DETAILS of a tattoo artist who called himself 'Prince Valler' and worked in Glasgow between the two world wars have been released as part of a snapshot of the lives of more than two million people living in Scotland in 1925.
DETAILS of a tattoo artist who called himself 'Prince Valler' and worked in Glasgow between the two world wars have been released as part of a snapshot of the lives of more than two million people living in Scotland in 1925.
The body art specialist was said to be the most unusual person among a vast treasure trove of public records from the valuation roll of 1925 which is being published online.
Records of every owner, tenant and occupier of property in Scotland in 1925 are to be posted on ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk, the government??s family history website as part of an ongoing project to provide an insight into Scotland through the years.
Prince Valler is said to have been born Patrick Henson in Ireland in 1888, the son of Stephen Henson, and Henrietta Rosine. In the 1900s his father worked as Stephen Valler, a ??professional entertainer?? using his father John Valler??s surname.
By 1911 Patrick, then 22, had adapted his Valler surname to trade in Glasgow as ??Prince Valler??, a ??society tattooist??, reflecting a fashion for tattoos among the upper classes of Victorian and Edwardian Britain.
Valler is thought to have visited his clients at home. To keep up his business, in September 1915 he even visited the capital and opened a ??pop-up?? tattoo shop on Leith Walk.
Tim Ellis, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland, said: ??The release of the Valuation Rolls for 1925 provides family and local history researchers worldwide with another powerful digital tool.
"The rolls will allow people to discover more about where and how Scots were living in the mid-1920s, 14 years after the Census of 1911. This latest release is part of the commitment by the National Records of Scotland to provide access to the key records that researchers want.??
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