killed. A further serious mining accident occurred two years later.

Blantyre is best known as the birthplace of David Livingstone (1813-1873), the missionary and physician who spent many years exploring central and eastern Africa. He was the first European to see (and name) the Victoria Falls. His former house is now a museum which is at the end of Station Road in Blantyre, on the banks of the River Clyde. Near the Livingstone Museum is Bothwell Castle, dating from the thirteenth century.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Blantyre. and also the description in Scottish Places

Research Tips

Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses

• FamilySearch (Indexes only)

• Scotland's People This is a pay website providing vital statistics and census data for all of Scotland with original images. There is a description at Scotland under Genealogical Resources.

Notes for Lanarkshire

• GENUKI has a list of references for Lanarkshire. Some of these may be superseded by more modern material.

• The Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society has a vast website containing a great variety of information (including some databases), not only on Glasgow but on Lanarkshire outside the metropolis.

• There is also the Lanarkshire Family History Society based in Motherwell which caters for Lanarkshire outside of Glasgow. Its publication list may be of interest.

• FreeCen index includes the whole of Lanarkshire for 1841 and a substantial section for 1851. The Genealogical Society of Utah sponsored the collection of 1881 census records and these will be found at FamilySearch. A search of all the censuses for Scotland may be done for a fee at Scotland's People

• ’’Lanarkshire Monumental Inscriptions: Pre 1855 Inscriptions and maps from the burial grounds of the Upper (southern) Ward of South Lanarkshire’’. Edited by Sheila A Scott, M.A. Book available through both of the above family history societies or from the original publisher: The Scottish Genealogical Society.

• The Blantyre Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide information on baptisms (1677-1827 and 1820-1854), marriages (1679-1810 and 1837-1854) and burials (1738-1785 and 1788-1819). See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Blantyre for other church denominations.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

• GENUKI article on Blantyre.

• Scottish Places article on the parish of Blantyre. The tabs of the right provide more information, and comparative maps.

• The FamilySearch Wiki article on Blantyre provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the parish.

• The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.

• The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.

• Excerpts from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.