Friday 16 March 2018

FindMyPast unveils new records for St Patrick's Day

Marking St Patrick's Day, FindMyPast has added new record sets to its Irish collection and topped up existing ones. They are:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W0Ycg3oJRFI7cuW028I_vxqhuRKdk5Pt/view?usp=sharing
Click to view enlarged image of sample
Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789
This new collection holds more than 153,000 annuity statements, accounts of deaths, death certificates, and marriage certificates relating to the subscribers and nominees of the Irish Tontine (an investment plan in which subscribers paid a sum into the fund and subsequently receive an annuity from it... the shares increased as subscribers died, and the last survivor enjoyed the whole income). See the landing page for more information about these records.

Ireland, American Fenian Brotherhood 1864-1897
Holding more than 125,000 records taken from correspondence between members of the British Foreign Office, this collection notes the activities of the American Fenian Brotherhood as it increased its efforts to liberate Ireland from British rule during the second half of the C19th. The records include newspaper cuttings, letters, telegrams, lists of prisoners, and a number of photographs. This collection is also available to browse.

Church Of Ireland Histories & Reference Guides
Two publications, both presented as PDFs, have been added to create this collection. They are:
  • The National Churches: The Church of Ireland by Thomas Olden, MA, a member of the Royal Irish Academy and Vicar of Ballyclough. Published in 1892, this history of the Church of Ireland begins in Pre-Christian Ireland and continues through to the Act of Disestablishment in 1869. It includes a map of Church of Ireland dioceses.
  • Some Worthies of the Irish Church was published in 1900 and is a collection of lectures delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Dublin by the late George Thomas Stokes, DD, an Irish ecclesiastical historian.
Armagh Records & Registers
This newly created collection comprises just one publication so far. Published in 1819, it is an authoritative text on the history of Armagh and goes by the not-so-snappy title of Historical Memoirs of the City of Armagh for a Period of 1,373 Years Comprising a Considerable Portion of the General History of Ireland; A Refutation of the Opinions of Dr. Ledwich, Respecting the Non-Existence of St. Patrick; And an Appendix, on the Learning, Antiquities and Religion of the Irish Nation. It includes biographical accounts of both Protestant and Roman Catholic archbishops, a narrative of important events, an account of the establishment of Presbyterian congregations, and the history of various customs and manners.

Antrim Histories & Reference Guides
Another debut collection. This one holds A History of the Town of Belfast from the Earlier Times to the Close of the Eighteenth Century, by George Benn, and holds historical maps and illustration of the city and a chapter on noted inhabitants mentioned in C17th records.

Dublin Registers & Records
This existing collection has been topped up with more than 2,000 new records. The collection holds 22 Irish titles (all presented as PDF images), including parish records (baptisms, marriages, and burials) from the Church of Ireland, census indexes, school registers, monumental inscriptions and printed histories. They date from the 1600s to 1800.

Ireland, Royal Irish Constabulary History & Directories
New records have been added to this existing collection which contains an assortment of pay records, lists, directories, commendation records, treasury books, Constabulary Code books and training manuals.