Irish Prison Registers On Find My Past

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The Irish Prison Registers collection contains details of people incarcerated in prisons across 26 counties between 1790 and 1924.

The collection has over 3.1 million records.

This article looks at what you’ll find in this collection on Find My Past. We also give you tips on searching for what you need.

What Is In The Irish Prison Registers?

Don’t be surprised if some of your ancestors and relatives turn up in a prison register. This doesn’t mean that they were career criminals.

It’s worth being aware of the history of this period.

Times were hard, and many impoverished people resorted to robbery of food and goods to eke out a living. You may find that an ancestor lived out their life as a tenant farmer with occasional brushes with the law.

These were also turbulent political times with agitation spilling into violence. The governments of the day introduced various political offenses to target different types of activity.

Where were the prisons?

The records are from prisons in 20 of the 26 counties of the modern Republic Of Ireland. The records from the six counties of Northern Ireland are held elsewhere.

Don’t assume that your relative will only be imprisoned in a jail in their home county. Some prisons, like Kilhmainhm in Dublin, took prisoners from all over the country.

Spike Island in Cork was another depot that took prisoners before deportation to Australia.

Here are the counties and their number of prisons. I’ve listed them by the three provinces.

LEINSTERPrisonsMUNSTERPrisonsCONNACHTPrisons
Dublin6Clare1Galway2
Kildare2Cork15Leitrim1
Kilkenny1Kerry1Mayo1
Laois2Limerick1Sligo1
Longford1Tipperary2
Louth1Waterford1
Meath1
Offaly1
Wexford2
Wicklow1

You may be surprised to see a whopping fifteen prisons on Cork. No, this isn’t because it was the crime capital of the country!

Most of these Cork prisons were bridewells, and you’ll see that in their names. A bridewell was a smaller jail or correction center. Prisoners were often held there while waiting for a trial.

You’ll find a full list of individual prisons at the end of this artice.

What Do The Records Tell You?

If you’re browsing or searching the collection on Find My Past, the transcripts include these details:

  • first and last name
  • age and birth year
  • county of residence
  • date of offense
  • nature of the offense
  • role (prisoner, victim, relative)
  • link to an image of the page in the register

Find My Past has indexed all names within the collection, not just the prisoner. The role section will tell you if the person was a prisoner, a victim, or a relative.

Be sure to check the original image for more details.

Original image

The link in the transcript jumps you to an image of the page in the register for this record.

These are the extra details in the image that aren’t on the record transcript:

  • official trying the case 
  • height
  • color of eyes and hair
  • complexion
  • religion

The height is always of interest if this is a direct ancestor! And I also find that the religion can further help me identify whether I’ve got the correct person.

How To Browse The Irish Prison Registers On Find My Past

There is a sub-category on Find My Past called “Prison Registers”. Strangely enough, the Irish Prison Register collection isn’t on the list (that may be corrected after I’ve written this!).

Here’s one way to browse to the collection:

  1. Use the top Search menu to “Search all records”
  2. Set the country in the left navigation pane to Ireland
  3. Expand the “Institutions & organizations” category in the left pane
  4. Click on “Courts & Legal”
  5. Click the “Browse Record set” link beside the Record set input box

Here’s a picture of the steps above.

The “Browse Record set” link opens a pop-up window that lists all the record sets under this chosen category within Ireland.

You’ll see the collection in the list. Select this record set and apply the filter.

There are over 3.1 million records in the collection, so you will want to apply some extra search criteria.

Search tips

There are two different county locations in the search index. One is the location of the prison and the other is the county of residence of the person.

It’s important to remember that neither may be the county of birth of your relative. People were more likely to be imprisoned close to home for minor offenses. But as I mentioned before, some prisons were depots for the country.

Prisoners could also be moved from a bridewell (small jail) to a larger prison.

So, it’s best to start your search with the name filters. If you are faced with a lot of records, then add a location filter on the county you believe your relative lived in at the time. Then widen that to neighboring counties.

Finally, check the large Dublin prisons like Kilmainham and Grangegorman. If your relative was deported, check Spike Island in Cork.

Related Collections On Find My Past

If you find your ancestors or relatives in the prison registers, then you could check these other collections below. Some cover a short time span so may not be relevant to you.

You may also want to check whether the crime was covered in a newspaper. We have a review of newspapers on Find My Past.

Are The Irish Prison Registers On Other Online Sites?

There is a free searchable archive on FamilySearch.org. However, their version of this collection has very few details. The transcripts include name, birthplace, and place of imprisonment.

You also can’t view the source images on the FamilySearch website unless you visit one of their family history centers.

Overview Of Irish Court And Prison Records

Check out our general overview of online archives of Irish court and prison records.

This covers the main paid and free sites that have collections with online access.

All Prisons In the Irish Prison Registers Collection

Below are the prisons in this collection, broken down by county and province. The dates indicate the earliest and most recent record in the collection.

PROVINCECOUNTYPRISONFROMTO
ConnachtGalwayGalway18391923
ConnachtGalwayLoughrea (Bridewell)18841920
ConnachtLeitrimCarrick On Shannon18491901
ConnachtMayoCastlebar18781919
ConnachtSligoSligo18361924
LeinsterDublinGrangegorman Female Prison18311897
LeinsterDublinKilmainham17891910
LeinsterDublinMountjoy18301924
LeinsterDublinNewgate18451861
LeinsterDublinRichmond (Bridewell)18451887
LeinsterDublinSmithfield18441849
LeinsterKildareAthy18581860
LeinsterKildareNaas18591881
LeinsterKilkennyKilkenny18921921
LeinsterLaoisMaryborough18211924
LeinsterLaoisQueen’s Co18301879
LeinsterLongfordLongford18561898
LeinsterLouthDundalk19171924
LeinsterMeathTrim18371878
LeinsterOffalyTullamore18601921
LeinsterWexfordNew Ross (Bridewell)18461905
LeinsterWexfordWexford18521904
LeinsterWicklowWicklow18461901
MunsterClareEnnis Reformatory18991920
MunsterCorkBandon (Bridewell)18491878
MunsterCorkCharleville (Bridewell)18561880
MunsterCorkClonakilty18831886
MunsterCorkCork18191924
MunsterCorkDunmanway (Bridewell)18581878
MunsterCorkFermoy (Bridewell)18971909
MunsterCorkFort Carlisle18481924
MunsterCorkKanturk (Bridewell)18781855
MunsterCorkKinsale (Bridewell)18561879
MunsterCorkMillstreet (Bridewell)18551862
MunsterCorkMitchelstown (Bridewell)18841892
MunsterCorkQueenstown (Bridewell)18821894
MunsterCorkSkibbereen (Bridewell)18551881
MunsterCorkSpike Island Prison18601883
MunsterCorkYoughal (Bridewell)18731900
MunsterKerryTralee18521920
MunsterLimerickLimerick18301901
MunsterTipperaryClonmel18401924
MunsterTipperaryNenagh18421884
MunsterWaterfordWaterford18421924

Margaret created a family tree on a genealogy website in 2012. She purchased her first DNA kit in 2017. She created this website to share insights and how-to guides on DNA, genealogy, and family research.

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