Find your Irish ancestors in FindMyPast's newest maritime records

Whether they worked principally at sea or on shore, your Irish ancestors might have just sailed into the FindMyPast database.

More than 313,000 new records across two collections are now available, both sourced from The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, London, and they feature sizeable contingents of Irish-born men.

Among them are some of my extended paternal family, and while I knew from earlier discoveries that they were employed in maritime services, these new records have provided new information about their careers and lives. In one case, a pre-civil registration death-by-drowning register entry was a surprise.

Some details of the new records:

Coastguards 1801-1952: As far as I'm aware, this collection has previously been available only via TNA. It holds 212,426 images and transcripts of men who worked as a coastguard between 1801 to 1952. If your ancestor appears in the records, you'll probably find several entries in the index. Some may provide duplicate information while others may be one-offs showing particular journeys with multiple stops enroute. I'd expected coastguards to have been based principally at one station but these records suggest otherwise, unless some of these voyages had more of a policing purpose. I shall have to investigate.

British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service And Pension Records, 1704-1939: Some 101,555 transcriptions have been added to this existing wide-ranging collection. The new arrivals comprise series ADM 139, a record-set holding service records dating from 1853 to 1872. Again, one of the records looks very exciting, allowing me (if I can confirm it) to drop back another generation on a close branch of my 4xGGF's brother, born 1786. Busy weekend ahead!

Women's Royal Naval Service Officer Records, 1917–1919: Images of more than 59,000 records have been linked to existing transcripts from the series ADM 318. These records can't be searched by place, so I can't tell if any Irish women are included in the database. Given the dates, I think it unlikely, but I include a link for those who may wish to check it out.

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Registers from 40 Monaghan national schools join RootsIreland

The Irish Family History Foundation's RootsIreland.ie database has grown by more than 20,000 records from County Monaghan. They have been transcribed from the registers of 40 national schools in the county.

The earliest starting date for the registers in this collection is 1865; the latest is 1895. The most recent end date is 1925.

See the full list of schools and register dates here.

National school registers are a valuable source of genealogical information. They contain the vital detaiils of each pupil, along with a summary of their school attendance, the subjects they studied and their examination results over the years. Occasionally they also contain notes from teachers regarding departures from the school, their careers, migration, serious illness or death.

Registers occasionally contain notes on departures from the school, careers after leaving school, emigration, serious illness, or even death.

For the full menu of County Monaghan sources, click the logo above.

TipperaryStudies digitises more National Schools records

TipperaryStudies, the local history department of Tipperary County Council's Library Service, has been busy scanning and uploaded some new school records to its Digital Collection. They come from four schools, as follows:

Lisnamrock National School

• Boys' register 1875–1886
• Boys' register 1876–1901
• Boys' register 1911–1925
• Girls' register 1910–1925

Gaile National School

• Boys' register from 1911–1925
• Girls' register book for 1900–1925

Ayle National School

• Boys roll book 1917–1925

Gortagarry National School

• Girls' register 1880–1925
• Boys' register 1880–1925
• Examination roll, April 1899, listing subjects to be examined

These registers were loaned by the schools for digitisation. They have been scanned to a high quality and can now be downloaded, free of charge, in pdf format. Click the image above to browse the newly uploaded files.

Click here for TipperaryStudies' full National Schools Records collection.

Military Service Pensions (1916-23) Collection: 16th release is online

The Military Archives of Ireland has today released its 16th instalment of files from the Military Service Pensions (1916-23) Collection (MSPC). This collection, which consists of tens of thousands of files, is the largest in the Military Archives and is one of the flagship projects of the Decade of Centenaries.

This latest release sees some 2,350 scanned files entering the public domain. They relate to claims lodged by 967 individuals/veterans or their dependents; with their names now added to the database, alongside their detailed archival description, new information on the War of Independence and the Civil War is now available and providing significant insights into post-conflict lives.

The documentation contained in each file varies. For example, the newly released file relating to Daniel Santry from Currahevern in County Cork consists of 53 pages of scanned material relating to an (unsuccessful) appeal against his military pension being reduced for one short period during the Civil War. This is the fourth MSPC file to be released for Daniel.

