Ireland Civil Registration

Civil registration are the government records of births, marriages, and deaths. Because Irish civil registration records are indexed and cover most of the population, they are an important source of genealogical data, particularly of names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths.

Civil registration began in 1845 for protestant marriages. In 1864, registration of births, deaths and other marriages began. The indexes from 1845 to 1958 have been made available on line on FamilySearch's Record Search. SEARCH THESE INDEXES ONLINE by clicking here.

General Historical Background
Before civil registration, churches alone kept the records of baptisms (births), marriages, and burials (deaths) in Ireland. On 1 April 1845 the government began registering non-Catholic marriages. On 1 January 1864 the government began registering all Irish births, marriages, and deaths.

For civil registration purposes, Ireland is organized into districts. In each district, registrars record births and deaths, while ministers, priests or registrars register marriages.

Quarterly, the superintendent registrar of each district forwards copies of the district's registrations to the appropriate General Register office. The original records remain with the district registrar.

Since 1922 registrations for Northern Ireland have been housed at Belfast, while those for the Republic of Ireland have remained in Dublin. Pre-1922 records for all of Ireland are in Dublin.

Births
Birth registrations typically include the child's name, sex, birth date, and birthplace; the parents' names (including the mother's maiden name) and the father's occupation; and the informant's signature, residence, and qualification (often the relationship to the child being registered).

Marriages
Marriage registrations include the marriage date, place, and denomination (for church marriages); the names of the bride and groom, their ages [too frequently given as "full age"], occupations, marital statuses, and residences at the time of marriage; the names and occupations of their fathers and often whether their fathers were deceased; and the signatures of the bride, groom, and witnesses. Marriages were usually performed in the bride's parish and were registered by the performing minister, priest or registrar. In the Irish Republic, since 1956 both parties' dates of birth and parents' full names have been recorded in addition to the future intended town or country in which the couple intend to reside.

Divorces
Although judicial divorce became possible in England &amp; Wales from 1857 this was not the case in Ireland. Divorce continued to be available only through a private act of parliament, which was in itself a rare occurance and one only available to the well-off. After the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922(later called renamed 'Ireland' and commonly referred to as the Republic of Ireland) this situation continued until judicial divorce was finally legislated for following a referendum in 1995.

In Northern Ireland judicial divorce became available in 1939.

Divorce records usually contain very brief details about the names of the parties and the date and place of the marriage being dissolved. However, court files relating to divorce proceedings may contain additional information on family members, their marital history (including marriage date and place), property, residences, and sometimes dates of events such as children’s births.

Given the restriction upon divorce in Ireland some people chose to divorce in the jurisdiction of England &amp; Wales. Searches can be made for records there at:


 * Divorce Registry of the Family Division Somerset House, Strand London W.C. 2 England

Records of UK parliamentary divorce acts (up to 1921) can be found at:


 * House of Lords Library London, SW1A 0PW England

As mentioned above, judicial divorce began in England &amp; Wales in 1858. Files relating to the court proceedings for divorce records are confidential for 75 years. Records older than 75 years can be consulted at the National Archives in London and indexes for the period 1858 to 1937 are available there.

To learn more about divorce records, visit the following Web sites.


 * www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/Leaflets/ri2289.htm
 * www.1837online.com/Trace2web/resources/divorcerecords/
 * www.genealogy.about.com/cs/vitaluk/index.htm

Deaths
Death certificates give only the name, occupation, age at death, and marital status of the deceased; duration of the illness; date, place, and cause of death; and signature, qualification, and residence of the informant. For a married or widowed woman a spouse's name is sometimes recorded. Where a child has died, the child's occupation is often given as "son or daughter of...". In Northern counties, the father's name of unmarried adult females are often recorded.

Civil registrations of deaths are of limited genealogical value because they:


 * Do not normally contain parentage or birth information.
 * May be inaccurate (the informant may not have known the information requested).
 * May not contain enough information to distinguish your ancestor from others with the same name. This cannot be emphasised enough.

