Irish Census - Before 1901

[petbro]

Hi,

Are there NO Irish census records before 1901?

Peter

[craggagh]

Hello -

Some parts of the Dublin census of 1851 still exist.

craggagh.

[aghadowey]

There were census taken every ten years in Ireland but only small fragments for a few places survive (1831 Co. Londonderry, for example).

If you are interested in a particular county- go to the RESOURCES (at top of county page) and see what's been listed. If you are looking for anything in particular please tell us exactly what you are looking for so that we can give more exact details.

[dathai]

If you were unlucky or possibly lucky to have one of your ancestors on the Irish prison register at Family Search.Org this is a great resource for finding peoples whereabouts pre 1901.

[kingskerswell]

Hi,
   In 1908, when the Old Age Pension was introduced in Ireland, people had to prove that they were 70 years old. One way was to use the 1841 and 1851 census. the clerks recording the information usually copied the names and ages of the whole family. These records still exist and are available on-line in areas such as Emerald ancestors which covers N. Ireland.

Regards

[petbro]

Thank you all.

Peter

[secondgenIrish]

I understand that during World War 1, there was a paper shortage in the British munitions industry, and that civil servants in Dublin decided that, as there was "no point" in retaining the basic Census data (all the statistics having been extracted), that they should send the Census forms for recycling into shell and bullet cartridge cases.

So, all the Census forms from 1821 to 1891 were pulped, recycled and then fired at the German army in Belgium and France.

I should stress that these were Irish civil servants, not Englishmen, and that they could not have foretold the huge increase in interest in genealogy following on from the ongoing information explosion that is the Internet!

[gaffy]

... So, all the Census forms from 1821 to 1891 were pulped, recycled and then fired at the German army in Belgium and France...

... I should stress that these were Irish civil servants, not Englishmen ...

Your account of the Ireland census issue isn't my understanding at all for that time period. For a start, look at this Irish Government website:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/help/history.html

I'm also unclear over your reference to "I should stress that these were Irish civil servants, not Englishmen".

Could you expand on this or provide a link?

[secondgenIrish]

I am sorry, I had not read that section of the census homepage.

As for the fate of the censuses before 1891, I had read this memorandum some time ago, and some of it stuck in my mind, such as the author's comment on the Irish name of the Chief Commissioner of the Census, which coloured the stress comment.

The memorandum can be found at this link, below:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/nai/censusmemo.htm