Forrests in Belfast, where do I start?

[Alwef]

I have a wonderful postcard photo of a small family group, husband, wife and son, and I'm trying to identify who they are. They are dressed in Salvation Army uniform and the shot was taken, I suspect, prior to WW1.

I'm fairly sure the father is a Scottish member of my Forrest family, but the photographer is R Lyttle, 44 Dublin Rd Belfast, 'The only official photographer to the Irish Football Association'.  I do remember from the 1950s, at least one member of the Forrest family who lived in Belfast, so they had probably gone to live there at that time.


I would be grateful for suggestions as to where I should start my research.

[aghadowey]

Would you know their Christian names? Ulster Covenant (1912) on PRONI site lists quite a few people named Forrest with Belfast/Scotland connections:
Rebecca, Samuel, Ella Olivia, Mary, Grace Barclay, Margaret S.J., Maria, James, James, Edward T.
if you type 'Ulster Covenant' into Google and follow the links to site (use just surname 'Forrest' to search) 48 people come up, addresses, place of signing, etc. are listed (clicking on the link gets a scan of actual signatures).

[Alwef]

Thanks very much for the info, and I will follow it up. What is or was the Ulster Covenant?

I don't know the names of the wife and son. The husband was one of eight brothers. I know all their names and ages and I also have a several family photos in which they all appear. Its just that I can't put names to all the faces.

But I can eliminate four of the names with reasonable certainty, so his name is either Alexander, John, David or Thomas; not uncommon names unfortunately.

[aghadowey]

Sorry, should have explained better. There is an explanation of Ulster Covenant on PRONI site and you can search for people that signed it here:
www.proni.gov.uk/ulstercovenant/index.html

[Alwef]

Thanks for your help Aghadowey. I remember now, from when I did history at uni, about the background to the Covenant. The search has turned up some very interesting possibilities, which I hope to follow further.

Am I right in thinking that the Irish 1911 census has been made available, and if so, how do I access it?

Alan