Irish Pride

In a previous post I talked about the military history of my great-grandfather Christopher Whelan. I have now found out that Christopher's brother-in-law was also enlisted in the British Army. His name was James Gavan (sister to Elizabeth Gavin, Christopher's wife - the difference in spelling is proof that an open mind where Irish surnames are concerned is vital).

Like his younger sister, James was born in the parish of St. Michan in Dublin. At the age of 19 he joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in 1896. Previously he had been a porter. During his first three years he was home, but had been promoted twice, first to Lance-Corporal, then to Corporal.

He was then sent to South Africa with the 1st Battalion. Above is a picture of the 1st Battalion NCO's. I don't know for certain if James would be in this picture, but I like to imagine that he is. For his campaign he received the King and Queen's Medal with clasps. As you can see below, the Queen's medal comes with clasps. Some are called State Clasps while others are Battle Clasps:
James received two state clasps:

• Orange Free State
• Transvaal

He also received two battle clasps:

• Relief of Ladysmith
• Laings Nek (12 June 1901)

He was again promoted, to Sergeant, in August of 1901. Following the Boer War he was stationed between Malta, Crete, and Alexandria in Egypt. He married Elizabeth Allen in Malta 1904, and had his first child Elizabeth Mary there in 1905. Henry Alexander followed the next year in Alexandria. James Joseph was born in a less exotic location (Fermoy!) when the family returned to Ireland. James was stationed in Ireland from 1906-1918. He had been written up a few times in his career. He was severly reprimanded multiple times for neglect of duty or disobeying an order. I particularly like the incident in 1905 in Malta where he was reprimanded for hesitating to obey an order, and using improper language to his colour sergeant. I would love know what was said that day!

During his 11 years at home in Ireland he rose from Sergeant to Company Sergeant to C.S. Major, and was appointed Regimental Sergeant Major in 1917. His family was living at Beggarsbush Barracks in Dublin in 1911. At this time he was with the 5th Battalion based at Curragh, the headquarters for the British Army in Ireland. The 5th remained in Ireland during WWI, but were transferred to Dublin on April 25th 1916. I have been reliably informed that Sergeant Flood of the 5th Battalion was arrested and court martialled for shooting two officers and Guinness workers during the Easter Rising. What role James played in dealing with the rebels is unknown at the moment.

In 1918 he reliquished the post of Regimental Sergent Major, but retained the role of Company Sergeant Major. He was transferred to the Labour Corps and travelled to France where he stayed for almost a year between 1918 - 1919. He was with a Prisoner of War company and the assumption is that he was in charge of German PoW's immediately after the war.

James returned home to his family and was discharged from the army on the 13th February 1919 after 22 years and 229 days of service. Upon discharge his character was described as Exemplary.

I am proud to have such brave and honourable men as part of my history. I care not that they were members of the British Army, nor that James' battalion was forced to deal with the rebels during the Rising (remember that most Dubliners were against the rebels at the time). These men joined the army to escape poverty, to support families, to defend the country, and to see the world. They fulfilled their duty with honour and courage, and I for one will certainly pause for thought when I pass the memorial arch to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers at St. Stephans Green in Dublin.

The Kindness of Strangers

I have been hitting a dead end on one side of my family tree, and struggling to understand military service records on another. So, I decided to post some queries on www.rootschat.com just to see if anyone out there in cyberspace had information or fresh ideas/insights to help me in my search.

Within 5 minutes of posting two queries I'm already receiving a steady stream of ideas, new avenues to pursue, help deciphering army records and the endless acronyms they use. People are even looking up records for me!

I am eternally amazed by the kindness of strangers, along with the depth and breath of resources that the internet can offer.

Illegitimacy and the Workhouse

I've talked alot about the Whelan side of the family for the past few posts, so now its time to switch to my mother's side. Many County Council's in Ireland have put their parish records online to search for free (and view for a fee). Dublin city centre is not online which makes searching my father's side more time-consuming for records pre-1864 (when civil registration was introduced). However, my mother's family is mostly from County Louth, north of Dublin, and their records are all online.

Thanks to a recent family connection I made through Ancestry.com I have managed to obtain more photographs of my mother's grandparents, Thomas Berrill and Maggie Donagh (also Donough, just to make my life more complicated). My thanks to Sandra for allowing me to share them here.