In total, the number of individuals appearing in the MSPC online database is now 19,196.

For more information about today's release and to download the list of individuals included, see MilitaryArchives.ie.

Five free Dublin genealogy databases return online

All hail John Grenham, professional genealogist, database creater, author and all-round good egg.

Following the removal of Dublin City Council's 'Heritage Databases' from the dublincity.ie platform, John has today uploaded his own back-up copies (he created them) of five of the most genealogically useful databases to his Irish Ancestors site.

They are:

• Dublin Voters 1938-1957
• Dublin Municipal Voters 1899, 1908-1915 
• Dublin Graveyards Directory 
• Dublin Cemeteries - burial registers from Clontarf, Drimnagh and Finglas
• Dublin Freemen to 1774

These databases are now free to search and view at this page: https://www.johngrenham.com/dcla/.

This is a temporary step while DCC overcomes its compliance issues. See John's blogpost – Some of me oul' darlin' databases are back online – for more details.

Latest update from the Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project

Following its most recent update, the main index of the online Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland holds the names of nearly 590,000 individuals recorded in memorials dating back to the early 18th century.

Some 88% of these memorials are linked to images of the original documents, which are available to view free of charge at FamilySearch.

The Townland Index is also free to search, allowing researchers to search for settlements made by people who lived or owned land in a particular townland, or for sales or other transfers of land parcels. This index holds more than 547,000 entries.

The project is volunteer led, and all the Indexes are free to search.

More volunteers are needed. Please consider donating a little of your time to help this important and increasingly useful project as it reveals the secrets of the Registry of Deeds collection to genealogists and other researchers around the world.

Treat yourself to a rare subscription discount from Ancestry UK

Goodness. When did you last see a discount offer for a subscription to Ancestry UK? I certainly can't remember when I did. So if you thinking of taking out a new sub, this may be the opportunity you're been hoping to arrive.

Until 11:59pm BST on Wednesday 29 May, you can take advantage of a 20% discount on a new six-month subscription to Ancestry UK. If you choose the Ireland and UK option, you'll be saving yourself £13 on the regular price of £69.99, with the reduced cost coming in at a rather more tidy £59.99.

If you prefer the 'all records' subscription, the standard price of £99.99 is reduced to £79.99. It includes all records in Ancestry's Ireland and UK collections AND all its international records, too.

Click the image right to learn more. Look out, too, for the current saving on AncestryDNA test kits. Just scroll down the landing page.

More Northern Ireland death and burial records available online

Ancestry has uploaded a new collection of records to its Northern Ireland holding: Londonderry, City Cemetery Burials, 1853-1961.

These 51,000 records typically include some or all of the following: name of the deceased; birth date and place, age, religion; parent's names, spouse's name; death date and place; burial date and place. 

Derry City Cemetery was opened in 1853 and for the following hundred years, until the early 1960s, it was the main burial place for both Protestants and Catholics in the city. 

These transcriptions were created by volunteers and can be searched free of charge on the Derry Tower Museum site at https://towermuseumcollections.com/cemetery-records/.

See right for a sample return from a search on Ancestry.

FindMyPast has updated its Northern Ireland Deaths 1980-2024 collection with a further 28,292 records. This tranche of transcriptions brings the total number in the collection to just under 123,000.

This record-set was created by 'mortality data specialist' MiExact, a company that, until February 2024, was part of Wilmington plc.

Similar collections are held by FindMyPast for other parts of the UK and these have also expanded. The Scotland Deaths, 1855–2024 collection grew by nearly 500,000 transcription spanning 1980–2024, while more than 225,500 Welsh records were added while the England and Wales Deaths, 2007–2024 collection.

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National Archives of Ireland's €37m expansion enters next phase

The project to redevelop the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) entered its next phase earlier this week and will take a little over a year (65 weeks) to complete. The work will see the existing foundations strengthened and a second floor built into the existing structure.

This extra space will increase the capacity of the National Archives by two-thirds and provide for state of the art racking and shelving systems.

