In the 1740s the Physico Historical Society of Ireland expressed an ambitious plan to publish a survey of each county in Ireland, although only four surveys (Down, Kerry, Cork and Waterford) ultimately appeared in print. Decades later, the Dublin Society, established in the 1730s, and becoming the Royal Dublin Society in 1820, launched a similar project, which proved considerably more successful. Under this initiative, the first county surveys appeared in 1801, and between that year and 1832, twenty three county surveys were completed. No surveys were completed for Fermanagh, Louth, Longford, Westmeath, Limerick, Kerry and Waterford.
Each county was surveyed with the aim of determining the 'actual state, capabilities and defects of agriculture, manufactures and rural economy', and most follow a similar structural layout. In practice the surveys contained a vast quantity of local information on almost every aspect of the county surveyed. Because these studies were carried out under central direction the quality of the information provided is good, and given their early date, they remain an invaluable source for the study of each county. They record many details about conditions in pre-Famine Ireland, including social and economic conditions, the growth of population and poverty, education, religion, history, the state of the Irish and English languages and local customs.
Many of the authors of the surveys were responsible for more than one county, but none were as prolific as Sir Charles Coote, who, in the space of three years published surveys of Armagh (1804), Monaghan (1801) and Cavan (1802) in Ulster, and Queen's (1801) and King's (1801) Counties, in Leinster. Coote's 300 page Cavan survey follows a familiar layout, with agricultural issues receiving prominent attention. Five chapters in the book focus on the individual baronies, highlighting local methods of cultivation, agricultural practices and industrial production. Linen, the chief domestic industry, also receives due attention. The quality of roads - 'injudiciously made and worse kept' - and economic structures are also detailed.
Coote's conclusions are stark, and he is highly critical of county's landlord class, whom should, he asserts, be leading by example. 'This county does not raise corn sufficient for its own supply … rentals might be fully increased … if the spirit of industry, which must first spring from the landlords themselves, would more generally prevail'. 'Flax culture is miserably followed; draining is totally neglected: a little attention to inclosures [sic], which shew [sic] so little care, is now particularly required; nor should the better repairs of the county roads be a secondary consideration'.
Like most of our CDs, Coote's readable Cavan survey is fully searchable, and will prove an invaluable source for researchers interested in County Cavan, the south Ulster region or in social developments in early nineteenth century Ireland.
This is one of earliest full commercial directories of Ireland, and includes over 220 urban centres throughout the island. Organised by Province, and then town, it lists all the principal office holders, gentry, professionals, tradesmen, hotels, schools, public institutions, churches, and even pubs for each town in Ireland. There is a description of each Province and town as well. This was Pigot's much-expanded second edition (the previous version dated 1820) and is now extremely rare.
This title includes the Introductory sections, and the Ulster section only.
Lewis gives details about every parish, town and village in Ireland, including numbers of inhabitants, the economy, history, topography, religion and parish structures, administration and courts, schools, and much more. He also gives the names of the principal inhabitants (generally landlords, merchants and professionals).
This Dictionary is in four parts:
· Preface & Subscribers
· Volume 1: A-G
· Volume 2: H-Z
· Volume 3: Maps
The Maps are in full colour, making this source one of the most important for research on Ireland.
This book is an excellent commercial directory for the Province of Ulster. It is the third edition in a series published in various years between 1852 and 1900. The book contains a wealth of information about Belfast, and every county and town in Ulster. It includes a full street directory of Belfast and Ballymacarrett, an alphabetical list of inhabitants and a trades directory for Belfast, a detailed breakdown of public & private institutions and societies in Belfast and Ulster, a full list of all administrative offices and military positions for every county throughout the province, as well as an introduction to all nine counties, and a detailed trades directory for every town and village throughout Ulster.
There is also a large number of illustrated advertisements which are included.
This superb book includes a full commercial directory for the entire country. Organised by Province, and then town, it lists all the principal office holders, gentry, professionals, trades, hotels, schools, public institutions, churches, and even pubs for each town in Ireland. Slater took over Pigot's important publication of commercial directories of Ireland, and this was the first instalment. It has almost twice as much detail as its predecessor (published in 1824), and is now an extremely rare item.
This title includes the Introductory sections, and the Ulster and Belfast sections only.
For those familiar with the study of Irish history and in particular Irish genealogy, directories such as Slater's are a vital research tool. Each town and village contained in the Directory is introduced by its geographical location in relation to its nearest railway station together with population statistics derived from the 1861 Census of Ireland as well as a brief geographical and topographical description. The Directory provides the names and addresses of the principal private residents, together with those engaged in commercial and agricultural activity as well as the presence and location of religious, commercial and public institutions.
