How to look for records of... Irish ancestors – an overview

As with all documents held here, the records we hold of people from Ireland are historical records of the UK central government. The National Archives of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland may also have records relevant to your research.

In general, we do not hold the internal administrative records from Ireland, such as registers of births, marriages and deaths or land ownership. However, this guide does provide some advice on where to find these records.

Language and terminology

Quite often record titles, descriptions, and the documents themselves use language that is now out of date and sometimes offensive, but once records are transferred to us, we don’t alter them. The terminology used by the people that created the records is part of the story they tell.

Researchers working on records older than 60 years should consider the possibility of various surname spellings, especially for Irish ancestors. ‘O’ and ‘Mc’ prefixes are commonly used in Irish surnames prior to the 20th century, but sometimes these are dropped upon a move to England. Many Irish immigrants spoke Irish [Gaelic] as their first language, and anglicisation of surnames by English authorities was common.

The records and the catalogue have been compiled in the English language. The catalogue does not recognise Irish orthography and accents on letters in the alphabet. Irish names included in documents have often been anglicised by the record creators.

Before you begin a search, you should see if there is a guide to the records you are looking for. This guide is designed to help you do that. Throughout this guide you will find links to the more detailed advice you will need to search a specific set of records.

Records are arranged by the government department that created them, then by the type of record, such as passenger lists or military service records, and by date.

There are no ‘case files’ containing all the information about a single person. For any individual, there may be several different types of records which relate to them, each of which will have to be searched for separately.

The documents themselves may be in different formats, from handwritten registers, printed lists, or large sheets of parchment, each representing one aspect of a distinct set of records.

This guide provides links to many other guides. Each of these guides will indicate whether the records they cover have been made available online (charges usually apply). The online copies are accessed either directly from our website or from the websites of our commercial partners, including Ancestry and Findmypast.

Many records have no online version and to see these you will need to consult them at our building in Kew or pay for copies to be made and sent to you. The search for records held at Kew begins by using keywords and dates to search our online catalogue. The catalogue contains short descriptions of the records and a document reference for each – you will need the document reference to see the record itself or to request copies.

For more guidance on searching or browsing our catalogue, visit our Discovery help pages.

Birth, marriage, and death records for Ireland cannot be viewed or ordered at The National Archives.

For advice on how to locate these records, consult our guide to births, marriages and deaths in Scotland and Ireland. Useful advice can also be found at The National Archives of Ireland.

Roman Catholic records may sometimes record the parish of origin of the parents in the case of a baptism. Even where a marriage has already been uncovered in civil records, it can be worthwhile checking the church records. As well as a place of origin in Ireland, the church record may also record the mother’s maiden name.

Wills

Virtually all wills administered in Ireland were destroyed in 1922. However, where any of the property covered by the will was in England or Wales there is probably at least a copy in a UK repository.  Consult our guide to wills and administrations before 1858.

For Wills and administrations after 1858, for Northern Ireland, go to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). For the Republic of Ireland go to the National Archives of Ireland.

Most 19th-century Irish census returns were lost in the fire at the Four Courts in Dublin in 1922. The 1901 and 1911 censuses, along with a few earlier returns, were the only ones that survived. The records include names, ages, addresses, county, and religion.

The English census returns can provide valuable information about Irish ancestors who resided in England between 1841-1921. These records include names, ages, occupations, addresses and place of birth (this may be simply given as ‘Ireland’ and not include a specific county).

Access the 1901 and 1911 census for Ireland online from The National Archives of Ireland. For step-by-step instructions on how to access the online databases for the English censuses, consult our guide to census records.

Irish immigration to Britain has a long and significant history, with waves of Irish people migrating for various reasons. Given that Ireland was a part of the British Isles, tracing Irish emigration to Britain can be challenging. There are no passenger listings of those who migrated to Britain from Ireland.

Finding records of the early immigrants who left Ireland for North America, the Caribbean, and Australia between 1635 and 1815 is made easier with the help of guide to emigration and emigrants.

