1824-38 Tithe Applotment Books. (For details, link to the Property Records.)

1831-1921 National School Records. In 1831, a countrywide system of primary education was established, under the control of the Board of Commissioners for National Education. The most useful records produced by the system are the school registers themselves, which record the age of the pupil, religion, father's address and occupation, and general observations. Unfortunately, in the Republic of Ireland no attempt has been made to centralise these records and they remain in the custody of local schools or churches. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has a collection of over 1,500 registers for schools in the six counties of Northern Ireland. The administrative records of the Board of Commissioners itself are now held by the Public Record Office in Dublin. These include teachers' salary books, which can be very useful if an ancestor was a teacher.

1848-64 Griffith's Valuation. (For details please link to the Property Records gallery.)

1876 Landowners in Ireland: Return of Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards ..., London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1876. (Reissued by The Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1988.) This records 32,614 owners of land in Ireland in 1876 and the entries record the address of the owner, along with the extent and valuation of the property. Only a minority of the population actually owned the land they occupied, but the work is invaluable for those who did.

Various Dates Freeholders: Freehold property is held either by fee simple, with absolute freedom to dispose of it, by fee tail, in which the disposition is restricted to a particular line of heirs, or simply by life tenure. From the early 18th century freeholders' lists were drawn up regularly, usually because of the right to vote which went with the freehold of property over a certain value. It follows that such lists are of genealogical interest only for a small minority of the population.

Voters' Lists and Poll Books Voters lists cover a slightly larger proportion of the population than Freeholders' lists, since freehold property was not the only determinant of the franchise. In particular, freemen of the various corporation towns and cities had a right to vote in some elections at least. Since membership of a trade guild carried with it admission as a freeman, and this right was hereditary, a wider range of social classes is covered. Poll books are the records of votes actually cast in elections.

Electoral Records No complete collection of the electoral lists used in 19th century elections exists. This is unfortunate, since they can be of great value in tracing living relatives, listing all eligible voters by townland and household. The largest single collection of surviving electoral registers is to be found in the National Archives, but even here the coverage of any areas is quite skimpy.

Valuations Local valuations and re-valuations of property were carried out with increasing frequency from the end of the 18th century, usually for electoral reasons. The best of these record all householders.

< Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >