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OCCUPATIONS
ARMY / MILITIA
How you proceed depends on whether your ancestor was a soldier or an officer and on the period in which they served. Almost all the records are in the English Public Record Office (PRO).
Soldiers
From the late eighteenth century on, a very large proportion of the rank and file of the British Army consisted of Irishmen: one estimate for the mid- nineteenth century is forty per cent of the total. You should remember that these men served throughout the army and not exclusively in the Irish regiments.
Soldiers' documents
WO 97, which contains records of discharges from the army between 1760 and 1913, can often provide details of place of birth, age and appearance and, after 1882, next of kin. The records up to 1882 only cover soldiers discharged to pension; after that year all discharges are recorded. Before 1873 the records are organized by regiment, but a name index exists for the period 1760 to 1854. Between 1854 and 1873 you must know the regiment to use the records. From 1873 to 1882 they are organised under the collective headings Artillery, Cavalry, Corps and Infantry, and then alphabetically under these headings. From 1883 they are alphabetical.
NOTE. Only a minority of soldiers were discharged to pension. If your soldier does not appear in the Soldiers' Documents, you may find him in one of the sources below.
Pension records
If a soldier was discharged to pension or discharged as medically unfit in Ireland before 1823, detailed information will be found in the registers of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham CWO 119), containing the Certificates of Service. These are organised by regimental number which you can trace through WO 118, Kilmainham Admission Books. In- pensioners' records (those actually resident in the institution) go from 1704 to 1922 and are also in WO 118. Irish out-pensioners (those receiving a pension but not actually resident) were administered from the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, afrer 1822 CWO 116/117). Regimental registers of admissions to pension also exist, indexed from 1806 to .1836; otherwise each regimental volume includes an index. The National Archives of Ireland also has microfilm copies of the Kilmainham records.
You should remember:
It was quite common for Irishmen to be discharged outside Ireland, in which case pension papers would be in the Chelsea records, even between 1760 and 1822.
Only a minority of those who served are covered.
Pay lists and musters
Each regiment made a quarterly return of all personnel from the early eighteenth century to 1878. From the 1860s these also included details of wives and children living in married quarters. These are obviously much more comprehensive than the pensions and discharge records and can supply fascinating details about individuals. The date of enlistment can be used to search the relevant muster, which should give birthplace, age and former occupation. The records are in WO 10, 11, 12 and 13. It is necessary to know the regiment before using these records.
Other records
Casualties and deserters
Soldiers who died on active service are recorded in the regimental returns of casualties from 1795 to 1875 in WO 25 and are indexed. Additional material such as wills, lists of effects or details of next of kin may also be found. The same series also includes details of absentees and registers of deserters for the first half of the nineteenth century. There is also an incomplete card index at the PRO for army deserters (1689-1830).
Description books
Also in WO 25 are the regimental description books, the earliest from 1756, the latest from 1900, which give physical details as well as a service history. They are not comprehensive and do not cover the entire period.
Regimental registers of births (1761-1924)
The index to regimental registers of births, 1761-1924, gives the regiment and place of birth of children born to the wives of serving soldiers, if they were attached to the regiment. The index is available at the PRO, but the records are held by the Family Records Centre and are not on open access.
Finding the Regiment
For most of the pre-1873 records, knowing the regiment is vital. It can be quite difficult.
Uniforms. Try www.regiments.org or D. J. Barnes, 'Identification and Dating: Military Uniforms' in Family History in Focus, D. J. Steel and L. Taylor eds, (Guildford, 1984) or the National Army Museum www.national-army-museum.ac.uk.
The Regimental Registers of Births (see above) can help if you have some idea of the names of the children or the areas in which a soldier served.
Wills of soldiers who died overseas were proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PROB 11). There are various published indexes. The registers of next of kin in WO 25 may also be useful.
If you have an idea where a soldier was stationed, and approximately when, J. M. Kitzmiller's In Search of the Forlorn Hope: a Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and their Records (Salt Lake City, 1988) will help you locate where various regiments were stationed.
Later records
The Irish Soldiers &Sailors Fund
This fund was set up to provide cottages for Irishmen who had served in the armed forces during World War I and helped build over 4,000 cottages up to the 1930s. InNorthern Ireland "; cottages were built up to 1952. The records are organised by place; there is no name index. The tenancy files are in AP 7.
Boer War
The Family Record Centre has separate indexes to the deaths of army personnel in the South African (Boer) War from 1899 to 1902. The General Register Office in Dublin also has an index to 'Deaths of Irish Subjects pertaining to the South African War (1899-1902)' in the deaths index for 1902. Certified copies of the original entries include regiment and rank.
