Over 671,000 Irish civil death records made available online
The images of 671,599 Irish civil death records have been released on Irish Genealogy ( www.irishgenealogy.ie/en), the Irish government’s free website for genealogical records. The records, created between 1871 and 1877, were previously available only as transcriptions.
Each image includes details of the date and place of death; marital condition, age and profession of the deceased; and the cause of death and duration of any illness. They also include the name and address of the informant of the death (often a family member) and their signature, or mark if they were illiterate. The Irish Genealogy website now holds more than 15.5 million civil records, covering births from 1864–1919, marriages from 1845–1944 and deaths from 1871–1969. One notable Irishman who can be found in the new records is the physician Sir James Murray, whose research into digestion led to his discovery of the stomachaid milk of magnesia. His death record shows that he died in Dublin on 8 December 1871, aged 83. Catherine Martin, Ireland’s minister for tourism, culture, arts, gaeltacht, sport and media, said that the aim of the ongoing online release of Irish civil records is “to make all of these historic records freely and easily accessible to all members of the public both at home and throughout our Diaspora”.