Historic tax records shed light on forgotten families

Apr 22 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

AN HISTORICAL collection of more than a million 19th-century Irish names that time would have forgotten, but for the tax man, has been launched online.

Dating from 1848 to 1864, Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland was put together by Irish geologist Sir Richard Griffith as a means of assessing for taxation purposes the property of those living in Ireland at this time.

With the destruction of almost all the 19th-century Ireland censuses during the Irish civil war, this collection is thought to be the only record of existence for many of the 1m people whose names it lists.

Importantly, the collection covers the years of the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1852), which plunged Ireland into crisis and resulted in more than 1m Irish dying and a further 1m emigrating.

The port city of Liverpool has long been a destination for Irish migrants, with by far the greatest influx of Irish people to Liverpool during the years of the Great Famine in the 1840s. Tens of thousands of their descendants are now living in and around Merseyside.

Travelling on disease-ridden “famine ships”, often at great personal risk, Irish immigration to England, Scotland, Australia and North America during this time marked the start of what was to become the ongoing depopulation of Ireland, which continued for the rest of the 19th century.

For the millions of descendants of these Irish émigrés, and also of those who stayed behind, the collection – on Ancestry.co.uk – will be a key and only resource to uncovering their 19th century Irish roots.

Among the more famous listings in the collection is Abraham “Bram” Stoker, author of the classic horror novel “Dracula”, listed at his childhood home in The Crescent, Dublin, with his father.

As a member of the wealthy middle class, Bram remained in Dublin until 1878, when he moved to London to pursue his career as an author.

The records are indexed by name, location and landlord and also contain descriptions and size of property as well as the valuation given to the land, offering anyone with Irish ancestry an opportunity to delve into their heritage.

Ancestry.co.uk spokesman Simon Harper said: “This collection will be hugely relevant to anyone with Irish ancestry as it may hold the only record of the existence of their ancestors during this colourful and tragic time in Ireland’s history.

“The Irish Potato Famine was a significant event in world history, causing a huge spike in international emigration from Ireland, and so making this an important collection for those of Irish descent the world over.”

alanweston@dailypost.co.uk