Here is Thomas and Maggie in a picture quite similiar to one I have already posted. Thomas was a soliciter's clerk and must have been doing quite well for himself to own a car in Drogheda, even Ireland, in the 1930's or 40's:

I've managed to go a few generations back on both sides so for the moment I shall concentrate on Maggie's family. Maggie's parents were John Donagh and Cate Garvey, who married in 1879. The 1901 census records them living in Newtown, in St. Lawrence's Gate, Drogheda:

• John [Head of the Household]: Farm Labourer (49)
• Catherine [Wife] (49)
• Mary: Domestic Servant (22)
• John: Forge Labourer (20)
• Ellen: Scholar (19)
• James: Scholar (17)
• Pat: Scholar (15)
• Margaret: Scholar (13)

In house 11, the family of 8 shared just two rooms in total.

This is an image of St. Lawrence St, Drogheda from the early 20th century, just to give a sense of the area where they would have lived and worked. The Donagh's appear again in the 1910 Census records, living in the same house:

• John [Head of Household]: General Labourer (59)
• Cate (59)
• John: Brewery Labourer (30)
• James: Railway Platelayer (26)
• Maggie: Knitter (20)

My assumption is that Maggie's elder sisters, Mary and Ellen, married in the intervening 10 years. Patrick, the youngest boy, turns up in Dublin in 1911. He is unmarried, a baker, and living in Wellsley Place, Mountjoy.

According to John and Cate's marriage certificate, his father was also John Donagh/Donough, while Cate's father was John Garvey. This a copy of the online record of the birth of Maggie's father John:

So John's parents were John Sr. and Rose Byrne. The record shows that not only was he born in the workhouse (or his parents were living there at the time, I suspect that Rose was), but he was born out of wedlock. I can find no record of John and Rose ever marrying after John's birth, and it is difficult to trace Rose.

The Ardee Workhouse was open in 1842. During the famine in the mid-1840's, a 40 bed fever hospital was erected at the north-west of the main building. Additional accommodation for 400 was provided in a hired malt-house. I'm going to try and find records from 1857 to see if I can find more information about Rose and the circumstances of John's birth.

I have also managed to find the birth record of John's father, John Sr. He was born on 22 April 1833 in the parish of Dunleer, Louth to Owen Donough and Mary Faulkner. Also born was his twin Thomas. I feel I should be worried because twins appear on one side of my family, while on the other side there were quadruplets! So far the Donagh/Donough tree looks like this:

Owen Donough (b.1804) + Mary Faulkner

John Donough (b. 1833) + Rose Byrne

John Donough (b. 1857) + Cate Garvey

Maggie Donough (b.1889) + Thomas Berrill

Polly Berrill + John McKenna

Marie McKenna + Brendan Whelan

Me!

In Memory of Thomas Whelan

This post will concentrate on Christopher Whelan's younger brother, Thomas (seen below as the seated figure).


Thomas enlisted in the British army one day before his elder brother, on the 22th of January 1900. He was only 18 years old at the time he joined the Royal Irish Regiment. His military history is as follows:

• Home: 22/1/1900 - 22/7/1901 (1 yr, 182 days)


• South Africa: 23/7/1901 - 18/11/1903 (2 yrs, 119 days)


• Home: 19/11/1903 - 20/11/1903 (2 days)


• Army Reserve: 21/11/1903 - 21/1/1912 (8 yrs, 62 days)


• Army Reserve: 22/1/1912 - 5/8/1914 (2 yrs, 196 days)


• Home: 6/8/1918 - 12/8/1914 (7 days)


• BEF*: 13/8/1914 - 9/10/1914 (58 days) *British Expeditionary Force


• Home: 10/10/1914 - 20/2/1916 (1 yr, 134 days)


• BEF: 21/2/1916 - 10/7/1916 (140 days)


• Home: 11/7/1916 - ///////1917 (1 yr, 108 days)

At the time of his discharge he had completed almost 18 years in military service. The army was moblilised for war on the 6th August 1911 and posted on the 8th. During his first outing with the BEF he was part of the 3rd battalion, and for the second posting he was part of the 2nd battalion.

In the previous post I mentioned that the Royal Irish Regiment were virtually decimated at Le Pilly during the Battle of La Bassée, most were taken as POW's (this occurred the day after Christy was wounded and evacuated). After this the regiment was transferred to various division but on 19th May (when Thomas was back with the BEF in France) the Royal Irish Regiment was transferred to the 22nd Brigade, 7th Division and remained there until October.


