The records of people buried in Aberdeenshire can now be accessed online.
More than 200,000 of Aberdeenshire Council’s burial records have been added to a specialist family history website, including details of John Brown, Queen Victoria’s devoted servant, who is buried at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral.
Council bosses have said it will give people the chance to carry out “fascinating research” into the history of their family and find out more about their area.
Users of the website – www.deceasedonline.com – can search the database for free, before choosing to pay a small fee for individual details and records which can then be downloaded and saved.
Head of roads and landscapes, Philip McKay, said: “I am delighted that Aberdeenshire Council has completed digitisation of these fascinating records.
“The new dataset is very important in the context of family history and allows not only Aberdeenshire residents to discover more about their local heritage but also gives visitors from further afield the opportunity to trace their roots and discover more about their ancestry.
“By making records more accessible and easier to search for, many people will be able to trace their ancestors to a location which help spark research into why that person is buried there and what their life was like.”