Ancestry offers free access to Ireland, UK and Commonwealth records

From Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

What better way to bring your family closer together than our Easter Free Access weekend?

From 30 March to 2 April, you’ll be able to search millions of UK, Ireland and Commonwealth records – all completely free*. Start in Britain then head off to Australia, Canada, or wherever, and spend four full days finding long-lost family all over the Commonwealth.

Enjoy FREE Access to millions more records including these highlights:

NEW Historical Photographs and Prints
Explore more than 40,000 images, capturing defining moments in history and displays of everyday life.

Birth, marriage and death indexes
Find family among the vital indexes covering England and Wales as far back as 1837.

Commonwealth records
Get access to everything from Australian Electoral Rolls to Canadian Census records.

Plus much more

* Access to the records in the featured collections will start on 30 March and will be free until 2 April 2018 at 23:59 BST. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using a paid Ancestry.co.uk membership

(Note that you will need to register for a free account if you do not have one)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

English volunteers who fought in the Easter Rising

There's an interesting article in the Irish Post today, looking at the story of a gent from Manchester called Liam Parr, who travelled to Ireland to participate on the side of Irish republicans in the Easter Rising. Following the Rising he was imprisoned in Wales, and eventually saw out his days in Stockport. The full story is at http://irishpost.co.uk/yorkshire-family-unearth-the-hidden-past-of-their-heroic-easter-rising-ancestor/.

The tale is one that features in a new book by Robin Stocks, entitled Hidden Heroes of Easter Week: Memories of Volunteers from England who joined the Easter Rising, The book also has its own dedicated web page at https://hiddenheroesofeasterweek.wordpress.com, where copies can be ordered. Here's the blurb:

In the middle of the Great War, members of the Irish community in British cities resolved to travel to Dublin to prepare for a rebellion to achieve Independence for Ireland.

The part played by the Manchester Volunteers has never before been made public; at last this exciting story of the Easter Rising and its build up can be brought to life in the words of those who took part.

Here are the experiences of a group of ordinary Volunteers who spent Easter Week under fire behind barricades or in the GPO. It concentrates on the human stories of two of them, a piper and a political radical, and also of their friend from Dublin who fought with the women’s volunteers, the Cumann na mBan.

This book captures the rebellious spirit of those times when Volunteers from England fought for Irish independence and to create a fairer world.

This project has come to fruition because many, many people have cooperated in sharing their memories and knowledge. For too long this part of our history had been suppressed, but now that it can be told, I hope that publishing this book will encourage others to come forward with their memories. I would love to hear from anyone who would like to contribute to this developing project. Perhaps between us we can ensure that no one remains a hidden hero of Easter Week. Please contact the author at the email or address below.

220 pages-Paperback-44 Illustrations including some unique period photographs.
ISBN: 978-0-9934399-0-2
£14.99.


NB: Don't forget also that my own new book, A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923 is also now available to help you trace stories like that of Liam Parr and others who participated, both on the British and Irish sides of the Home Rule debate, the Suffragette struggle, the fight for workers' rights, the First World War, Easter Rising, War of Independence, Partition and the eventual civil war in the Irish Free State.

The ebook edition is available at www.gen-ebooks.com/a-decade-of-centenaries-researching-ireland-1912.html, and the print edition in Australia is at www.gould.com.au/A-Decade-of-Centenaries-Researching-Ireland-1912-p/utp0288.htm. I've just had confirmation that it will also be available very shortly in the UK from My History (www.my-history.co.uk).  Once the UK edition is available I'll provide another update.

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/.

A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923

Now on sale in Australia is another of my latest Unlock the Past books, entitled A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923. A UK edition, Canadian edition and ebook version will also be available shortly. Here is the back cover blurb:

As the issue of Home Rule reared its head for a third time, its supporters and detractors raised militias to defend their positions, whilst women fought for the vote and labourers fought for better terms from their employers. The First World War would soon dramatically change everything, leading some to see England's difficulty as Ireland's opportunity. When an independent republic was proclaimed through force of arms at Easter 1916, the response would see a brutal guerilla war fought between the British forces the Irish republicans, a partitioned island, and a nation divided.

A century on, in this book from Unlock the Past, Northern Irish born family historian Chris Paton will help you to discover whether your ancestors were caught up in the events of that period - whether they were Suffragettes, unionised workers, Ulster or Irish Volunteers, fighting with the British Army and Crown forces, against them as rebels and revolutionaries, and in the ensuing civil war on both sides of the Treaty divide. With improved cataloguing by archives, and better access to the records, both online and offline, a new gateway has been opened into one of the island's most tumultuous, tragic, exciting, and utterly desperate periods of the 20th century. In this book he will show you how to step through it.

