In July 2014 I spent a day at the WWI Roadshow in Trinity College Dublin helping people to find their First World War Irish Ancestors. The event, organised by RTE and the National Library of Ireland in association with Trinity College Dublin was an enormous success and attracted unexpectedly huge crowds. It seems that the lid has been lifted in on identifying
Read MoreBrendan O’Carroll Who Do You Think You Are?
One of the most valuable sources when it came to researching the murder of Brendan O’Carroll’s ancestor, were the Witness Statements in the Bureau of Military History collection. Bureau of Military History Witness Statements The Bureau of Military History is a collection of some 1700 witness statements as well as photographs, documents and
Read MoreJulie Walters Who Do You Think You Are?
For the latest episode of BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? our research into the family of Julie Walters found a most interesting character in her great grandfather, Anthony Clarke. According to his newspaper obituary, Anthony Clarke was present at the first meeting of the Land League at Irishtown in Co. Mayo. With this clue to follow, we investigated
Read MorePoor Law Union Maps
A recent tweet from a project on welfare and public health in Belfast 1800 – 1973 at Queen’s University Belfast drew my attention to a collection of Poor Law Union Maps and figures for Poor Relief in each union across the entire country from 1851 to 1911. Following the 1838 Poor Relief Act for Ireland, Poor Law Unions were formed. A Poor Law Union
Read MoreIrish Emigrant Women in New York
A new source that documents Irish emigrant women in late 19th and early 20th century New York has recently been published online. The records originate with Our Lady of Rosary Mission, established in 1883 in response to the campaigning of Charlotte Grace O’Brien. Charlotte Grace O’Brien was born in 1845 in Limerick the daughter of Irish Nationalist,
Read MoreGeneral Register Office Ireland – GRO
The GRO or the General Register Office hold records of all births, deaths and marriages registered in Ireland. Civil registration in Ireland commenced in 1864, when it became compulsory to register these events. It should be noted that non-Catholic marriages were being registered from 1845. Civil registration in Ireland commenced quite late, when
Read MoreMilitary Service Pensions Collection
The Military Service Pensions Collection are applications made by individuals or their dependants for the award of a pension and gratuities for service with the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan and any other organisation who saw active service or were casualties or wounded while on duty between April
Read MoreIrish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army (ICA) was formed in October and November 1913 during the period of the Lockout. The ICA was set up by the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) with the purpose of protecting demonstrating workers and pickets from the police force. It was also a means of providing activity and purpose for the locked out workers.
Read MoreHayes Manuscript Sources
Hayes Manuscript Sources, or, Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilization was created by the Director of the National Library of Ireland, Richard J. Hayes. Started in 1941, the project to catalogue manuscript sources relevant to the history of Ireland was completed in 1965 with a supplement published in 1975. It is an extensive catalogue
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