The 7th division was a regular Army division that was formed by combining battalions returning from outposts of the British Empire at the outbreak of WWI. Unlike the first 6 regular divisions of the BEF, a third of whose strength was made up of regular reservists, the 7th division was composed entirely of serving regulars, which gave rise to it's nickname The Immortal Seven.


The 22nd Brigade was involved in the Battle of Albert, 1st - 13th July 1916. This was the first of the battles which composed the Battle of the Somme which lasted until November of that year. The Battle of Albert is of particulier importance as I believe this was where Thomas was serving at the time.


The result of faulty British planning and the tactics and German preparedness was that the first day of the attack consistuted a major German victory on most of the front which the British attacked. The British army suffered its highest-ever casualty rate in a single day, in return for a modest advance on the extreme right where it captured and held Mametz and Montauban.


Thomas's military records state that he was wounded in the leg on the 5th July 1916, four days after the battle began. We know that he returned home and have records for his admittance to hospital:

• Dublin, 25 September 1917: Here he spent 3 days in hospital for TB. The remarks are difficult to read but we can make out that there was evidence of a decrease of left apex (lung?), and also that his gunshot wound received the previous year had still not quite healed.


• Curragh, 27 September 1917: (The Curragh Camp was a divisional headquaters for the British Army and trained Irish soldiers) Here we see he still has pulmonary problems, along with laryngitis, and his gunshot wound is still healing.

He was formally discharged from the army on the 26th October 1917. His character was described as very good and he received the South African medal. The cause of discharge was that he was no longer physically fit for service due to tubercle of the lung attributed to service. Recommended was further treatment in a Sanatorium for his tuberculosis.

Before the outbreak of war, Thomas married Eliza Byrne in 1907. They had six children in total:

• Thomas Joseph b. 31/3/1907


• John b. 1/7/1909


• Mary Brigid b. 10/7/1911


• Michael b. 31/10/1913


• Christopher b. 9/1/1916


• Nora b. 18/4/1918
  

His illness was obviously too great because he passed away on the 17th March 1919. The final page of his Pension Records is especially poignant:

It is too easy to overlook the contribution of Thomas Whelan and countless other soldiers like him. He doesn't appear on lists of soldier's who fell during the war, nor would his name appear on war memorials. Yet he contracted his illness in France in 1914 and received his gunshot wound in 1916. The fact that he died in 1919 after the war ended does not mean that he shouldn't be counted among the casualties of war.

Thomas and Christopher Whelan were true heroes. Thomas lost his life for what he believed in, and left a wife and six children behind them. Christopher knew great loss as a result of the war effort. He lost his brother, most of his regiment, and a part of his hand. With the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI fast approaching, I am proud to be able to share their story and the pride I feel to be related to them.

Found it!

As I may have mentioned in a previous post, I have been searching for a particuliar picture of my great-grandfather Christopher Whelan and his wife Elizabeth Gavin. Well, I found a copy of it (along with other really interesting pictures). And here it is:


Christopher was in the Royal Irish Regiment during World War I, and was wounded towards the end of the war. He received a gunshot wound to the right hand on 19th October 1914 and lost three fingers, as you can see in the picture. This may very well have saved his life, as I will explain later.

A relative has done a lot of research on the exploits of Christopher's military career. I shall try to condense it down in this post. The two brothers Christopher and Thomas Whelan enlisted in the army in 1900. Here you can see the two of them in their military uniforms:

Christopher is the man standing up, while Thomas (his younger brother) is seated. The career's of both men are too long to discuss together so I will concentrate on Christopher at the moment. My source for Christopher's military career is the British Army Pension Records 1914-20.

Christopher enlisted in January 1900, he was only 19 years old. He first enlisted in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers but transferred to his brother's regiment, the Royal Irish Regiment. We get a good description of Christy (as he was more commonly known): he was 5.5ft, 116lbs, chest measurement of 35in, dark complexion, brown eyes, and black hair.

After enlisting Christy spent 3 years in South Africa in the Boer War, and three years in India. He was in South Africa from 22/7/1901 until 01/01/05, during which time he was court-martialed twice! The first was striking his superior officer and sentenced to 102 days imprisonment. The second was sleeping on his post while on active service and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. He was in India from 22/1/05 until 25/10/07, after which he finally returned home to Dublin. Upon his return he married Elizabeth Gavin, entered the Reserves, and got on with his life. The 1911 census records hime living in Chancery St with Elizabeth and his first child, also called Christopher. On the 4th of August 1914 the British Army issued orders to mobilise for war and on the 6th August 1914 Christy rejoined his regiment in Clonmel in preparation for leaving for England. He was 34 years old and had three young children: Christopher, Maria, and Denis.

