The Family History Society of Buchan

Registered Scottish Charity SC035593

Local Registrars

Welcome to a brief information guide on the valuable services that Aberdeenshire Registrars provide for their customers.

Did you know that Scottish births and deaths can now be registered at any office in Scotland? This gives the general public more choice which sits nicely with Aberdeenshire Registrar’s approach to their customers.

There are 12 full-time and 3 part-time offices within Aberdeenshire where you can access Registration Services. In addition to undertaking the statutory registration of Births, Deaths, Still-births, Marriages and Civil Partnerships our Registrars can solemnise Civil Marriages and conduct Civil Partnership Ceremonies at a wide variety of venues. They range from Registration Offices, Hotels, Castles, and Marquees to local landmarks such as local beauty spots, golf courses and individual private dwelling houses. These non religious ceremonies can be personalised by the couple and can include readings and songs. Additionally, the couple can choose to enhance their ceremony by including either the Quaich, Celtic Knot or Candle service.

Aberdeenshire Registrars now offer Naming Ceremonies and Renewal of Vows Ceremonies and they also officiate at British Citizenship Ceremonies.

Aberdeenshire Registrars are pleased to offer you help and advice for tracing your Scottish ancestry. At our computerised full-time offices, Registrars have access to the digital images of all Scottish Births, Deaths and Marriages since the start of registration in 1855. This extremely valuable resource allows extracts of any of these records to be printed at any of these offices.

Certain offices maintain the burial ground records for their local area. These records, combined with the registration records and access to the censuses from 1841-190l and the Old Parish Records make excellent sources of material for family history enthusiasts and our staff are always eager to assist with the ever-growing interest in genealogy. Staff also possess a wealth of knowledge of their local area and this may further help to enhance the customers search.

A statutory fee of £10.00 per hour is payable for the services of a Registrar to assist customers with family history research. The fee allows customers access to registration records and burial records (where these exist locally). Copies of scanned images of historical records can be purchased for 50p each.  The definition of “historical records” constitutes births that occurred over 100 years ago, deaths over 50 years and marriages over 75 years. To avoid unnecessary disappointment, our Registrars encourage customers to arrange a search appointment, as facilities and staffing levels vary between offices.

You can contact the local offices on the telephone numbers below or by email on registrars@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or visit the Council’s web-site at www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk .

• Aboyne  01339 886109          Alford    01975 562421
  Full-time                     Full-time 
• Ballater  01339 755535          Banchory 01330 822878
  Appointment only               Full-time
• Banff    01261 813439          Braemar  013397 41349
  Full-time                     Appointment Only
• Ellon    01358 720295          Fraserburgh 01346 513281
  Full-time                     Full-time
• Huntly   01466 794488          Insch 01464 820964
  Full-time                     Appointment Only
  Inverurie  01467 628011         Maud 01771 613667
  Full-time                     Full-time
• Peterhead 01779 483244         Stonehaven 01569 768360
  Full-time                     Full-time
• Turriff  01888 562427
  Full-time

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