A system of free primary education began in Ireland in 1831 with the establishment of the Commissioners for National Education, who were tasked with allocating funds to provide free education for all children aged 5–12 years old. By 1845 the Commissioners were providing financial support for already established schools, and for the building and staffing of new schools. Their intent was to provide free secular education for all denominations, with religion taught separately – an approach that was not popular with any of the established faiths in Ireland. Although the Church of Ireland chose to remain partly outside of the Commission, the Roman Catholic church embraced the opportunity and established numerous schools, with funding from the Commissioners, that were Roman Catholic in all but name.
The construction and operation of Ireland’s National Schools was closely administered. They were built to specific plans, and regularly inspected. The vast legacy of paperwork pertaining to the administration of Ireland’s 19th-century National Schools can be found in the National Archives of Ireland (NAI). What is largely missing from this collection are the pupil roll books and admission records, which belong to the schools in question. For some schools that closed, pupil records were deposited with the Department of Education, and made their way to the NAI. Other pupil records were privately donated to the NAI, but the vast majority from the 19th and early 20th centuries are with the school, were deposited with a local or county archive, or are lost.
Note that records for schools now in Northern Ireland are in local custody or held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).
Pupil roll books and admission registers generally include the name, date of birth or age, and religion of the pupil, and frequently record their home address, father’s occupation and previous education as well. Since these records were updated during the pupils’ tenure, they provide invaluable insight into their attendance in addition to their academic attainment.
The small number of pupil records that were deposited with the NAI have been digitised and published online by Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Findmypast. This is the same collection, with some discrepancies, on all three websites. Findmypast has ostensibly documented the most pupils with 190,000, while Ancestry is at just under 160,000 entries; but the difference is likely due to the date ranges given, which seem to be based on incorrect information.
Findmypast reports that its collection covers 1860–1922, Ancestry says 1847–1933 and FamilySearch 1847–1954. However, according to the three websites’ catalogues the earliest registers they hold all come from the National School of Headfort in County Cavan and commence in 1847; but on inspection, they only begin in 1874. The earliest pupil records seem to date from the 1820s and pertain to Brackloon School in County Mayo, but this appears to be another error as the registers cover a period in the 1920s. The next earliest record is a page in the Drumkerl National School registers billed as dating from the 1870s, which in fact relates to Drumkerl Evening School in October 1847. Those attending were outside of the age range for National School pupils, being between 13 and 29 years old.
The actual earliest registers documenting children are from Glassleck Female National School in County Cavan, which commence in 1853 and record the name of the pupil, their month and year of birth, religion, residence, parents’ occupation, and the reason they left the school. The first pupil left to assist her parents, which was the case for many attending school in 19th- and early 20th-century Ireland. The school appears to have been multidenominational, with Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic pupils all in attendance.
Other websites contain records of National School pupils. At the Irish Family History Foundation’s site RootsIreland, 19th-century records for about 40 schools in Monaghan have been indexed. Also some county archives have digitised the pupil records they hold, and published them online. Catalogues like the Irish Archives Resource and Sources for Irish Women’s History can be searched, among other larger catalogues, for pupil records in local, county and smaller archives.
If you can’t find the records you need online, contact the school, county archive, or local historical or genealogical societies to ask which records survive and where they are held.
