Civil registration: Irish deaths

Unfortunately, though, the death certificates of our Irish ancestors provide relatively little of value compared with the genealogical treasures of birth and marriage documents. Surprisingly, it was not until 2005 that the authorities decided it was time to start adding important details such as parents' names to ensure the deceased could be identified from another with the same name! Prior to this, certificates show no date of birth for the deceased and no familial connections unless the person who reported the death was a relative.

Another irritant is the tendancy, especially before 1908, for the stated age to be completely wrong, sometimes by as much as 15 years. This may not be entirely a matter of deliberate falsehood (although 'getting one over' on the authorities was a distraction for many in the 19th century especially) or vanity. Truth is, many people were genuinely unsure of the year they were born, so Irish deaths were regularly recorded showing ages that have been rounded up to the nearest decade or so.

Despite these limitations, locating death records has its place in your family history quest. It is good genealogical practice to 'kill off' your ancestors, if only to save you wasting your time searching for their life story when it had already ended. And there is also the chance that a death certificate will throw up a surprise. Perhaps an address that hasn't previously been noted, the married surname of a daughter, an unexpected occupation, or the name of some other 'long-lost' relative you either didn't know existed or thought had emigrated.

Where to start

The first stop for records of Irish deaths is likely to be the civil registration indexes. These are compiled by GRO in Roscommon and by GRONI in Belfast.

Until recently, they were available only in the research rooms of those organisations. Family History Centers, run by the Mormons, also had an incomplete set available on microfilm. Recently, an increasing number of Irish genealogy sites have begun to offer transcripts of these indexes but they have tended to concentrate on Irish birth and marriage records rather than Irish deaths.

However, in early 2009, the Mormons launched a pilot site containing free and searchable access to all three life events. More details are in the Online section below.

Death registers are unlikely to be an early port of call for most researchers unless they have no regular online access.

Irish deaths: indexes

Finding records of Irish deaths in the indexes is relatively straightforward if you have a rough idea of age (at death) and an approximate date. If you know the location, so much the better, especially if the surname is a common one.

Without such information as a starting point, and especially with a common name, searching the index could be a labourious and possibly fruitless task.

Assuming you have such information, though, you can search methodically through the alphabetical indexes year by year (or quarter by quarter) until you find the name of your ancestor and an appropriate corresponding age. With the corresponding reference number you won't have any difficulty in obtaining death certificates.

The reference number allocated to Irish death records begins with the name of the Superintendent Registrar's District. Because of the way these districts were established, it may or may not have been your ancestor's nearest town or village. (More about Ireland's civil registration districts).

In the early years of the civil registration system in Ireland, deaths were often reported late so it is always worth looking in the Late Registration section (and possibly the Marine deaths section, too, if your ancestors were seafarers) at the back of each volume before moving onto the next one. For more details of how indexes are arranged, and to find out how to obtain copies of death certificates, see the main Irish civil registration page.

So where can you view these indexes?

• For deaths anywhere in Ireland 1864 to 1921: GRO in Dublin, Family History Centers, LDS pilot site.
• For deaths 1864 to 1921 in Northern Ireland: GRONI in Belfast, Family History Centers, LDS pilot site.
• For deaths 1922 to 1959 in Northern Ireland: GRONI in Belfast or Family History Centers.
• For deaths in the Republic of Ireland 1922-1958: GRO in Dublin, Family History Centers, LDS pilot site.
• For deaths in Northern Ireland since 1960: GRONI in Belfast.
• For deaths in the Republic of Ireland since 1959: GRO in Dublin.

Irish deaths: registers

The information recorded in the civil death register is exactly the same as that recorded on an Irish death certificate.

Registers of Irish death records since 1864 are not available to view at GRO or GRONI. Some, but not all, County Register Offices will allow visitors to view their local registers, so this may be an option if you know the district where your ancestors died. In nearly all cases, a prior appointment is needed. Book well in advance and be prepared to pay a fee.