World War I
Of the six and a half million records of servicemen in World War I originally held at the War Office Record Store, more than four million were destroyed during World War II. Those that survived were charred or suffered water damage and were consequently unavailable for research. A microfilming project to make the records (generally known as the 'burnt documents') publicly accessible was completed in the summer of 2002, and the films are now available at the PRO and via LOS family history centres. More than two million individuals are covered, with a variety of records. Among the most common are attestation papers which give information about name, address, date of birth and next of kin.
Ireland’s Memorial Records (Dublin, 1923) is an eight-volume commemorative publication listing the Irish men and women killed during the war and those of other nationalities who died while serving with Irish regiments. It also supplies the place of origin.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The commission maintains graves in more than 150 countries covering approximately 925,000 individuals, members of the forces of the Commonwealth killed in the two world wars. Their website at www.cwgc.org includes extensive details on those buried.
Officers
Lists
The official Army List was published at least annually from 1740 and records all officers. Harts Army List, which was published from 1839 to 1915, supplies more information about individuals' army careers. Both publications are available at the Public Record Office. Annotated copies, sometimes including supplementary details, are in WO 65 (1754-1879) and WO 66 (1879-1900).
Commissions
Records concerning the purchase and sale of the commissions of Irish officers from 1768 to 1871 can be found in HO 123. Correspondence relating to commissions generally between 1793 and 1871 is in WO 31. The records, arranged chronologically, can be extremely informative and are relatively simple to use since the date of commission is supplied by the Army List.
Service records
These records, in WO 25, are not comprehensive, consisting of a series of surveys carried out every fifteen to twenty years between 1809 and 1872. The early returns concentrate on military service, with some biographical detail supplied in the later ones. The records are covered by an alphabetical card index on open access which also takes in WO 75, an episodic series of regimental service returns between 1755 and 1954.
Pensions
Up to 1871, if an officer did not sell his commission on retirement, he went on half-pay, a retainer that meant he was theoretically available for service. Records of these payments, as well as widows' and dependents' pensions, can provide detailed biographical information. The half-pay ledgers of payment from 1737 to 1921 are in PMG 4, arranged by regiment up to 1841 and thereafter alphabetically. WO 25 also contains much detail on pensions and dependents.
Others
Many officers' original baptismal certificates are included in War Office records for 1777-1868 in
WO 32/8903 to WO 32/8920 (code 21A) and for 1755-1908 in WO 42. Both are indexed.
ATTORNEYS AND BARRISTERS
Up to 1867 it was necessary to be admitted to the King's Inns Society to become either a barrister or attorney (solicitor). Roman Catholics were excluded until 1794. To gain admission to the society as either an apprentice (to become a solicitor) or a student (to become a barrister) a good deal of family information had to be submitted. The earlier papers relating to admissions are incomplete, but what survives has been published in Kings Inn Admission Papers, 1607-1867, edited by Edward Keane, P. Beryl Phair and Thomas U. Sadlier (Dublin: Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1982).
To follow the later careers of lawyers, directories, in particular Dublin directories, are the major source.
CLERGYMEN
Roman Catholic
Since Roman Catholic priests did not marry, their usefulness for genealogical research is limited, but their relative prominence means they left records that can lead to information on other members of their families. Obituaries are relatively common from the latter half of the nineteenth century and the information in their seminary records can help identify a precise place of origin.
Until the 1790s all Irish Catholic clergy were educated in continental Europe because of the legal restrictions of the penal laws. When these were lifted, two seminaries were founded in short order, St Patrick's in Carlow and St Patrick's in Maynooth. Some of the records of both have been published:
.Maynooth Students and Ordinations Index, 1795-1895 (PatrickJ. Hamell, Birr, Co. Offaly, 1992).
.Carlow College 1793-1993: the Ordained Students and the leaching Staff of St Patricks College, Carlow (J. McEvoy, Carlow, St Patrick's College, 1993).
The Irish Catholic Directory, published annually since 1836, lists priests by diocese and parish.
Church of Ireland
Biographical details of Church of Ireland clergy can be found in the Leslie Biographical Index, a far- reaching compendium originated by the Rev. James Leslie and held at the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Additional information is also available in Leslie's succession lists, chronological accounts arranged by diocese and parish. The succession lists for thirteen dioceses have been published. The RCBL has these and the remaining dioceses in typescript.
Church of Ireland directories were also published intermittently but frequently in the first half of the nineteenth century, and annually from 1862.
Methodist
The key work for Methodist clergy is An Alphabetical Arrangement of all the Wesleyan Methodist Preachers and Missionaries (Ministers, Missionaries & Preachers on Trial) etc. (Bradford T. Inkersley), originally by William Hill but republished twenty-one times between 1819 and 1927. It covers all clergy in the British Isles, giving locations and year of service.
C. H. Crookshank's History of Methodism in Ireland, 1740-1860 (3 Vols, Belfast, 1885-8)
records brief biographical details of preachers. It is continued in H. Lee Cole's History of Methodism in Ireland, 1860-1960 (Belfast, 1961).