On the 16th August, Christy landed in France, and together with the rest of the British Expeditionary Force, was sent to the northern flank of the french armies around the town of Mons. The 23rd August saw the Royal Irish Regiments acting as reserves for the 8th brigade, defending the line around Mons near the Belgian border. Compared to the enemy the BEF were poorly equipped and ill-prepared. Although the BEF inflicted plenty of damage on the German side and cause many casualtied, by the end of the day Royal Irish losses counted 300 officers and men killed, wounded, or missing.

Early morning on the following day, the Royal Irish Regiment began their retreat from Mons. At Le Cateau the retreating BEF decided to stop and fight. On the 26th of August the Germans planned to shell the British infantry into submission before launching the main assualt. During the fighting the rearguard of the 8th Battalion held the German forces at bay, allowing the rest of the British Division to retreat safely. But the rearguard suffered heavy losses and only 200 of this group returned to their own lines.

The Royal Irish Regiment had a reasonably calm period for the start of September. From the 12th until the 21st they were involved in minor incidents.

It was on the 10th of October 1914 that Christy was promoted to the rank of corporal. On the 19th orders were received to attack Le Pilly. They reached Le Pilly but came under some artillery fire with little assistance being offered until the following morning. There were over 200 casualties that day, and 161 wounded men were evacuated. Among them was most likely Christy as his service records note that he received a gunshot wound to the right hand on the 19th October. This was when he lost 3 fingers. Unable to hold his weapon he was of no assistance to his battalion and therefore evacuated that night. The following day the Germans realised that the Irish were isolated in front of British lines and launched artillery fire. Coupled with this were snipers and machine-guns. By 4pm the Germans were attacking from everyside. From the Royal Irish Regiment the Germans took 300 prisoners. Only 30 returned to British lines. The gunshot wound Christy received and his subsequent evacuation undoubtedly saved his life. Christy was reported wounded again on the 25th October, possibly shrapnel to his lower back.

Christy was mentioned in the dispatches. On 20th November Field Marshall French wrote a dispatch to the Secretary of State for War stating: ...I have the honour to bring to notice names of those whom I recommend for gallant and distinguished service in the field. Included was Whelan, No. 6817 Lance-Corporal C.

Christy returned home before being sent to India for almost 4 years. He returned home and was discharge as no longer physically fit for war service. My relative Willie Walsh (whose research I heavily relied on) summed up the contribution of Christy and all other Irishmen during WWI succinctly:

"Up to half a million Irishmen fought in the Great War, of whom some 50,000 died. However only the sacrifices of roughly one third of these men, the men of Ulster, have been remembered and commemmorated while the participation of over 300,000 men of the Nationalist tradition have been virtually written out of history.

These men were...British as sure as a Scot or a Welsh man is British now. They joined to escape poverty, they joined to fight for the freedom of small Nations, they joined through a sense of adventure or...a sense of duty.

Ireland was a very different place before Easter 1916...People don't like to be told that the reception the rebels [during the Rising] received was very hostile. So hostile in fact that the British army had to protect them from the citizens of Dublin... Christopher Whelan and the other soldiers who fought with the Irish Regiment were brave men who fought, suffered, and dies for what they believed. They did what very few of us would do today and they should be looked up to..."

It's a small world indeed!

Short posting today because I haven't been able to make it to the records office in Dublin for a little while now. I just subscribed to Ancestry.co.uk for a 14 day free trial. I typed in the name Thomas Berrill (my maternal great-grandfather) and not only did the exact right person pop up, but a picture as well. Through the tree of the mysterious person you posted it, I also found a picture of Thomas' wife Margaret Donagh:

If we compare these pictures to the one that my mother gave me:

They are unmistakably the same people. Margaret is even wearing the same hat! Although, I must admit that in my picture they seem slightly more austere! I didn't learn much new information, except that Margaret is recorded as a teacher. So, I emailed the mystery person to see where they fit on the family tree. Thomas had two boys who moved to the UK so I have a feeling it may be someone from that side of the family who posted those images. Finger's crossed I get a response soon.

