I also offer a document Transcription and Translation service. If you have an old document in Scots, English or Latin I can transcribe the difficult handwriting, translate Latin passages if necessary and do further research into it. Use the contact form if you’d like to learn more and to receive a quote. The cost would depend on the number of pages and complexity of the hand.
I am familiar with most types of handwriting from medieval through to modern. I’ve worked on all sorts of works, from medieval manuscripts, through early modern secretary hand ledgers, through to florid eighteenth-century letters, even Victorian schoolboy graffiti scrawl.
I worked on lots of documents from the Edinburgh Commissary Court, especially Wills and Testaments, which can be transcribed for a set rate per page. I’ve also scanned through Kirk Session records for certain surnames, and extracted key information, such as names and property details, from indentures and charters of many periods. And if I can’t work on it myself, I’ll hopefully be able to put you in contact with someone who can.
I’ve taught Latin for years now, at school level and university level, so am comfortable translating. This could be anything from simple Charter Latin and memorial inscriptions, through to more complex forms, such as extended prose and poetry. Even if you’d just like to know the jist of what a document is saying, I hope I’d be able to help.
Examples of Transcription and Translation
1675 Deed of Gift
This document is in a private collection, reproduced with permission. It is written on hand-made paper, with IHS watermark.
Endorsed:
24th November 1675 / Andrews to Matthews: Deed of Gift of £20
Main text:
To All Christian People to whom these presents shall come I John Andrews of Ledbury in the County of Hereford Couper[1] send Greeting
Whereas by our Indenture bearyng date the eyghth day of July in the seventeenth yeare of the raigne of our Sovereign Lord Charles the second by the grace of God of England etc Betweene and the said John Andrews on the one part And John Deven[2] of Ledbury aforesaid clothier, Frances Hall of Ledbury aforesaid Gent And Farly Chesburne[3] of Stoake Prior in the said county of Hereford Gent, on the other part;
It Apeareth that for the reasons causes and considerations in the said Indenture expressed the said John Deven did for himselfe, his heyres, executors and Administrators, covenant, promise and agree with one the said John Andrews, my heyres, Executors, Administrators and assignes, to pay or cause to be paid within six months after my decease the sum of twenty pounds of lawful money of England, to whomever I should by any writing and by my hand before two witnesses Apyoynt the same to be paid, as by the said indenture relation being thereunto herd it doth and may more fully appeare: nowe know thee that I the said John Andrews hath given, and by these presents doe give the said twenty pounds unto my trusty and wellbeloved friend William Matthews of Ledbury[4] aforesaid apothecary:
In witness whereof I have put to my hand and seale the twenty fourth day of November in the twenty seventh yeare of the raigne of our soveraigne lord Charles the second by the grave of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith etc Anno domini 1675
[Signed:] John Andrews [Seal torn off]
Read sealed and published in the presence of
[different hand:]
Anne XX Alsot her marke[5]
Joseph Gardiner
[1] Cooper: someone who makes barrels.
[2] John Deven of Ledbury appears in a number of contemporary documents in the Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre, for example BR80/2, 4, 5, 6; AT53/9, etc.
[3] This is a guess, the first three or four letters are unclear.
[4] This man also seems to appear in Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre B38/173, a declaration of trust of 1681.
[5] Ie she was unable to write her name, but left a squiggle on the page.