Nonetheless, a death certificate is usually the only civil record for persons born or married before government registration began in 1864.

Since December 2005 death records in the Irish Republic record the deceased's date &amp; place of birth and parents' full names. In Northern Ireland, since 1973 death records have stated the deceased person's date &amp; place of birth.

Locating Civil Registration Records
Civil registration records are kept at the superintendent registrars' offices in the districts. Duplicates are kept at the General Register offices. The General Register Office for the Republic of Ireland has birth, marriage, and death indexes and corresponding records, including registrations of Irish subjects at sea, abroad, or in the military through 1921 for all of Ireland. The office's post-1921 records cover Republic of Ireland counties only. The address is:


 * General Register Office Joyce House 8-11 Lombard Street East Dublin 2 IRELAND (EIRE) Internet: http://www.groireland.ie/

The General Register Office of Northern Ireland has birth, marriage, and death records, including registrations of Irish at sea, abroad, or in the military from 1922 on for Northern Ireland only. The address is:


 * General Register Office Oxford House 49/55 Chichester Street Belfast BT1 4HL NORTHERN IRELAND Internet: http://www.groni.gov.uk/

When requesting a registration certificate by mail from these offices, include:


 * 1) A check or money order for the search fee.
 * 2) The full name and sex of the person sought.
 * 3) The names of the parents, if known (only when requesting a birth record).
 * 4) The approximate date and place of the event.

Indexes to Civil Registration Records
Indexes can help you find a registration entry for your ancestor. Before 1878, registration indexes were arranged alphabetically by year. Since 1878, indexes have remained alphabetical but have been divided by each quarter of the years (e.g. 'January, February &amp; March' etc.). Most registration indexes list only the name of the individual registered and the district, volume, and page number of that person's registration entry. The death indexes also list the individual's age at death. In the LDS films the Republic of Ireland post-1927 birth indexes include the mother's maiden name. However, since tghe LDS filmed the indexes the mother's maiden surname now appears in the Birth Index since 1903. In searching for an index entry, knowing the name of the district and at least an approximate year in which the birth, marriage, or death occurred will reduce your search time.

Place-names in the indexes are for districts. In rural areas, many villages and parishes belong to one district. In urban areas, a city may be divided into several districts.

To identify the district in which your ancestor lived, use the following sources:

Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland, (1871 Census), which lists Irish localities and the districts that served those localities in 1871.

Ireland, Census Office, General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland, (1901 Census, [London, England: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1901?]; FHL book Ref Q 941.5 X22g 1901; film 865,092, which lists Irish localities and the districts that served those localities in 1901.

Civil Registration Districts of Ireland, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1983; FHL book Reg 941.5 V2c, which provides maps and districts' names as they were in 1871.

If you find an index entry, you can use that entry to request a copy of the original record from:


 * The General Register Office in Dublin if the event was recorded before 1922 or took place in the Republic of Ireland, or
 * The General Register Office in Belfast if the event took place in or after 1922 in Northern Ireland.

If you cannot find an index reference, consider the following reasons:


 * Late registrations of births and deaths are indexed separately at the end of each index volume.
 * Surnames are often spelled differently than expected.
 * Surnames with prefixes, such as O'Brien or McDonnell, may be listed without their prefixes (Brien, Donnell).
 * Events are filed by the date they were registered, not the date they occurred and may therefore be indexed in a later volume. (For example, a birth on 20 December 1879 which was registered on 6 January 1880 will be listed in the January-March volume of 1880.)
 * Indexes were hand-prepared and may contain errors, such as copying mistakes (for example, the interchange of T and F) and missed entries.
 * Occasionally, people were registered under a variation of their first name, other than that recorded at the time of their birth or death. For instance Ted for Edward or Molly for Mary.
 * In error, some marriages have been indexed by the name of only one party.
 * If a wsoman was married previously, then her surname in the marriage index might at a later marriage be her surname from a previous marriage and not her maiden surname.
 * Vital information provided by the family (particularly age at death) is often incorrect.
 * People with prolific first names or surnames are sometimes difficult to distinguish in the index.
 * Children born before their parents were married may be listed under the mother's maiden name.
 * Some children are simply listed as male or female if they were not named by the time of registration.
 * Some events were not registered, even though registration of births, marriages and deaths was required by law.

