Discover your Scottish Borders heritage with the "Heart of Hawick, Heritage Hub"

Introduction

Archives are very special places.  They hold the keys to treasure chests of unique material that help us unlock the past and discover the real lives of our ancestors.  This week Archivist Paul Brough, introduces us to the Scottish Borders Archives, housed in the Heritage Hub within the cultural campus known as the “Heart of Hawick”, and one of the top three visitor attractions in the Scottish Borders.

In his article Paul raises a very important point.  Records may not be what they seem on initial inspection and simply taking them on face value may create a false impression.  As researchers we need to look beyond the material evidence and examine the social, economic and historical factors that led to the creation of the record in the first place!

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The Scottish Borders Archives & Local Studies Service, better known as the Heritage Hub, offers excellent opportunities for family history. In a purpose-built archive on one side of Heart of Hawick, Hawick’s cultural campus, it offers a congenial space for committed researchers or for those just curious about the places from which their ancestors came.

It has what you might call the standard resources of a local authority archive with records of local government, family and estate records and archives of clubs, societies and businesses. The majority of these documents are catalogued at:
http://www.calmview.eu/HUBCAT/CalmView/. 

Many of these records can be used for family history research but first it is advisable to piece together your basic family tree. The Heritage Hub can also offer the ideal tool for doing this because it is a ScotlandsPeople Centre. ScotlandsPeople offers full access (including images of the records) to statutory birth marriage and death records, old parish and Roman Catholic registers, census 1841-1911, wills and a growing series of valuation rolls. There is a daily fee of £15.00 for unlimited access to the system and of course there is access to advice and local knowledge as well as the primary sources if you decide to investigate them. The Heritage Hub can offer expert advice about local families and places, how to do local and family research, sources to use and how to interpret them. Some members of the team are expert genealogists and there is a Registrar on duty weekdays. The Hub also has free wifi and a good library.

The following is a nice case study in how the sources can be used and a document put in context. In July 2015 a series of pictures were offered to the Heritage Hub for scanning. All that was known of the man in the pictures was his name, Robert Turner Borthwick, and his roles as a driver to Field Marshall Haig and chauffeur at Nenthorn, Kelso.

Borthwick outside Haig's HQ

One picture had what looked like a date of birth pencilled on the back.  Searching the statutory birth records on ScotlandsPeople we found one example of a birth that fitted, at Ballencrieff, Aberlady, Haddington [East Lothian] in 1893. Further research in the Census and among the marriage and death records revealed that he was a van driver, aged 17, in 1911, married after the war to Margaret Meldrum, at St Monans, Fife (at which time he was resident at Nenthorn, Kelso, as chauffeur) and died at Edinburgh, 1948, as a bicycle mechanic. A beautiful example of how connections can be made in archives occurred when a few days later we were editing the First World War diaries of Dr John Muir of Selkirk and found the following entry: 

“Was just going to evening service when I got a hurried message to Ladylands to see a man who had got capsized from a motor side car. His name was Borthwick from Aberlady. He had a cut head & some abrasions etc but nothing serious.” 

Source: diary, 4th July 1915 of Dr J S Muir, Selkirk G.P. [Heritage Hub SBA/657]

Borthwick in a (typically short) wartime version of the kilt.

The Heritage Hub is leading a major two-year project to understand and remember the casualties and combatants of the First World War. We are collecting materials and trying to ensure that as much is known as possible about the individuals involved by doing family history research. If you are interested in this or would like to help contact the Hub for further information. One of the items which has been found because of this is this beautifully coloured Melrose Roll of Honour. 

Another neat example of the past coming alive is the correspondence of David Gavin (1770-1823) merchant and landowner (and of course the man who named Gavinton, Berwickshire, after himself). Stuck in Campveerse, the Netherlands, a business partner writes to Gavin: 

“but if she knows Campveer[sic] as well as I, she must be very fond of her husband, was it not for opportunities to play chess with Swiss officers and magistracy I should be at a loss to amuse myself, Tenent shuts himself up and sees nobody, Duthie is seldom at home, Douglas and I are not on good terms … he makes a bad companion, John Stewart seldom appears, so my only resources are the Dutch Patience.” 

Source: letter, 1756, Hercules Skinner to David Gavin [Heritage Hub SBA/133/16].

And be sure to assess sources carefully. The Norris family of Berwickshire appear in police mugshots around 1900-1910. One might assume that they were criminally-inclined but family history research suggests that their problem was just as much extreme poverty and homelessness. Isabella Norris, shown here, died aged 29 of Tuberculosis, commonly linked with poor housing.

The Heritage Hub has fantastic resources to support family history for anywhere in Scotland but especially in the four historic counties of Berwickshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire.

Contact us on 01450 360699, 
email archives@scotborders.gov.uk, 
visit http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/ 
or follow Dr Muir’s diary at at http://heritagehub.tumblr.com/.

Heritage Hub, Kirkstile, Hawick, TD9 0AE