Men and women of Ireland mobilised to fight for Irish independence with the establishment of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. The Irish Volunteers, later the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and other allied groups organised themselves along similar lines to a national army, employing the knowledge and experience that was gained from service in the British Army.
An armed Irish militia was a threat to Britain, always alert to uprising and revolt in Ireland. Irish Republicans had to prioritise secrecy. No service records or army lists, which could have jeopardised the identity of soldiers, were created. However, many of the men and women who fought for Irish independence are documented in the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC).
After Ireland became independent in 1922, the Irish Free State introduced the 1923 Army Pensions Act and the Military Service Pensions Acts of 1924, 1934 and 1949, which made provisions for payments to those injured in service, dependents of those killed, and later those veterans who could confirm active service during the revolutionary period. The authorities did not discriminate against those who fell on the opposing side during the 1922–1923 Civil War, and applicants came from both sides.
Applicants had to complete a long and detailed form, accounting for their activities for each six-month period between the 1916 Easter Rising and the truce in the Irish War of Independence on 11 July 1921. Some applicants also submitted personal statements and letters of support from former commanding officers and comrades. The files also contain correspondence with the Pension Board; receipts for medical care or children’s education; birth, marriage and death certificates; and social welfare documentation. Applicants included widows and dependents of those who died, both during and after the revolutionary period. There are more than 250,000 files made for approximately 80,000 individuals.
The Military Service Pension Application files have been digitised by Ireland’s Military Archives, which, since 2014, has been publishing tranches of files on its website. The site is free to use – you don’t even need to create an account.
Some of the files remained active into the late 20th and even early 21st century, and there is no record of destruction of any part of the collection, which includes unsuccessful applications. However, files that contain information about living persons will not be online, although they can be released to relatives on request.
The collection can be searched by the name of the applicant; remember that some applicants may have used the Irish spelling of their name. It is also possible to search the applications by address, date of death and even a free text search of the “subject information”, which should include the name of the company that they served in, in addition to their commanding officers.
Before you search, you may want to check the nominal rolls to establish your ancestor’s company, battalion and commanding officers. You can also search by their address, although note that these are the addresses used during the application process, not necessarily their address at the time of the conflict.
Findmypast also has the record set ‘Ireland Military Pensions and Medals 1916–1922’. It is index-only, but includes key information on the applicant and the Military Archives’ file references. A slightly lighter and less detailed index that links to the online records is also available on Ancestry as ‘Web: Ireland, Military Service Pension Index, 1916–1923’.
Once located, your ancestor’s file is available to download as a PDF. The files are a mix of typescript and handwritten pages and can be quite large and sometimes unwieldy, but they make for fascinating reading.
The MSPC files contain unique personal testimony of the activities of the revolutionary period and identify the structure and hierarchy of the companies, units, battalions and brigades of the Irish Volunteers and IRA, as well as containing information about the situation of the applicant later in their lives. Many of the applicants wrote to the Pensions Board pleading poverty and begging for financial support. Others expressed their disgust that their application was refused, or at the paltry sum they were offered. Some applications were fraudulent, and some genuine applicants were accused of being fraudulent. This vast collection certainly brings the revolutionary and post-revolutionary period in Ireland to life.