If, after considering the above factors, you cannot find a civil birth, marriage, or death certificate for your ancestor, you may want to search church or other records.

Records at the Family History Library
The Family History Library has microfilm copies of the civil registration indexes of births, marriages, and deaths for Ireland and Northern Ireland through 1958 (through 1959 for Northern Ireland). The Library also has microfilm copies of:


 * Pre-1871 marriage and death registers for both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
 * Birth registers from 1864 through to March 1881 and from 1900 through to 1913 for both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
 * Birth registers for the Republic of Ireland from 1930 through to 1955.
 * Birth, marriage, and death registers for Northern Ireland from 1922 through to 1959.
 * Some registrations of Irish subjects at sea, abroad, and in the military.

The film numbers for the indexes and records are found in the library catalog through the following:


 * Birth records 1864-1881 and 1900-1913, with index to births 1864-1921
 * Birth records of Northern Ireland 1922-1959 with indexes
 * Marriages 1845-1870, with indexes to marriages 1845-1921
 * Marriage records of Northern Ireland, 1922-1959
 * Death records of Ireland, 1864-1870, with index of deaths, 1864-1921

Ireland Civil Registration
Civil registration is the government records of births, marriages, and deaths. Because Irish civil registration records are indexed and cover most of the population, they are an important source of genealogical data, particularly of names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths. Below is a table showing the information that can be found on each record type.

Search Strategies
Indexes provide the index information (the year or quarter of the year when the event was registered, the registration district, volume number and page number) necessary to locate the actual registration record. For early births and marriages, extracted information from the Civil Registration records can be found in the International Genealogical Index (IGI). Extracted records do not contain all of the information on the actual registration record, however extracted records contain all or a portion of the index information as well as other information that will make it is easier to determine if you have located the event for the correct person.

Note: The index information for the records at the General Records Office of the Republic of Ireland (GRO) differs from the index information at the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI). For the IGI, Family History Library and Center and familysearch.org indexes are based on the GRO index information for 1845 to 1921. After 1921, they are based on the GRO index for the Republic of Ireland and the GRONI index information for Northern Ireland. You must have the corresponding index information for the source you chose to obtain the complete registration information.

Birth Indexes

 * 1) For 1864 -1875, search the IGIto locate person. If IGI contains the registration index information, proceed to the instructions on locating the actual registration information.
 * 2) For 1864 – 1958, search the computerized registration indexes at familysearch.org. (The microfilm indexes are also available at the Family History Library or through local Family History Centers. The Family History Library or Centers' microfilm indexes are the GRO indexes for 1845 to 1921. After 1921, they are based on the GRO index (1922-1958) for the Republic of Ireland and the GRONI index 1922-1959) information for Northern Ireland.)
 * 3) From 1864 -1921, searches can be made of the indexes at either the General Record Office (GRO) or the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI). After 1921, the GRO contains the indexes for the Republic and GRONI has the indexes for Northern Ireland.
 * 4) Proceed to the instructions on locating the actual registration information.

Marriage Indexes
Note: If you know the surnames of both spouses, search on both spouses. If the index information matches, then you have the correct marriage.


 * 1) For 1845 -1870, search the IGI to locate person (1845-1863; only Protestant records). If IGI contains the registration index information, proceed to the instructions on locating the actual registration information.
 * 2) For 1864 – 1958, search the computerized registration indexes at familysearch.org. (These indexes are also available on microfilm at the Family History Library or through local Family History Centers.)
 * 3) For all years, searches can be made at the indexes at the General Record Office (GRO) for the Republic of Ireland or the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI).
 * 4) Proceed to the instructions on locating the actual registration information.