The National Archives of Ireland

Space has been tight at the NAI's five-storey premises (formerly the Jacobs biscuit factory) on the corner of Bishop Street and Bride Street in Dublin 8 for some years. Its collections total over 50 million records dating from the 16th century to records relating to the modern Irish state, but despite its substantial footprint – the repository extends back to Peter Street – it has been unable to accept all government files since 2013.

When completed, the expanded and converted repository will enable all backlogs currently held by government departments and bodies to transfer to the National Archives, the collections will be kept in more environmentally secure conditions and will enjoy improved fire protection, and the stronger foundations will allow for future upward expansion of archival storage vaults.

The €37m redevelopment is a significant project under the National Cultural Institutions investment programme as part of Project Ireland 2040.

The project is funded by the Department for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and is being delivered in partnership with the Office of Public Works.

Save 25% on a new subscription to the BritishNewspaperArchive

With its holding of British and Irish titles now totting up to more than 78.3million pages, the British Newspaper Archive is a terrific resource for genealogists researching ancestors from the islands of Ireland and Great Britain.

This weekend's 25% discount is valid across the site's range of monthly, three-monthly and annual subscriptions. Gift subscriptions are included.

To take advantage of the saving, you'll need to sign up for a new subscription before 11:59pm BST on Monday 27 May.

Click the image, right, for more details of the offer.

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Three weeks of genealogy updates: England, Scotland and Wales

Please find below a three-week summary of newly-released and updated family history collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major genealogy databases. (Previous list 1 May blogpost.)

These regular listings are designed to help researchers whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales.

By default, they will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

Please note that I don't usually include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.

NEW COLLECTIONS

Figures in parentheses are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in each new collection.

Ancestry

• England, Medieval Soldier Database, 1368-1374 (15,000)
• Web: England, Cricket Players, 1845-2024 (1,474)
• Web: Scotland, Crown Counsel Procedure Books Index, 1822-1877 (153,989)
• Lancashire, Non-Conformist Baptisms, Marriages & Burials, 1762-2005 (447,396)

BritishNewspaperArchive (BNA) and FindMyPast (FMP)

• Peterborough Eve. Telegraph | Newton & Earlestown Guardian | Scottish Sporting Post

FamilySearch

• England, Bristol, Non-Conformist Church Records, 1777-1936 (160,422)
• England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1538-1983 (1,108,130)
• England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1538-1983 (1,108,130)
• England, Cheshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1606-1900 (451,783)
• England, Cheshire, Register of Electors, 1842-1900 (4,470,215)
• England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1537-1918 (2,953,523)
• England, Lancashire, Liverpool, Baptisms, 1557-1919 (29,838)
• England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538-1912 (1,055,443)
• England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911 (576,558)
• England, Lancashire, Liverpool, Banns and Marriages, 1557-1960 (11,002)
• England, Manchester, Miscellaneous Records, 1700-1916 (10,536,245)
• England, Manchester Parish Registers 1603-1910 (1,772,265)
• England, Middlesex, Westminster, Parish Registers, 1538-1912 Browse only
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901 (4,606)
• England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941 (1,193,815)
• England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963 (2,900,867)
• England, Navy Allotment Records, 1795-1812 (485,017)
• Scotland Civil Registration, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891 (535,643)
• Wales, Glamorgan, Parish Register Marriages, 1837-1922 (56,282)
• Isle of Man Parish Registers, 1598-2009 (438,382)
• Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935 (1,011,348)
• UK, WW1 Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920 (18,567)

FindMyPast

• Enhanced Genealogical Data From Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (4,013 images and transcriptions)
• England & Wales Deaths, 2007-2024 (225,815 Welsh deaths)

TheGenealogist

• Army Lists, 1837–1959 (1.8 million entries) Article

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

• 1939 England and Wales Register
• UK and Ireland FindAGrave (new total 19,905,080)

FindMyPast

• National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914, Browse (Images for Staffordshire Admission Registers)
• Scotland, Occupations & Professions (38,123 /64,658)
• British Rolls Of Honour & Nominal Rolls (13,948/311,513) WW1 – Leicestershire & Rutland
• Scotland Deaths, 1855-2024 (497,172 / 3,893,895) additions span 1980 to 2024
• Kent Baptisms (3,614,510) Charlton/Cliffe/Greenwich/Hadlow/Ightham/Woolwich
• Kent Marriages and Banns (10,000+/3,200,908) See parish list
• Kent Burials (new total 3,086,381) See parish list.

