Resources for Greenock family history research

I often get inquiries from people researching an Inverclyde connection in their family history.  Greenock, Gourock and Port Glasgow, as well as the villages of Inverkip and Kilmacolm were once part of Renfrewshire which makes things a wee bit confusing sometimes.  I've updated my Family History Research Leaflet because many of the links (especially those of Inverclyde Council) were no longer working or had been moved.

If you are interested in researching your family history, then here are a few online resources to get you started.  You can download my Family History Booklet here.  It contains more resources and information.

Inverclyde Council

Our local council have an incredible amount of online information available.

Check out the Inverclyde Council website.

Of specific interest is the Intimations section which contains all the birth, death, and marriage details which were posted in the local press from 1800-1918.

Another section contains Post Office Directories for the area from 1783-1912.  These list people, their occupations and addresses - a bit like a telephone directory.

Inverclyde Council have a huge collection of old photographs of the area which give an amazing insight into the old streets and living conditions of the area.

Inverclyde’s Great War - lots of information about local people who fought and died during World War I.  Some biographical details and photographs are included.

Old Local Maps

Greenock has seen many changes over the years and perhaps the street where your ancestor lived doesn’t appear on modern maps.  The National Library of Scotland has a site which has old town plans and maps for all of Scotland.

Modern Maps

Just type in the street and town and Google will find it for you and show you a map of the area.

Census Information

A good, free site for some census information for a lot of Britain (only certain years in some places) is FreeCen.  It has census information for Renfrewshire for 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871.

Family Search

Run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Family Search contains lots of information of births and marriages in Renfrewshire.

Local News

Our local newspaper is the Greenock Telegraph.

Inverclyde Now also provides local information.

Hope this helps!