Death Indexes

 * 1) For 1864 – 1958, search the computerized registration indexes at familysearch.org. (These indexes are also available on microfilm at the Family History Library or through local Family History Centers.)
 * 2) For all years, searches can be made at the indexes at the General Record Office (GRO) for the Republic of Ireland or the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI).
 * 3) Proceed to the instructions on locating the actual registration information.

Locating the Actual Registration Information:
There are two index systems used to catalog the civil registration information; the GRO index and the GRONI index. If you have GRO index information, you must obtain the registration from a repository that catalogs the information based on this index and vice versa for the GRONI index information. GRO indexed information is shown in green and GRONI indexed information is shown in red.

Step 1: Determine where to obtain the actual registration information.

Below is a table showing the civil registration information available at the Family History Library or through Family History Centers, the GRO and the GRONI. Determine whether your index information is based on the GRO or the GRONI catalog system and then identify where you want to obtain the actual registration information.

Step 2: Obtain the actual registration information.

a. Obtaining Civil Registration Information at FHL or FHC:

The Family History Library (FHL) has microfilms of the actual registration information the years shown above. Look in the Family History Library Catalog to obtain the microfilm number for the index information. Then get the microfilm, go to the appropriate year or quarter of the year and proceed to the page number found in the indexes to locate the registration information.

b. Obtaining Civil Registration Information at the GRO:

With the GRO index information, you can obtain the registration information through the GRO. Click on this link to see the GRO ordering information.

c. Obtaining Civil Registration Information at GRONI:

With the GRONI index information, you can obtain the registration information through the GRONI. Click on this link to see the GRONI ordering information.

Additional Information on Indexes to Civil Registration Records:
Indexes can help you find a registration entry for your ancestor. Before 1878, registration indexes were arranged alphabetically by year. Since 1878, indexes have remained alphabetical but have been divided by each quarter of the years (e.g. 'January, February &amp; March' etc.). Most registration indexes list only the name of the individual registered and the district, volume, and page number of that person's registration entry. The death indexes also list the individual's age at death. In the LDS films the Republic of Ireland post-1927 birth indexes include the mother's maiden name. However, since the LDS filmed the indexes the mother's maiden surname now appears in the Birth Index since 1903. In searching for an index entry, knowing the name of the district and at least an approximate year in which the birth, marriage, or death occurred will reduce your search time.

Place-names in the indexes are for districts. In rural areas, many villages and parishes belong to one district. In urban areas, a city may be divided into several districts.

The registration districts are the same as the poor law unions. If you know the parish name where the event occurred, then you can find the registration district by going to the Wiki County page and looking at the parish table to find the poor law union. [Links to County Pages]

If you do not know the parish name, then use the following sources to identify the parish or the district in which your ancestor lived:

Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland, (1871 Census), which lists Irish localities and the districts that served those localities in 1871.

Ireland, Census Office, General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland, (1901 Census, [London, England: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1901?]; FHL book Ref Q 941.5 X22g 1901; film 865,092, which lists Irish localities and the districts that served those localities in 1901.

Civil Registration Districts of Ireland, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1983; FHL book Reg 941.5 V2c, which provides maps and districts' names as they were in 1871.

