The online release of the 1926 Irish census (in April 2026) has generated significant excitement amongst some family historians. I say ‘some’ because my initial reaction was barely above lukewarm.
Accessing any set of census returns holds the promise of new discoveries. The relative paucity of large-scale datasets for Ireland makes such an event a rare occurrence. This is only the third nationwide census return available to study. Only fragments of the 19th century census returns exist. The information on the 1901 and 1911 has been studied extensively. The census originally scheduled for 1921 (as happened in England, Scotland and Wales) was postponed due to the Irish War of Independence. The 15-year gap from the last census saw some of the most seismic events in world history: the Great War, the overthrow of the Czars, Spanish Flu, the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to name just a small selection. On a more local level, the Easter Rising, the aforementioned War of Independence and the establishment of the Irish Free State all took place in the intervening period.
Picture: emergency hospital in 1918
The information on population numbers has always been available. County Roscommon experienced a 13.7% decline in that period. The country as a whole (as constituted in 1926) saw a smaller drop of 5.3%. Rural depopulation continued, as it did in many countries.
Why, then, was I so lacking in enthusiasm? None of my (known) direct relatives were still living in Ireland in 1926. Patrick’s brother, Thomas, died in 1908. (see Thomas Stanley, b 1873) His mother, Bridget, died in 1909. (See the-death-of-Bridget-and-more-on-Thomas ) Patrick was living in Brighton, Sussex, with three young children (age 5, 4 and 2) and his English wife.
A period of reflection led me to reconsider. There are a number of “relations – possible” (see Summary: relations – possible) to examine. There is a chance that I can make progress filling in gaps on family trees where I share some DNA. As previously stated, (see Where are the Benson trees) many of my matches have little or no information attached. This may be the long way round, but I have exhausted the simple options.