TheGenealogist

• 1851 Census now available on Map Explorer. Feature article.

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

National Archives of Ireland afternoon closure on Tuesday 21 May

The National Archives of Ireland has announced that its Reading Room will be closed to the public on the afternoon of Tuesday 21 May.

However, the NAI's free Genealogy Service, which is managed by members of Accredited Genealogists Ireland, will be available on the ground floor.

RootsIreland adds Catholic marriage records from County Tipperary

RootsIreland.ie has updated its County Tipperary holdings with the addition of 4,028 marriage records from the Roman Catholic parish of Killenaule, 1742-1801 and 1812-1900. This parish is also known as Moyglass.

These records have been transcribed by South Tipperary Genealogy, one of the Irish Family History Foundation's island-wide network of genealogy centres, which is located in the Brú Ború Centre in Cashel.

The records are unusual for their early survival date – 1742 – but unfortunately some ten years of register pages (from January 1802 to January 1812) are missing. Transcribed from locally-held registers, the RootsIreland records continue to 1900. Those recorded up to 1881 have been linked to the National Library of Ireland's register images.

For an up to date list of sources for South Tipperary on RootsIreland, see the online menu. To search these records, go to www.tipperarysouth.rootsireland.ie and login or subscribe as required.

National Library of Ireland: Saturday openings in May

The National Library of Ireland's Main, Microfilm and Manuscripts Reading Rooms, plus the Readers' Ticket Office will be open on the following Saturdays during the month ahead:

– 11 May
– 25 May

These areas of the library are all housed in Dublin's Kildare Street. Saturday opening is from 9:30am to 1pm.

Please note that the Family History Room is not open to the public on Saturdays.

For detailed opening hours across the four NLI sites, see the NLI website.

FindMyPast adds County Limerick Electoral Registers, 1760-1776

FindMyPast.ie's latest addition is a collection of voters' registers relating to three elections held in the second half of the 18th century. The record-set has been launched as the Limerick City & County Electoral Registers 1760-1776 collection and holds 2,548 transcriptions.

As far as I'm aware, these records, sourced from the National Library of Ireland, have not previously been available online.

The registers record those who voted in the Limerick in the elections of 1761, 1768 and 1776. They note who the individual voted for, their place of residence and the address of the property through which they qualified for a vote.

At this time, County Limerick was entitled to elect two MPs to the Dublin Parliament; entitlement to vote was restricted to adult men who possessed freehold property with a minimum value of £2 per year or were Freemen of Limerick City.

A sample search return from the 1768 election (which took place at St Francis's Abbey, 11-16 July) shows Patrick Fitzgibbon, who lived at Newcastle and held property at Manister-nenagh valued at more than £2pa, voted for "m.o.". Eight years later, now residing in Manister, he voted for Hugh Massy ("hm").

Be sure to read the collection home page before searhing.

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

General Register Office of Ireland adjusts opening hours again

The General Register Office of Ireland's Public Search facility in Dublin has changed its opening hours again.

The office, which is located in Werburgh Street, to the west of Dublin Castle, is now open on Tuesdays only, from 9:30am to 4:30pm and will remain open over the lunch period.

It's true this is an improvement on the original post-pandemic timetable, which changed from week to week with little advance notice, required two-hour appointments and had a lunchtime kick out.

Oh, for the days, pre-lockdown, when the walk-in service operated a full five days a week.

The Monday–Friday email service is often extremely efficient, sometimes with turnaround within less than 24 hours. Sadly, such speed can't be relied upon. (In April, I waited for just under three weeks for a birth cert research copy.)

Irish Times Group buys funeral notice platform RIP.ie

The hugely successful free-to-view RIP.ie database has been acquired by the Irish Times Group.

Founded in 2005 by brother and sister team Jay and Dympna Coleman of County Louth, the site has been publishing death announcements and funeral notices (and much more) since July 2006.

Although so recently established, it has become a trusted resource in Ireland and can be useful to genealogists looking to update their family trees. Each notice is placed by the funeral director and typically includes information about the deceased's relatives and sometimes other personal details.

