Hanafin Launches Full 1901 Census Returns Online

Last Thursday, Mary Hanafin T.D., Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport launched the website containing the full 1901 Census of Ireland Records at the National Archives in Bishop Street, Dublin.

Over 4.5 million individual records from the returns made by some 850,000 households on census night in 1901 are now available free of charge for everyone across the world to access.

Minister Hanafin said "these records, conserved and held in the National Archives, represent an extremely valuable part of the Irish national heritage. They are a fascinating resource for genealogists, local historians and other scholars and everyone who has an interest in tracing their heritage and roots."

The Irish Census returns for the night of Sunday 31st March 1901 provide detailed returns from households across 32 counties of the island of Ireland and are the earliest surviving complete government census returns. The vast bulk of earlier census returns were destroyed over time with many records lost due to a fire in 1922 at the Public Records Office.

The 1901 Census online returns are easy to read, with returns usually covering just one page per household containing details under the following categories - first name, surname, relation to head of family religious profession, education, age, sex, rank/profession or occupation, marriage status, where born, whether the individual spoke Irish or English or both and if an individual had a disability.

Examining some of the online records at the National Archives, Minister Hanafin said "along with the 1911 full census, which is also available online and covers the island of Ireland, this new addition to the website is an excellent source both for the history student and the genealogical researcher. The Irish diaspora now stretches to an estimated 70 million people across the world, the prospect of being able to trace your forefathers back to their home country, town, village and even street is now at your fingertips. It is also a fact that many people use the census as a starting point for cultural tourism, which has immense potential to increase numbers visiting all parts of Ireland."

The returns are a principal source for Irish social and economic history in the early twentieth century. Just a few of the names which stand out include that of:

• James Joyce who was a student of 19 living with his family in Fairview.
• Peig Sayers, later a famous author, returned under her married name of Margaret Guiheen, living with her husband Patrick and her in-laws on the Great Blasket Island.
• Padraig (Patrick) Pearse was at age 22 the head of his household living in Sandymount Avenue in Dublin. The return also covers his brother Willie (also executed in 1916). In the 1901 census Pearse made the return in English, however by the time of the 1911 return he makes the family return in Gaeilge.
• The return for Edward (Eamonn) deValera shows he is an 18-year-old boarder student in Blackrock College in Dublin.
• Terence and Mary McSwiney, living in St. Mary's terrace in Cork City. Elected as Mayor of Cork during the War of Independence in 1920, MacSwiney was arrested on charges of sedition and imprisoned in Brixton prison in England. His death there in October 1920 after 74 days on hunger strike brought him and the Irish struggle to international attention.
• Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League and journalist who lived in Mount Salus Road, Dalkey. His son Cahir (aged 6 on census night) later went on to become President of the High Court.
• Hanna Sheehy and her sister Mary, living in Belvedere Place in Dublin. Hanna later married Francis Skeffington, who was murdered in 1916, and Mary married Tom Kettle, who died in the British Army during World War I.

The Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport allocated some €3.78 million to the digitization project. Over the past five years the National Archives of Ireland has, through a research partnership with Library and Archives Canada managed and facilitated digitization, indexing and contextualisation of the 1901 and 1911 census records. The first phase of the project, Dublin City and County 1911, was launched in December 2007.