The Red Book of Scotland, Researching Scotland’s Genealogical Heritage

Gordon MacGregor’s Red Book of Scotland (http://redbookofscotland.co.uk/ ) is an ambitious nine-volume, 9,500-page genealogical blockbuster.  It is now available on-line through Tanner Ritchie Publishing.

Synthesizing published sources with meticulous original archival research, it offers a panoramic view of the hundreds of families who administered Scotland’s regions from the medieval era to the modern day. 

Laid out with clarity, fully sourced and fully searchable electronically, its nine volumes allow the user to identify and locate specific individuals, as well as to trace the rise and fall of kindreds — and kindred alliances — down through the centuries.

“[A] 7,500-page genealogical blockbuster going far beyond existing individual clan and family histories.” (Dr. Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Senior Lecturer, Sabhal Mor Ostaig.)

The Red Book of Scotland Online seeks to fill an enormous void that exists in Scotland’s genealogical history. Researched over 30 years, this publication is fruit of a massive self-funded research project undertaken by Gordon MacGregor, and places genealogy back within its rightful place as a serious academic discipline.

The Red Book of Scotland Online is, quite simply, a new essential reference tool which should be constantly at hand for anybody working within the fields of Scottish history and Scottish genealogy in the broadest senses. Available from Tanner Ritchie publishing 

https://tannerritchie.com/databases/rbs/ .

FOREWORD:  “The Red Book of Scotland is an outstanding historical and genealogical resource, recording the genealogy of many of Scotland’s families that are of importance both nationally and locally. It is an immensely useful resource for historians in Scotland trying to place significant individuals in their historical context when acting in national and local affairs. Gordon MacGregor has put in many years research into the production of this nine volume magnus opum collection of genealogies with the entry for each person clearly referenced.   I have worked with Gordon MacGregor on a number of successful claims to titles and clan chiefships in the Court of the Lord Lyon, where his evidence has been accepted by the Lord Lyon, King of Arms who accepted “that Mr. MacGregor has experience as a genealogical record researcher and has knowledge of researching in Scottish records”. The success of the claims depended on his expertise as a record searcher to produce the documentation to prove the genealogies of the claimants. He clearly has a wide experience of all the mediaeval and historic record sources in the Scottish repositories. However, what has impressed me more, is that when a client has presented what they consider to be their genealogy, Gordon MacGregor is prepared, after the appropriate research, to tell them fearlessly that he considered their genealogy to be wrong. I consider that to be the mark of a committed expert and an indication of the rigour that he must have applied to genealogies he has included in the Red Book. I commend the Red Book of Scotland to anyone interested in the history and personalities of the many and varied families of Scotland. “      

 Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt QC, Rothesay Herald of Arms