The opportunity for family, friends, colleagues and other acquaintances to upload condolences to the site has become extremely popular since Covid 19 arrived, and can often be another rich source for family history.

The site's sale raised immediate concerts that the platform would be placed behind a paywall. However, in a statement issued yesterday, the Irish Times Group committed to keeping RIP.ie 'free to view' following its acquisition.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives - April updates: Headstones photos and church records from nine counties across the island

Last month brought another bumper delivery of files to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives from the volunteer team. The additions include headstone photos and transcribed inscriptions from seven burial grounds plus church records from two Ulster congregations, one Presbyterian, the other Methodist.

As always, these files have been contributed by researchers for the benefit of other researchers, and are available on a free-to-access basis. If you have any similar records or photos, please consider donating them to IGPArchives. You can find out how to contribute here.

Headstones to Conway family in Illinaspic
graveyard, Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny. Photo courtesy
of Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives
and the contributor, Emma Bates.
Click for enlarged image.

CARLOW Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Lazerian Cemetery, Kildavin

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Laragh Old Cemetery (Updated)

CLARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Holy Rosary Graveyard, Doolin, Part 2

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Ballyshannon Methodist Marriages, 1872-1920

KERRY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Listowel Burial Ground - Partial

KILKENNY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Killinaspic Pt 2, Mooncoin, Completed

TYRONE Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Sion Mills Presbyterian Marriages 1866-1921

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives
HeadstonesCalvary Cemetery Pt. 2, Bunclody
Memorials St David's Interior, Family of Adoration Convent, Ferns

WICKLOW Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Brigid's Graveyard, Annacurra

Latest genealogy updates for English, Scottish & Welsh collections

Please find below a two-week summary of newly-released and updated family history collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major genealogy databases. (For previous list, see 11/4 blogpost.)

These regular listings are designed to help researchers whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales.

By default, they will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

Please note that I don't usually include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.

NEW COLLECTIONS

Figures in parentheses are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in each new collection.

Ancestry

• Aberdeenshire, Scotland, School Admission Registers, 1852-1927
• Aberdeenshire, Scotland, World War II Related Records, 1940-1945
• Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Police Records, 1818
• United Kingdom, Red Cross Volunteers During WWI, 1914-1918 (244,156)

BritishNewspaperArchive (BNA) and FindMyPast (FMP)

• Deeside Piper |  Midhurst and Petworth Observer  |  Pontefract & Castleford Express  |  Sleaford Standard  |  Hucknall Dispatch  |  Daventry and District Weekly Express  |  Kirriemuir Herald  |  Glenrothes Gazette

FamilySearch

• England, Manchester, Miscellaneous Records, 1700-1916 (10,241,065)

FindMyPast

• Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography Enhanced Genealogical Data (4,013)

MyHeritage

• England, Cheshire Bishop's Transcripts Burials, 1569-1933 (1,167,929)

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

Unless otherwise stated, where there is only one figure in parenthesis, it reflects the total number of records in the updated collection. Where there are two figures, the first is the number of records added in the recent update, the second is the revised total number.

FamilySearch

• England, Devon, Parish Registers (Devon Record Office), 1529-1974 (2,926,636)
• England, Devon, Parish Registers, 1538-1912 (1,043,193)
• England, Staffordshire, Church Records, 1538-1944 (4,850,444)
• Wales, Death Records, 1998-2015 (172,310)

FindMyPast

• Oxfordshire Baptisms Kiddington, Chudlington and Spelsbury (6,200 / 260,211)
• Oxfordshire Marriages (72,782)
• Oxfordshire Burials Kiddington, Chudlington and Spelsbury (41,327)
• Surrey Prerogative Court Will Abstracts, 1420-1857 (11,308 / 12,701) additions from 1700
• Lancashire Wills & Probate 1457-1858 (5,803 Infra Wills ie under £40 value)

FreeBMD

• England and Wales Civil Registration Index (202,914 / 294,092,936)

TheGenealogist

• Land Tax Records (IR58), Surrey property owners and heads of household, 1910-1915 (225,000+ / 2.6Million)

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.