Microfilmed copies of a limited number of Ireland's death registers are available through the Mormons' Family History Centers (see 'Where next?' below) as follows:

• For deaths anywhere in Ireland between 1864 and 1870.
• For Northern Ireland deaths between 1922 and 1959.

Irish deaths: online databases

Because civil records of Irish deaths don't often further genealogical research (due to the paucity of genealogical information they contain), there has not been the same clamour from family historians to rush data online. Even so, the availability of death records on the LDS pilot site is welcomed. It will probably take some time for this site to achieve fully-fledged status but it's sure to very quickly become the first port of call for most researchers of Irish deaths.

Apart from the LDS pilot, there is not a lot of online choice. The otherwise extremely useful International Genealogical Index (IGI) is pretty useless when it comes to records of Irish deaths. But it contains a few so there's no harm taking a look. Just remember that if you should find anything on IGI that appears to be a record of one of your ancestors, you need to verify the details before you accept them.

I know of only four websites that are good for records of Irish deaths. They may be useful if your ancestors died in co. Waterford (Waterford County Library.ie), Dublin (Dublin Heritage.ie and the Glasnevin Cemeteries Group), or co. Limerick (Limerick Council).

Irish death certificates

The information recorded on an Irish death certificate is as follows:

• Registrar's District, Poor Law Union, and county of registration
• Registrar's reference (which can be ignored completely)
• Place and date of death
• Name of the deceased
• Gender
• Marital status
• Age on last birthday
• Occupation
• Certified cause of death
• Duration of final illness
• Informant's signature, relationship to the deceased*, and address.
• Date registered
• Registrar's signature
• Registrar's District, Poor Law Union, and county of registration.

*Where the informant is the spouse of the deceased, the relationship is often not recorded.

Below are some examples of Irish death certificates. Just click on the thumbnails for a larger view:

This is the death certificate of my gt gt grandfather, George Francis Nichols, who died on 18 January 1920 at his home in Wicklow. He was a widower and was recorded as aged 75 ie born in 1845.

His son, James, who was present at the death and reported it, would have given this age as an 'approximate' because George himself seems to have been undecided exactly when he was born. In the 1901 census he had calculated his age from a birth year of 1846 but in 1911 he decided it should have been 1844.

George died from cardiac failure. As there is no 'duration' stated on the certificate, it is likely he had a heart attack. However, there was no post-mortum so his heart condition had probably already been diagnosed. His son, James, who lived in Wicklow, reported the death six days after the death which was duly registered by Assistant Registrar Ida Halpin, in the Registrar's District of Wicklow in the Poor Law Union of Rathdrum, county Wicklow.

James Doolittle was an unmarried seafarer from Wicklow.

Born in 1856, he died at Wicklow Infirmary on 11 January 1912 having suffered from Tubercular disease of the Intestines for ten months and Asthema for his final month. One L Murphy, a nurse who was present at his death, registered his demise the following day.

Mary Santry, the widow of a labourer, died in county Cork on 10 July 1875. Having survived the famine, she nonetheless ended up in the workhouse 30 years later. Her death was registered by the Chief Resident Officer of Clonakilty's Union Workhouse just under a month later (and just in time to avoid a fine for late registration).

The stated cause of death, 'Senile Decay', is common for the elderly and is assumed to mean a general decline in health for an undiagnosed condition.

One of the great values of Irish death records is that they contain details of people who, like Mary Santry, do not appear in any other sources. Even allowing for an exaggerated age, Mary was probably born at the end of the 18th century and is likely to have wed long before civil registration started. Her birth and marriage pre-date most church records, too. It is highly likely this certificate is the only written proof of her time on earth.

Where next?

Go to the LDS Family Search website for the IGI and location of Family History Centers.

Find out about Ireland's civil registration of births.

Find out about Irish marriage records.

For certificates of Irish deaths, see the Contact addresses on the main Civil Registration page.

Go to Irish Genealogy Toolkit Home page.