Borders Family History Society

12/08/2026

Set into the wall of a house in Kirk Wynd, Selkirk is a carved statue known as ‘Johnnie Souter', a testament to Selkirk's shoemaking past.
Shoes have been made in Selkirk for at least 800years. In medieval times, Selkirk was the only large settlement within the Ettrick Forest. With an abundant supply of animal hides and the oak bark needed to tan them into leather, shoemaking was a natural development.
The last true shoemaker retired in 1975 and today the legacy of the shoemaking lives on through story, song and of course the Souter title.
(Source: Halliwell’s House Museum)

31/07/2026

We have added a Search Box to the online Shop on our new website. This allows you to quickly search the available products by topic.

27/07/2026

Jedburgh, Castlewood & Galahill Monumental Inscriptions 2nd Edition now available in the Shop as an immediate PDF download.

Added to the online shop this afternoon - Jedburgh, Castlewood & Galahill Monumental Inscriptions 2nd edition, over 2,200 Monumental inscriptions in Jedburghs Castlewood & Galahill public cemeteries with transcribed War memorials and Rolls of Honour.

This publication is available as an immediate digital download as a PDF (no postal charges).

£12.00 for non members
£10.80 with members discount (you must be logged in to the website for the discount to apply)

25/07/2026

Have you seen the consultation on the NRS website?
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/registration-services-fees-consultation-paper/

Fees will increase - Scotlands People image up from £1.50 tp £2.50

A day research in Scotlands People Centre - up from £15 to £23

Have your say by completing the consultation paper responses using the link below
https://consult.gov.scot/national-records-of-scotland/registration-services-fees-review/

Find and participate in consultations run by The Scottish Government

15/07/2026

The Memoirs of Jock Wilson
Jock Wilson’s account of growing up in Berwick is an illuminating and touching account of life in the first half of the 20th century. This is a life shaped by hope for personal and collective fulfilment, but also by loss. Like many families, close relatives were killed in the First World War and siblings lost at an early age but the pages of his memoirs are also full of love, laughter and, above all, music.
His Berwick was a very different to the one we know today. In his world church, civic and commercial life were so intertwined as to be inseparable. This was a world before the NHS, where a boy with an injured knee would fear going to the doctor because the family had no money. This was a world where Jock had to negotiate his way through a series of vindictive and authoritarian teachers.
Welcome to Jock’s world – a boy growing up between the wars.

134 pages £11.99

09/07/2026

Sue Yardley, from Victoria Australia, came in to research her Borders family. Her ancestors Joseph Hardie and Jean Scott from Lauder went to Australia in 1850s. Their son Joseph (born 1835) married Agnes Broad from Galashiels and also emigrated to Australia. Is anyone researching this family?

08/07/2026

Start your family history research with a close relative whose key life events you already know: a date of death, place of birth or marriage details.

From there, you can work backwards using their birth, death or marriage certificates to find details of their parents.

06/07/2026

Bowden Monumental Inscriptions 2nd Edition now available in the Shop as an immediate PDF download.

Just put up on the shelves in the online shop this afternoon - Bowden Monumental Inscriptions 2nd edition, 637 memorials recorded in church, churchyard and new cemetery. Includes transcription of parish war memorial and Roll of Honour.

This publication is available as an immediate digital download as a PDF (no postal charges).

£12.00 for non members
£10.80 with members discount (you must be logged in to the website for the discount to apply)

Bowden Monumental Inscriptions 2nd edition, 637 memorials recorded in church, churchyard and new cemetery. Includes transcription of parish war memorial and Roll of Honour. £12.00 Available as an immediate digital download PDF.

05/07/2026

29/06/2026

These are a selection of second hand local history books we have. Pop in to see what’s available in our second hand bookcase. We are open Tuesday and Thursday 10-4