This publication reproduces just the Province of Ulster and Belfast sections of Slater's 1870 Royal National Directory of Ireland. This directory is one of only nine national directories for Ireland published prior to 1900 and an essential research tool for the study of Irish genealogy and history.
This superb book includes a full commercial directory for the entire country. Organised by Province, and then town, it lists all the principal office holders, gentry, professionals, trades, hotels, schools, public institutions, churches, and even pubs for each town in Ireland.
This is the third edition of Slaters, for the year 1881, and contains 1,580 pages of information including a large-scale map of Ireland.
This title includes the Introductory sections, and the Ulster & Belfast sections only.
Published by HMSO from evidence given to both house of Parliament in February 1893 by Assistant Commissioner Mr. C. Rogers, the full title of this publication gives some idea as to its nature and scope:
'Royal Commission on Labour: The Agricultural Labourer. Vol. IV. Ireland, Part III, Reports by Mr. C. Rogers, (Assistant Commissioner) upon certain selected districts in counties Cavan, Dublin, Galway & Tipperary'.
In fact, the information presented in the 80 page Report was taken from the Commission's Surveys of four Poor Law Unions, namely Loughrea, Roscrea, Balrothery and Bailieborough and is one of a number of similar reports into the state of agricultural labourers that taken with the reports that covered the remainder of the county constitutes one of the most detailed investigations into the conditions of agricultural labourer in Ireland ever undertaken. The evidence presented in the Reports derived from a plethora of sources, which give both this and the Commission's conclusions great validity. Amongst the sources from which evidence was garnered were secretaries of local labour leagues, land agents, independent witnesses, Poor Law Union Guardians, parish priests as well as personal interviews by the Commissioner and his agents. These interviews included visiting labourers' cottages in each of the subdistricts of the unions surveyed and much of the firsthand evidence gathered revealed the depressing conditions experienced by the rural and urban labourer alike.
The scope of the Commission's inquiry was as far-reaching as were its final conclusions. The specific areas of inquiry for volume IV part III were as follows: Railway communications; difference in attitude of English and Irish employers; unions compared as to supply of and demand for labour; everywhere a considerable amount of labour done by farmers and families; probable influence of cottage gardens on future; supply of labour.; hours of labour; difficulty of estimating total earnings; comparison between pay of ordinary labourers and farm servants in Bailieborough and Belper; construction of cottages; exercise of sanitary powers in England and Ireland; attitude of some guardians to 'Labourers' Acts'; labourers' opinions as to administration; ownership various; some freeholders. Mostly sub-let by farmers; rates paid by landowners and farmers jointly; influence of wretched houses on condition; uncertainty of employment. These differed only slightly from area or inquiry conducted into the conditions of agricultural labourer in other parts of the country and a total of 51 areas of agrarian society were examined by the Commission. The Commission for part III concluded that their 'Inquiry well received, especially by labourers'.
In short, the Commission probed into every conceivable aspect of labourer's lives and probably extended its scope beyond its original remit by inquiring into the conditions and circumstances of town labourers, miners and women labourers both town and country. Taken as a whole the 1893 Royal Commission on Labour provides provides some of the best social, economic and historical data available for the labouring classes of Ireland towards the end of the 19th century and will be a useful time for academics and those simply interested in the socio-economic conditions experienced by much of the population of Ireland in the 1890s.
Buy the Compendium with all four volumes and save €12
This publication reproduces just the Province of Ulster & Belfast city sections of Slater's 1894 Royal National Directory of Ireland. This directory is one of only nine national directories for Ireland published prior to 1900. Apart from the fulsome coverage given-over to Ireland's major cities, Slater's also provides information on the principal private and commercial residents (including farmers) of the larger towns and villages. As a fully searchable CD-Rom, the publication of Slater's Royal National Directory of Ireland is an essential research aid that must grace the shelves of anybody interested in the people and institutions of Ireland.
This important book is well known to Irish genealogists. It contains an index to over 40,000 Irish wills, most of which were destroyed in the 1922 explosion at the Public Record Office in Dublin. As a consequence this book is especially important as the only surviving evidence of what did exist at one time. This index gives the name of every person who left a will, their address, rank or occupation and the date of probate. Vicars' based his work on the abstracts to the original wills compiled by Sir William Betham, and is the only index to his voluminous collections of abstracts and extracts in existence.
However, this edition is doubly important because we have included the never-before-published supplement compiled in 1914 to correct errors and omissions in Vicars' work.
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