The Whelan family tree (as it stands at the moment)

To make it clearer to any readers (and to myself to be fair!) I've decided to put up the actual family tree's to keep track of all the names I'll be talking about. The easiest way for me to do this is to create four family trees, thus tracing my family tree back from each of my grandparents:

1. Harry Whelan (paternal grandfather)
2. Catherine Walsh (paternal grandmother)
3. John McKenna (maternal grandfather)
4. Bridget Berrill (maternal grandmother)

This post relates to the Whelan branch. Below is an image of the family tree thus far:
The image isn't as clear as I would like, but as long as you can read the names then that's the main thing. The writing below are notes I've made to help me in my research.

Christopher Whelan was a labourer according to his marriage certificate, but the 1911 census records him as a van-driver. Christoper was involved in World War I, and I'm going to leave that story for another post. Both Ancestry.com and the UK National Archives have wonderful resources to trace the military career of relatives. Below you can see a picture of Christoper (centre) with his children.
I remember that there was a picture of Christopher and his wife Elizabeth in the front room of my grandsparents house. It was a memorable photo to me when I was very small because Christopher had lost some fingers in an explosion during the war. I'd love to find that image again because although I can still remember Christopher's face, I've completely forgotten about what Elizabeth looked like. Elizabeth (née Gavin) was a house-keeper when she married Christopher. She was also a minor at the time of the wedding, 7 years younger than Christopher. So far I've only managed to find out her father's name, Henry, and he was a labourer. I shall be picking up Elizabeth's birth certificate in a few days so more details will arise from that.

Christopher's father was Thomas Whelan, a fishtrader according to his marriage certificate and a salesman according to the later marriage certificate of his son. He was living at 11 East Arran St., Dublin at the time of his marriage to Catherine Cullen. She was resident at 14 Fisher's Lane. They were both minors when they wed in 1866. Catherine's father was Patrick Cullen, a labourer, while Thomas's father was also called Thomas who was a fish-trader.

As you can see I've managed to get the name of two of my great-great-great-grandfathers - Thomas Whelan Sr. and Patrick Cullen. It get's more difficult from here because I have to work with parish records, microfilm, and dodgy illegible handwriting. But I'll keep digging.....

A promising avenue - the Berrill's

For the moment I'd like to turn my attention to my mother's side of the family. Tomorrow or tuesday I shall be heading to the National Library of Ireland where most parish records are kept on microfilm. Hopefully I will have found out more by then, but let this post suffice as an introduction to the Berrill family.

My mother's name is Marie Whelan (née McKenna) and her family is predominantly from Co. Louth, north of Dublin. Her mother's name is Bridget Berrill and 'Berrill' is a name which is primarily located in Co. Louth. It is quite rare outside of that county, but frequently found in England along with variants such as Burrell/Berrell/Borel etc. Indeed, it is traditional seen as an old Anglo-Norman name, and that lineage immediately sparks my interest (i'm a medieval historian!). But let's not jump too far ahead!

My mother's grandparents were Thomas Berrill and Margaret Donagh, seen here in this photo:

I'll stick with the Berrill's for the moment. Thomas and Margaret were married in the Church of St, Mary's, Drogheda on June 5th, 1912. Thomas was a law-clerk residing in Dyer Street, Drogheda, while his father was John Berrill, a baker.

John Berrill was married to Alice Byrne (resident in Dromiskin at the time) on 8th November, 1877. John was over 20 years older than Alice at the time of the marriage, although both were of full age (i.e. over 21). According to the 1911 census records they had six children in total. Still resident with them in 1911 were Thomas and George and they were both Solicitors General Clerks. The other brother John, who appeared in the 1901 census, had married by 1911 to a women named Ellen. By 1911 John Sr. was a retired baker and John Jr. seems to have taken over the profession from his father. As to the other three brothers, they are still a mystery. I am assuming that they were older and probably already married and moved out by 1901. However, Berrill is an unusual enough name that I ought to be able to find them easily enough if I so wish.

Next is to go back one more generation. John Berrill's father was also called John, and Alice's father was Thomas Byrne and I know little about them. That is evidently the next part of my search, but I am fully aware that the further back I go the more difficult my task becomes. I'll post family tree's, charts, and maps soon so that all this becomes clearer!

Let's start with the Whelan's!

Let's start!