Presbyterian
Two works cover almost all ministers. The Rev. James McConnell's Fasti of the Irish Presbyterian Church 1613-1840 (Belfast, 1938) covers the early years of the Synod of Ulster. John M. Barkly's Fasti of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 184~1910 (3 Vols, Presbyterian Historical Society, 1986-7) takes things up to 1910.
DOCTO RS
Because medical practice was only partly regulated before the mid-nineteenth century, early records of medical education are patchy. The major Irish institutions were the Dublin Guild of Barber- Surgeons (from 1576), the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (from 1667), the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (from 1784) and Apothecaries Hall (from 1747). In addition, Dublin University (Trinity College) had a School of Physic (Medicine) from 1711. Many Irish medical men also trained in Britain or on the Continent. The Dublin Guild of Barber-Surgeons' records are in Trinity College (Ms. 1447) and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland has registers from the seventeenth century. However both sources are difficult to access and use. In most cases Dublin directories or Freeman's Lists are just as informative and easier to use. The records of Apothecaries Hall from 1747 to 1833 are on microfilm in the National Library (Pos. 929). Alumni Dublinenses (G.D. Burtchaell and T.V. Sadlier eds, Dublin, 1935) contains detailed records of Trinity students up to 1860.
To trace the careers of medical practitioners, the major sources are Dublin directories, which list physicians and surgeons from 1761 and apothecaries from 1751, local (generally later) directories (see Chapter 6) and Irish Medical directories, published intermittently between 1843 and the end of the nineteenth century.
Another less conventional source is the 'Biographical file on Irish medics' compiled by T. P. C. Kirkpatrick, a compendium of biographical material on Irish medics up to 1954 and held in the Royal College of Physicians. The college and the National Library both hold a copy of the index.
POLICEMEN
From the late eighteenth century a police force operated in Dublin city, with a part-time ad hoc constabulary in the rest of the country. In 1814 an armed Peace Preservation Force was created, followed in 1822 by the full-time County Constabulary. These two were amalgamated in 1836 into the Irish Constabulary, and renamed the Royal Irish Constabulary (better known as the RIC) in 1867. The separate Dublin force which remained in existence was known as the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP). With the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 the RIC was disbanded. Responsibility for policing passed to the Garda Siochana in the twenty-six counties, and to the newly formed Royal Ulster Constabulary in the six counties of Northern Ireland.
Excellent personnel records were kept from 1816. The General Register from that date to 1922 is now in the Public Record Office, Kew (HO 184), with microfilm copies in the National Archives of Ireland, the LDS Family History Library and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. For each recruit it includes a brief service record, date of marriage and wife's native county, and the name of the individual who recommended him. This can be important in helping to identify an exact place of origin, since the recommendations usually came from local clergymen or magistrates who knew the recruit personally. Thom's Directories (see Chapter 6) can pinpoint their address. HO 184 also comprises a separate Officers' Register.
The partly alphabetical index to the registers included in HO 184 has now been superseded by Jim Herlihy's The Royal Irish Constabulary: a Complete Alphabetical List of Officers and Men, 1816-1922 (Dublin: Four Courts, 1999), which supplies the service number needed to use the registers efficiently.
A further source, available only at Kew, is PMG 48, 'Pensions and allowances to officers, men and staff of the Royal Irish Constabulary and to their widows and children' .This dates from the 1870s and usually gives the address of the recipient.
The DMP Register is held by the Garda Archives at Dublin Castle but is more readily available on microfilm at the National Archives. It does not give marriage details but supplies a parish of origin.
TEACHERS
Irish education was relatively informal until quite recently. Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century a large majority of Irish teachers had no training.
The Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor of Ireland, better known as the Kildare Place Society, was the first attempt to provide systematic non-denominational primary education. Founded in 1811, it trained several thousand teachers and supported schools throughout the country. Its personnel records from 1814 to 1854 are now held by the Church of Ireland College of Education in Dublin.
Appendix 22 of the Irish Education Enquiry, 1826; 2nd Report (4 Vols) lists all the parochial schools in Ireland in 1824, including the names of teachers and other details. It is indexed in Schoolmasters and Schoolmistresses in Ireland; 1826-1827 by Dorothy Rines Dingfelder (National Library, Ir. 372 d 38).
The enquiry itself was set up because of the objections of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the non-denominational nature of the Kildare Place schools. Its outcome was the establishment of the Board of National Education in 1831, which ended state support for Kildare Place schools and placed control of elementary education in the hands of the local clergy in the form of national schools, a system that is still in place.
The principal source for teachers in the national schools is the series of Teachers' Salary Books from 1834 to 1855 held by the National Archives. These are not particularly informative from a genealogical point of view, but they sometimes include comments that can be of interest. They are organised by school, so it is necessary to know where your teacher was working.