For outgoing passenger lists of people who left Irish ports between 1890 and 1960 and travelled to North America, India, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, consult our guide to passengers.

The National Archives of Ireland holds records relating to the transportation of Irish convicts to penal colonies in Australia, Tasmania, and the West Indies. For further information consult their webpage.

Records of travel and migration to Ireland

For Incoming passenger lists between 1878-1960 of individuals arriving at Irish ports from North and South America, Africa, Oceania and Asia, consult our guide to passengers.

For advice locating military records consult our guide to military and maritime records: an overview.

Royal Irish Constabulary

Although a unified Irish Constabulary was only brought into being in 1836, the service records held in The National Archives cover the period 1816-1922, including the records of the earlier county constabularies. For each recruit, the General Register records:

• Age
• Height
• County of birth
• Religion
• Marriage date (if during the period of service)
• Wife’s county of birth
• Previous occupation
• Counties to which he or his wife were connected.

For further advice consult our guide to records of The Royal Irish Constabulary, 1836-1922.

Jim Herlihy’s The Royal Irish Constabulary: A Complete Alphabetical List of Officers and Men, 1816-1922 (Dublin 1999) gives a complete listing of members of the Force, with their service numbers.

The Primary Valuation of Ireland was published between 1848 and 1864. The Valuation is arranged by county, barony, poor law union, civil parish, and townland, and lists every landholder and householder in Ireland.

Apart from townland address and householder’s name, the particulars given are:

• Name of the person from whom the property was leased known as the ‘immediate lessor’.
• Description of the property
• Area of land
• Valuation

The only directly useful family information supplied is in areas where a surname was particularly common. The surveyors often adopted the Gaelic practice of using the father’s first name to distinguish between individuals of the same name, so that John Reilly (James) is the son of James, while John Reilly (Michael) is the son of Michael.

As things stand, however, it gives the only detailed guide to where in Ireland people lived in the mid-19th century and what property they possessed. In addition, because the Valuation entries were subsequently revised at regular intervals, it is often possible to trace living descendants of those originally listed by Griffith.

Search records of Griffith’s Valuation 1847-1864 on Findmypast.co.uk (charges apply).  Copies of the Valuation are widely available in major libraries and record offices in Ireland, both on microfiche and in their original published form.

Irish Poverty Relief Loans 1821-1874

Search the Irish Poverty Relief Loans, 1821-1874 (T 91) by name on findmypast.co.uk (charges apply).

Alternatively you can browse by place, county or document reference (such as T 91/10) to locate relevant records. You can find more details about these records on findmypast.co.uk.

Family and landed estate records for Ireland

Although not all estate records survive, or are publicly accessible, these collections often provide a wealth of information about individuals.

Bear in mind these records may still be held by members of a landed family or a legal representative, such as a solicitor or land agent. These archives are private collections and access may not necessarily be given to researchers.

Some family and landed estate records are held by the National Archives of Ireland.

In Ireland, most large cities and counties have a main library which holds local and family history collections. You can locate a county specific main library by an internet search.

The major archives and libraries of Ireland tend to hold large family history collections which include:

• The National Archives of Ireland
• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
• Church of Ireland RCB Library
• National Library of Ireland
• Belfast Central Library

Books available to consult at The National Archives’ Library in Kew include:

Irish civil records of births, deaths, and marriages by Ffolliott, Rosemary (Belfast: Irish Genealogical Association, 1981)

An introduction to Irish research: Irish ancestry: a beginner’s guide by Davis, Bill (Birmingham: Federation of Family History Societies, 1998).

You can also try searching The National Archives’ bookshop for related publications which include:

Your Irish Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians by Ian Maxwell (Pen & Sword, 2008).

My Ancestor was Irish: A Guide to Sources for Family Historians by Alan Stewart, (Society of Genealogists Enterprises Ltd, 2012)

Undaunted: The Irish in Australia by John Wright (History Press, 2012).

The Irish Diaspora by John Gibney (‎Pen & Sword, 2020).