Trace Your Orkney Ancestors
by James Irvine

Captain James Irvine's new book Trace Your Orkney Ancestors, subtitled A Guide to Sources for Orcadian Family and Local History, will be welcomed by those Orcadians and descendants or Orcadian emigrants who are interested in "roots", "redding kin" and bygone times. Librarians, archivists and members of the Orkney Family History Society will find the book helpful, as will academics, teachers and students undertaking research into local history.

From the thoughtfully designed cover onwards the guide conveys, with praiseworthy clarity, a mass of useful information compressed into just 75 A4 pages of double-columned text or whole-page tables.

The introduction explains where source material is to be found, gives cautionary advice on research, and considers the problems presented by old handwriting and language.

Then come 20 pages on the different types of records available: census returns, parish registers, communicant rolls, electoral rolls, tax lists, rentals, court records, estate papers, maps, photographs, newspapers, and many other sources.

This masterly descriptive survey is enlivened by 15 examples of, or excerpts from, documents selected to show a researcher what to expect; a brief chapter on Orkney's topography and history; and colour photographs of the new library and archive building in Kirkwall.

In the later part of the book there are 20 pages of lists and tables summarising the more extensive series of sources, giving reference codes, stating the years covered and indicating the location in Kirkwall, Edinburgh or elsewhere.

Then there are chapters on context and background, with notes on such topics as currency and weights, calendars and feast days, udal and feudal tenures, the bishopric and earldom estates, and Orcadian surnames.

The last three sections of the guide are devoted to a glossary explaining over 500 abbreviations and legal terms, a select biography limited to the 130 books referred to in the text, and an index.

The three objectives of the author, stated in his preface, are to show the many ways of obtaining basic genealogical data from censuses, the IGI and the internet; to introduce researchers to the vast amount of additional material available; and to encourage them to flesh over the dry bones of genealogy with lively family and local history.

He has succeeded admirably.

Of course, the book has its limitations, which are mostly self-imposed.

In such a concise survey of so much material and so many relevant topics, there may be a few oversights, and most items have had to be dealt with quite briefly. I particularly regret that personal correspondence gets short shrift.

However, Captain Irvine's brevity, if sometimes rather rigorous, has produced a handy practical guide which is much easier to use than a great tome.

It is an impressive achievement, being the first book ever written to help people research their Orcadian ancestry. No other county in Scotland has such an excellent guide to the sources of family and local history.

The sheer groundbreaking usefulness of the book is undeniable and it fills a long-felt want.

R. P Fereday