Ancestry adds Irish military census and pension indexes

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added two new indexes for collections sourced from the Military Archives at Cathal Brugha barracks in Dublin (www.militaryarchives.ie). These are as follows:

Ireland, Military Service Pension Index, 1916 - 1923
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=70816

Web: Ireland, National Army Census, 1922
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=70815


The following description of the Military Service Pension Collection is taken from my new book, A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923:

This vast collection contains supporting documentation for those making pension claims off the Irish government for any military service offered between the Easter Rising and September 1924. The recipients included members of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, the IRA, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann, the Hibernian Army and the National Army, as well as other participants, such as members of the Connaught Rangers who mutinied in India in 1920 in protest at the imposition of martial law in Ireland.

Various Army Service Pensions Acts were passed by the Dáil in 1923, 1927 and 1932, dealing with wounded service personnel and deceased participants’ dependants. The latter act significantly extended the pension provision to those who had fought for independence prior to 1921, but who had either ceased serving at that point or switched to the Anti-Treaty side. Separate Military Service Pension Acts were also passed in 1924 and 1934 for surviving claimants who had seen active service. A subsequent Act in 1949 allowed for reviews of cases previously rejected under the earlier Acts.

This section of the website also contains a vast amount of material from 1921 to 1923, including IRA nominal rolls (arranged by division), Cumann na mBan (arranged by County), and Fianna Éireann (by county).

The 1922 National Army census was recorded in November 1922 in order that the new Free State could work out how many soldiers it essentially had to pay.

Both collections are available to search for free via www.militaryarchives.ie, to which searches from Ancestry will redirect.

For more on resources to help you research your Decade of Centenaries ancestral connections, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/a-decade-of-centenaries-researching.html - the book is already available in Australia, and due out shortly in the UK, Canada, and in ebook formats.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.