102nd anniversary of Public Record Office fire marked with release of thousands of historical records

By Siobhán Kennedy

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland commemorated the 102nd anniversary of the 1922 Public Record Office fire by releasing thousands of historical Irish documents, which serve to replace some of the records destroyed in the fire.

Last Sunday, 30 June, was the 102nd anniversary of the explosion and fire that destroyed the Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin in 1922 at the beginning of the Civil War. The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) commemorated this anniversary with the early release of thousands of historical documents – sourced from its partner archives, both within Ireland and internationally – to replace the records lost in the 1922 fire.

Led by Trinity College Dublin, the VRTI uses digital technologies to re-imagine and reconstruct the Public Record Office’s lost archive. Through collaborations with historians, computer scientists and archivists across Ireland and the globe, the VRTI has made thousands of documents, which offer a fascinating glimpse into 700 years of Irish history, freely accessible for the first time on its website. To date, over 25,000 historical records, from Norman tax records to pre-Famine census data, have been released. This open-access resource is freely and permanently available online. Many of the newly released records are of particular interest to family history researchers and to historians of the medieval and modern periods.

Latest historical records released by VRTI

1821 census data

Careful investigative work is currently underway to unearth transcripts of pre- and post-Famine census records (from the censuses of 1813, 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851 and 1861), which were destroyed in the 1922 fire. Before the fire, family historians and record agents copied down information about individuals, families and, occasionally, entire districts from the original census records. These transcripts – often in the form of scribbled notes and jottings – are now resurfacing in archives and libraries.

To date, over 200,000 names from these lost records have been identified. A selection of these transcribed records, totalling 4,000 names from the 1821 census and representing sample households from every province of Ireland, is now available online for the first time. The 1821 census required the enumerators to record the names, ages and occupations of all inhabitants within their respective areas, resulting in records for 6.8 million people.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Registry of Deeds, Transcript Books

Over 400 items have been added in the latest addition to the VRTI’s collection of Registry of Deeds Transcript Books. A deed is an official record that transfers the title of an interest, right or asset (often a property) to a new owner. The 1707 Registration of Deeds Act governed how deeds should be registered. This was done by creating a “memorial” of the original deed, which is essentially a verbatim copy of the deed or a detailed synopsis of the deed, which was kept in the Registry of Deeds office in Dublin. Once a memorial was created, its content was transcribed in full into a “Transcript Book” by a registry clerk. A Transcript Book entry contains the full transcription of the memorial of the deed, which usually includes the following information:

• date the deed was registered;
• full details of the nature of the deed and any changes brought about by the deed;
• full details of all relevant parties (including grantors, grantees and witnesses);
• description of the property/s affected.

1798 Rebellion papers

The newly released 1798 Rebellion collection, curated in collaboration with the National Archives of Ireland, grants digital access to an extensive catalogue of 8,000 items from the rebellion papers, including letters written by magistrates, police constables and military generals, as well as by informers and spies, intercepted letters of revolutionaries, and confessions of imprisoned and condemned rebels. This collection provides a unique window into the birth of Irish republicanism and events surrounding the 1798 Rebellion.

Among the newly released records is a 15th-century register from Armagh, conserved and digitized by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). The Register of Archbishop John Swayne documents the interactions between Gaelic Ulster and the English Crown during the medieval period. It comprises copies of ecclesiastical-political administrative and legal documents, official letters, correspondence, receipts, wills and negotiations from the Council of Constance (1414–18).

Medieval exchequer records

The VRTI also recently released medieval exchequer records dating from AD 1250 to 1450, digitized and translated by the National Archives UK up to 1327. They reveal how Ireland was administered by and for the English Crown. The exchequer was responsible for collecting and disbursing the king’s money in Ireland, including rents from land, payments, fines, customs duties on goods, court fees and taxes. These records provide a wealth of information about Irish society, economy and politics following the English conquest of Ireland. Interestingly, this collection includes documents from the period of the Scottish invasion of Ireland led by Robert Bruce, King of Scots.

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