Ireland at the start of the 20th century was awakening to a new sense of national identity. The Gaelic League, which promoted the Irish language, helped to foster a movement of cultural nationalism. The increasing popularity of the Irish language is demonstrated on the 1901 and 1911 census, which recorded whether an individual spoke Irish and/or English, possibly pointing to membership of the Gaelic League.
Some families used the Irish form of their surname when filling in the return, making them impossible to find under the English version – use John Grenham’s database of Irish surnames to identify the original Irish version.
When searching the census for the Irish version, use wild cards for the vowel sounds, as exact spelling may not have been adhered to.
The 1901 and 1911 census of Ireland demonstrates the living conditions of the population on Form B1, the House and Building Return, which describes the family home. It is not uncommon to find a rural family of 10 or more living in a one- or two-room stone thatched cottage. In the cities, families of a similar number can be found occupying a single room in a large tenement.
Such poor living conditions and high unemployment drove many families into the workhouse. The Admission and Discharge Registers and Board of Guardian Minute Books for three of the four workhouses that served Dublin City and County are available for research up to 1919 on Findmypast. The Minute Books contain records of the provisions made for the fostering or nursing of orphaned and abandoned children in the early 20th century and should be investigated if your Dublin ancestor was adopted or brought up away from their parents.
The introduction of the Wyndham Land Act in 1903 provided a fund for tenants to purchase their land holding and become owners of their property. The Valuation Office Revision Books can be used to find out when a rural family purchased their land holding. Updated versions of Griffith’s Valuation record any changes in the ownership, occupancy, size and value of a property from the 1850s to the 1970s.
Any occupier who was recorded as ‘In Fee’ or ‘L.A.P’ (Land Annuity Purchase) had purchased their property. The books also record when a property passed from one generation to the next, indicating when the head of the household died and whether a descendant remained on the family property.
The most significant events in early 20th-century Ireland are the 1916 Easter Rising and War of Independence. The Irish Military Archives has published the IRA Nominal Rolls, Military Service Pension Applications and Bureau of Military History (BMH) Witness Statements, an extensive collection of digitised material that documents the active men and women of this period.
The IRA Nominal Rolls, drawn up in 1935, are lists of Irish Volunteers organised by brigade, battalion and company, although this collection is far from complete, you may find your ancestor in a list of men of a particular company at a specific garrison, placing them in the heart of the 1916 Rising.
If your ancestor saw active service during the period of 1916 to 1922, they or their widow was entitled to a military service pension or compensation, and their Military Service Pension Application, if submitted, is a detailed record of their service.
Many of the applications are supplemented by personal statements and letters of support from commanding officers, which can make for very interesting reading.
The Bureau of Military History Witness Statements were collected from 1947 and are personal statements by men and women describing their activities during the revolutionary period. All three of these sources can be used to find evidence of men and women who were active in the 1916 Rising.
The BMH Witness Statements are fully digitised and can be searched for any term, such as a surname or place name. The Pension Applications can be searched by the name of the applicant. If your ancestor did not apply for a pension, you can use the Nominal Rolls to identify the other men who served in the same company – their pension applications may refer to their fellow Volunteers. The IRA Nominal Rolls are largely hand-written documents that must be searched manually. Relevant nominal rolls can be identified by location. If you are unsure what battalion or company your ancestor might have been involved with, use the 1911 census or the Dublin City Electoral Rolls for 1915 to establish their address.
They most likely joined a local Volunteer Company and you can track down the Battalion Nominal Rolls that pertain to that area. This material, freely available on the website of the Irish Military Archives, is a fascinating introduction to Irish republicanism told largely in their own words.
Of course, the British Government also generated records that document this period and both Findmypast and Ancestry have digitised relevant files from the War Office collection in the British national archives, including records of civilian courts-martial, prison registers and intelligence files.
An intelligence file for a man named Michael Whelan of Enniscorthy describes him as “a thorough blackguard”. The statements of police witnesses identified him as the leader of a crowd of 1,500 who threw stones at the police escort of two Sinn Fein prisoners in 1920. The file contains details of his subsequent incarceration.
In his BMH Witness Statement, Patrick Carton identified ‘Mike’ Whelan and his brother James of Enniscorthy as members of a flying column, who carried out ambushes against ‘enemy forces’ in Wexford.
These various sources, from both sides in the conflict, can be used to paint a vivid two-sided picture of Ireland’s revolutionary period and the men and women who were active in the fight for Irish independence.