Since it is my surname, the Whelan branch of the family seems like an apt place to start. Whelan is a fairly common name in Ireland which makes my genealogical hunt even more of a challenge. Especially when you consider miss-spelling, illiteracy, and variants of names which appear in records and through a family tree. It's frequently pointed out that people with the surname such as O'Brien ought to be aware that the prefix O' can easily be dropped and added throughout the records. And don't even get me started on the different variations of a christian name - Catherine, Cath, Kate, etc. I went searching for a woman called Cissy - turns out her name was Mary Ann. So an open mind and a willingness to put in extra effort at the archives is essential. When it comes to the name Whelan is variants are superfluous:

• Phelan
• Whalen (frequently Whelan changed to Whalen when emmigrants moved to America)
• O' Faolain
• Felan, etc.

My father's name is Brendan Whelan, and his father is Harry (Henry) Whelan. Harry married Catherine Walsh in Dublin in 1949.


I love this picture. Harry looks especially dashing, almost reminiscent of 40's movie star (indeed, he 'met' Clark Gable once!) For this post I'm going to stick to Harry's side of the family. My nana's side of the family is proving really interesting so I'm going to keep digging there for a while before posting my findings.

Harry's father was Christopher Whelan, born c.1882. Christopher married Elizabeth Gavin in 1908. According to their marriage certificate Elizabeth was a minor at the time of their wedding. She was born c.1889 and therefore 19 when she married Christopher who was 26 at the time. Christoper's profession on the marriage certificate is labourer, while Elizabeth was a house-keeper. They were both resident at 22 Chancery St. at the time of the marriage, which is right beside the Church of St. Michan (Roman Catholic - on Halston St) where the service took place.
From the marriage certificate I can also glean both father's names and also their professions. Christopher Whelan's father was Thomas Whelan who was a salesman. Elizabeth Gavin's father is called Henry Gavin, a labourer. Since they were married in 1908, they turn up on the 1911 census records. Here we find Christopher and Elizabeth living in house 10.2 in Greek St. (Inns Quay) with their first child, also called Christopher! He would be my grandfather's eldest brother.

I'll leave it there for the moment. Next post re. the Whelan's will hopefully contain more about Thomas Whelan, my great-great-grandfather!

An Introduction

Hi!

So, I'm totally new to the world of blogging but really looking forward to getting started. I've been waiting to have a concrete subject to muse upon because I figure nobody wants to listen to my gripes and complaints! But having spent a very fruitful morning-afternoon in the General Register Office in Dublin (more on that to come!) I realised that genealogy was the answer, lame as it may sound!

I have always loved the BBC series 'Who Do You Think You Are,' which has been long-running in the UK and recently arrived on screens both in Ireland and the US. It's fascinating to look back and discover your family history, but it is time-consuming and often incredibly frustrating. It can also be dull too! In my head I've wanted to become mildly famous, for the sole purpose of the BBC doing all the genealogical research for me. Alas, that hasn't happened, nor does it seem ever likely to. Thus, my 4-5hr stint in the General Register Office in Dublin today!

Before I start blogging on my family and discovery's I make, I'm going to use this initial blog to introduce the difficulties facing many people looking to find their ancestors in Ireland:

1. The commonality of Irish names: From my own experience I understand how frustrating this can be. I am currently dealing with surnames such as Whelan/Walsh/Moore along with forenames like Catherine/Mary/Margaret/John/Patrick etc. Not only does this mean wading through indexes and eternal cross-referencing, but more often than not you find yourself being led up the wrong tree and all your hard work has been put to tracing someone else's family history!
2. Census records: currently there are two major census records available online for the public to search and view original copies for free - 1901 and 1911. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ A brief bit of history will help to illuminate this paucity of public records. In 1810, the creation of the Commission of Public Records. A Public Record Office was opened in 1867 and from then on there was the collection of national records. These were stored in the Custom House, Dublin. During the Civil War in 1922, the building sustained devastating damage and a fire destroyed most of the records. If you look at a picture of the building today you can see how the large drum that supports the dome is a darker colour stone to the rest of the building. The main building building was restored, but the dome was built new, such was the destruction that occurred. Thus, the lack of census records for the 19th century. Although we ought to be thankful for the work done by the National Archive in the wake of the civil war in compiling the surviving records and more recently, for making them readily available for inspection online for free.

I'll leave it there for the moment. From now on I'll be updating on my family tree, and sharing information I discover, and links and resources which I feel will be worthwhile to whomever is reading this, or wants to research their own Irish family history.