To further give a flavour of the structure of the book, the following is the contents list:

Contents:

Introduction
Acknowledgements

1. The genealogical landscape
- Vital records
- Burials
- Censuses
- Probate
- Newspapers
- National archives and libraries
- Family and local history societies

2. Home Rule
- Ireland in the Union
- The Ulster Covenant
- Ulster and Irish Volunteers
- Researching the Volunteers

3. Women's suffrage
- Demand for the vote
- The campaign escalates
- Suffragette sources

4. Workers' rights
- Background
- The Dublin Lockout
- Researching the Lockout
- Other disputes

5. The First World War
- Military records

6. The Easter Rising
- The Rebellion
- The participants
- Researching the Rising

7. Towards independence
- Conscription and election
- The War of Independence
- The Treaty
- The Irish Civil War
- Northern Ireland
- Legacy
- Researching 1919-1923

Further reading
Index

The book is available from Gould Genealogy at http://www.gould.com.au/A-Decade-of-Centenaries-Researching-Ireland-1912-p/utp0288.htm.

UPDATE: The ebook edition is now available from http://www.gen-ebooks.com/a-decade-of-centenaries-researching-ireland-1912.html, priced at AU$9.95 (about £4.80 in Sterling). There's a free PDF based sample of the book, the link is under he PayPal logo.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released 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/.

Official Irish 1916 commemoration programme

The Irish Government's official programme for commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising is outlined on a website at www.ireland.ie, which includes a short 8 minute video outlining some of the highlights. Amongst these are contributions from some well known faces from the National Library of Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland, with announcements of exhibitions and digitisation projects, as well as an ancestry project for school children to try to work out how to trace back to ancestors alive at the period. The video is on YoutTube at https://youtu.be/1RKER4WYl2I and also reproduced here for convenience:

I am currently working hell for leather to produce a short introductory genealogy guide book for Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au) on the subject of the Decade of Centenaries from 1912-23, looking at everything from the Ulster Covenant to the Irish Civil War. This will not only examine how to research ancestors connected to the constitutional struggle, but also the First World War, women's suffrage, the Dublin Lockout, and more. One hundred years ago there was no Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland, it was all a single constituent part of the United Kingdom. It's a period which until now has been tantalisingly close to us in ancestral terms, but rarely talked about. The governments north and south, and others, are to be commended for the programmes being put together this year, whether commemorating the Rising or the Somme, and everything else in between and beyond in the period.

The BBC also has a feature on the commemorations programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35247856, and a feature on 1916 itself at http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z2c4j6f, including the interesting detail that in 1916 Ireland's time zone was aligned with that of London - prior to this the island actually had a time zone that was 25 minutes behind England. You learn something new every day.

Irish family history never got so interesting...!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released 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/.

Military Archives releases 1916 Roll of Honour and executed leaders details

Some records releases from Military Archives (www.militaryarchives.ie) at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin:

RELEASE OF THE ROLL OF HONOUR

Following a review of the files in the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection the total number of casualties recognised by the Department of Defence, in accordance with the provisions of the Army Pensions Acts 1923, 1927 and 1932 and the Military Service Pensions Acts 1924, 1934 and 1949 is seventy eight (78).

In summary, to be recognised as a casualty one had to be proven to be :

• A member of the Forces as set out in legislation: - the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Na Fianna Eireann, the Hibernian Rifles and Cumann na mBan.
• Proven to have been on active service
• To have been killed or wounded in the course of his duty
• Death not due to any serious negligence or misconduct
• To have died within three years of having received a wound provided the death was solely due to such wound.

To view the Roll of Honour, in PDF format, visit www.militaryarchives.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/MSPC/documents-34/Roll_of_Honour_1916_Rebellion_Dead.pdf


RELEASE OF THE PARTICULARS OF THE 1916 LEADERS EXECUTED

The list shows the following particulars: name, address, organisation, rank, unit, civilian occupation, cause and place of death as well as file references in the collection.

To view the details visit www.militaryarchives.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/MSPC/documents-34/1916_Leaders_Executed.pdf.

The spot in Kilmainham Gaol where James Connolly was executed

(Incidentally, having been to Kilmainham Gaol last Sunday, where the leaders were executed, I would thoroughly recommend a visit. You might wish to turn up early though to book a tour slot, they were being snapped up fairly quickly when we arrived. I believe admission prices are also going up soon, so best to get in quick! See www.heritageireland.ie/en/kilmainhamgaol).

