Ireland Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

=== Information Recorded in Civil Registers ===

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).

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.

Although judicial divorce became possible in England & 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.

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

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

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

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

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:

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:

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

#  

## Click the '''Library''' tab

## Click '''Family History Library Catalog'''.

''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. [http://www.cigo.ie www.cigo.ie]