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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Inverness => Topic started by: beatrice834 on Wednesday 25 May 11 20:19 BST (UK)
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Please does anyone know what "Inverness NB" means as a birthplace in the 1911 census?
Thanks.
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Inverness, North Britain. It is an old term for Scotland, used in the 18th and occasionally 19th centuries. The hotel on Princes Street, above Waverley Station in Edinburgh used to be called the North British - in fact I still think of it as such, even though it is now named the Balmoral.
Nell
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I wouldn't have thought NB for Scotland, was still in use in 1911. The naming of the North British Hotels in Edinburgh & Glasgow are from the North British Railway Company which became LNER.
Skoosh.
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Could it possibly be Naval Base??
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I agree that NB for North Britain is out of date by 1911. What it might say is Inverness N K. In other words, Born in Inverness-shire, parish Not Known. NK is a regular abbreviation on censuses when a detail isn't known.
Graham.
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Sounds likely Graham, I was thinking of Nota Bene! Skoosh.
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This is quite clearly ' North Britain'. There are many, many examples of the late use of this term into the twentieth century although perhaps more so outwith the central belt. The background is that the terms South Britain and North Britain were introduced about the time of the union of the crowns but never really took off in England. It took the Scots a very long time to realise that 'England' was being used to describe the whole island and to react accordingly.
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England is still being used to describe Britain, the English Queen, English Army etc'. The term NB had almost died out by the early 20th century, it caused confusion with the London postal designation N8. Skoosh.
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I agree that NB for North Britain is out of date by 1911.
Yes, but it all depends on who is writing it :) They might still have thought of it as NB even if the popular terminology had changed.
Added: for example, a quick search of "NB" as birthplace on the 1911 census gives 77 returns. I checked one such family and all 5 members were shown as being born in "Edinburgh, NB".
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Scots did consider themselves also British in those days, I did myself at one time. The Empire went, and British, for most Scots nowadays, went with it! Skoosh.
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Here's an example of the use of NB on the sort of buttercrock you might find in a grocers or dairy in the early part of the twentieth century. This particular one was manufactured at Port Dundas pottery, Glasgow.
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I think you have to remember that this is from a census. The enumerator was supposed to enter the county and the parish of birth. If it is from a Scottish census, you would have the parish or N. K. for not known. Sometimes, a town or village, even a farm name appears instead of the parish, if the enumerator was given this and did not realise it was not the parish. Occasionally there is a blank left, but you would not get N.B. for North Britain in a Scottish census. Firstly it was not what was supposed to be written and also there would be no point in wasting space and ink on the obvious. If this is an English census, I can't see why they did not just write "Inverness(shire) Inverness" as they were supposed to.
Graham.
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Graham
Sorry to be so definitive here but you are wrong. All genealogists know that what is meant to happen frequently doesn't. The use of NB by Scots was deeply rooted and its use quite clearly meaning North Britain appears in English, Welsh and Scots census records and in legal documents. I've even seen it used in the official Soldiers Died in the Great War (SDGW).
Imber
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If this is an English census, I can't see why they did not just write "Inverness(shire) Inverness" as they were supposed to.
As already stated:
a quick search of "NB" as birthplace on the 1911 census gives 77 returns. I checked one such family and all 5 members were shown as being born in "Edinburgh, NB".
Those entries were in the householder's own handwriting so obviously they thought of their own birthplace as being in "North Britain".
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I have a reference in the Knockando Kirk Session Records of the 1780s to someone who had moved from Morayshire to the "City of Durham, South Britain".
Jenny
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Is this anywhere near the North British Academy of Arts in Newcastle. Skoosh NB.
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Skoosh,
I think it depends on who describes it. My husband is West Country English and, until I took him to Scotland outside Edinburgh, it never occurred to him to regard Scotland as a separate country. To him Newcastle and Scotland were equally just "up north". When he went to the Highlands he realised for the first time that it was ( to him ) as foreign as Germany!
Jenny
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An addition to the above. Apparently, in Mediaeval and Tudor times, North Britain was used by the government in London to describe the territories that they believed owed fealty to the English Crown but were disputed by the Scots, i.e. Northumbria, Cumbria and the Borders, though sometimes the claim went as far north as Edinburgh. These territories were regarded as rebellious and ungovernable. The term became far more elastic after unification.
Jenny
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Jenny, typical impertinence of these Tudors who were about as Royal as yours truly! (Welsh squires).
I see you're off the only clan who never lost a battle! I'm off the same tribe myself on my Maw's side.
Yours Aye,
Skoosh.
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Skoosh,
Nice to hear from a fellow Grant. My line is also on my mother's side, my grandfather had no sons so that line of the name died out with him. The more I look into them the more impressed I am with the Grants. They really knew how to spot an opportunity. Actually, I am quite pleased to know I come from such "good stock". You never know what you are going to find when you start on this journey so I have been pleasantly surprised.
Jenny.