Note that the Military Archives reading room will be closed in March and April, as the records are being relocated into a purpose built facility on the site, which will open at the end of April. For further news on this please visit www.militaryarchives.ie/news-events/single-view/article/lunchtime-lecture-series-for-heritage-week-22-30-august-2015.

For news of the recent confirmation of further funding for the digitisation effort, see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/irelands-revolution-will-be-digitised.html

(With thanks to Military Archives)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released 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/.

Ireland's revolution will be digitised

A welcome article in the Irish Times last Friday has confirmed that the Irish Government is to continue funding the digitisation of records relating to the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War until 1923.

The decision, taken by Minister for Defence Simon Coveney, will see the digitisation of the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection project until the end of the Decade of Centenaries. For more on the story visit www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/revolution-to-be-digitised-as-10m-documents-to-go-online-1.2462309.

The latest update to the project's website, comprised of some 2,839 files covering 882 veterans, has included a file showing that the father of the current Irish president Michael D. Higgins had to wait until a successful appeal in 1956 for a service pension - the full story is at www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/stories-of-the-revolution-john-higgins-had-to-wait-22-years-for-pension-1.2462086.

For full access to the collections from the Irish Army's Military Archive website, visit www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection/search-the-collection.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released 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/.

Glasnevin Museum to host What's Your 1916 Story? event

Glasnevin Cemetery and Museum in Dublin is to host a What's Your 1916 Story? event, to ask folk to bring along documents, photos or other mementoes connected to the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916.

The event will take place on November 20th and 21st from 10am-4pm, and in addition to providing a free historic assessment of the items, requests for some items to be included in a temporary 1916 themed exhibition at the Museum's Prospect Gallery may be made of attendees with some of the more unusual items brought along.

For further details on the event, please visit www.glasnevintrust.ie/visit-glasnevin/events/whats-your-1916-story/index.xml.

And if interested to find out about their stories - those who were, or who knew or were connected to the Rising's participants - a new book has also been launched, entitled To Speak of Easter Week by Dr Helene O’Keeffe. It includes oral testimony from 240 people, the oldest of whom are relatives currently aged 102 and 104 when interviewed.

For more on the book, visit the Irish Times article at www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/to-speak-of-easter-week-brings-together-testimony-of-25-family-members-of-rebels-1.2390223.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released 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/.

Dublin Metropolitan Police Movement of Extremists reports 1915-16

The National Archives of Ireland has released a series of records from Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), labelled Movement of Extremists 29 May 1915 - 20 April 1916. The records refer to the period leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916, the moment when an Irish Republic was first proclaimed as a breakaway state from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Although the rebellion was crushed, it was a classic case for the British of winning the battle but losing the war, with the treatment and execution of the rebellion's leaders, coupled with the conscription crisis, soon leading to a massive change of sympathy from the Irish population towards the rebels' aims.

The Dublin Metropolitan Police's reports can be accessed at www.nationalarchives.ie/digital-resources/chief-secretarys-office-crime-branch-dublin-metropolitan-police-dmp-movement-of-extremists-29-may-1915-20-april-1916/dmp-reports-june-1915/. A guide on how the archive conserved the reports can be found at www.nationalarchives.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/How-we-conserved-the-Movement-of-Extremist-reports.pdf, whilst a separate guide to the conservation of newspaper clippings held within the reports is available at www.nationalarchives.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/July-2015_v1.pdf.

(With thanks to @NARIreland and @archivesireland via Twitter)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released 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/.

Sinn Féin Rebellion Handbook available on the Internet Archive

A quick heads up for a useful resource on the Easter Rising. Although the Sinn Féin Rebellion Handbook from 1916-197 is available to search on the FindmyPast website at http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/the-weekly-irish-times-sinn-fein-rebellion-handbook-easter-1916-1917, I have also just discovered it available free of charge at the Internet Archive, at https://archive.org/details/sinnfeinrebellio00dubl.

The handbook collects various articles from the Irish Times that were published throughout the rebellion. FindmyPast, in the blurb for its collection, notes that it provides "an official list of the casualties, names of prisoners, photographs, and important maps of key locations in Dublin city at the time".

Don't forget to also consult Military Archives (www.militaryarchives.ie) for additional resources on those involved with the Easter Rising on the Irish side.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Free access to Ancestry's UK records for Easter

Access to Ancestry's UK records is free from today until April 6th, as part of an Easter promotion - for further details see http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/free-access.

Chris

For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.