Tips If You Cannot Find an Individual in the Index:
If you cannot find an index reference, consider the following reasons:


 * Late registrations of births and deaths are indexed separately at the end of each index volume. **Surnames are often spelled differently than expected. **Surnames with prefixes, such as O'Brien or McDonnell, may be listed without their prefixes (Brien, Donnell). **Events are filed by the date they were registered, not the date they occurred and may therefore be indexed in a later volume. (For example, a birth on 20 December 1879 which was registered on 6 January 1880 will be listed in the January-March volume of 1880.) **Indexes were hand-prepared and may contain errors, such as copying mistakes (for example, the interchange of T and F) and missed entries. **Occasionally, people were registered under a variation of their first name, other than that recorded at the time of their birth or death. For instance Ted for Edward or Molly for Mary. **In error, some marriages have been indexed by the name of only one party. **If a woman was married previously, then her surname in the marriage index might at a later marriage be her surname from a previous marriage and not her maiden surname. **Vital information provided by the family (particularly age at death) is often incorrect. **People with prolific first names or surnames are sometimes difficult to distinguish in the index. **Children born before their parents were married may be listed under the mother's maiden name. **Some children are simply listed as male or female if they were not named by the time of registration. **Some events were not registered, even though registration of births, marriages and deaths was required by law.

If, after considering the above factors, you cannot find a civil birth, marriage, or death certificate for your ancestor, you may want to search church or other records.

Additional Information on Death Registrations:
Death certificates give only the name, occupation, age at death, and marital status of the deceased; duration of the illness; date, place, and cause of death; and signature, qualification, and residence of the informant. For a married or widowed woman a spouse's name is sometimes recorded. Where a child has died, the child's occupation is often given as "son or daughter of...". In Northern counties, the father's name of unmarried adult females are often recorded.

Civil registrations of deaths are of limited genealogical value because they:


 * Do not normally contain parentage or birth information. **May be inaccurate (the informant may not have known the information requested). **May not contain enough information to distinguish your ancestor from others with the same name. This cannot be emphasized enough.

Nonetheless, a death certificate is usually the only civil record for persons born or married before government registration began in 1864.

Since December 2005 death records in the Irish Republic record the deceased's date &amp; place of birth and parents' full names. In Northern Ireland, since 1973 death records have stated the deceased person's date &amp;amp; place of birth.

Divorce Information:

Although judicial divorce became possible in England &amp; Wales from 1857 this was not the case in Ireland. Divorce continued to be available only through a private act of parliament, which was in itself a rare occurrence and one only available to the well-off. After the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (later called renamed 'Ireland' and commonly referred to as the Republic of Ireland) this situation continued until judicial divorce was finally legislated following a referendum in 1995.

In Northern Ireland judicial divorce became available in 1939.

Divorce records usually contain very brief details about the names of the parties and the date and place of the marriage being dissolved. However, court files relating to divorce proceedings may contain additional information on family members, their marital history (including marriage date and place), property, residences, and sometimes dates of events such as children’s births.

Given the restriction upon divorce in Ireland some people chose to divorce in the jurisdiction of England &amp; Wales. Searches can be made for records there at:

'Divorce Registry of the Family Division Somerset House, Strand London W.C. 2 England

Records of UK parliamentary divorce acts (up to 1921) can be found at:

House of Lords Library London, SW1A 0PW England

As mentioned above, judicial divorce began in England &amp; Wales in 1858. Files relating to the court proceedings for divorce records are confidential for 75 years. Records older than 75 years can be consulted at the National Archives in London and indexes for the period 1858 to 1937 are available there.

To learn more about divorce records, visit the following Web sites.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/Leaflets/ri2289.htm www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/Leaflets/ri2289.htm *http://www.1837online.com/Trace2web/resources/divorcerecords/ www.1837online.com/Trace2web/resources/divorcerecords/ *http://www.genealogy.about.com/cs/vitaluk/index.htm www.genealogy.about.com/cs/vitaluk/index.htm

Further Reading:
Irish Civil Registration - Where Do I Start? (No. 2 in 'Exploring Irish Genealogy' series) by Eileen O'Duill Steven C. ffeary-Smyrl. Published by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations, Dublin, 2000. www.cigo.ie

External Links:

 * http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/ *http://www.groni.gov.uk/ *http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/records/state/ *http://www.from-ireland.net/gene/district.htm *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_Archives&amp;nbsp; History and holdings of the House of Lords Library and the Parliamentary Archives.