Leading family history website findmypast.co.uk has made an additional 2.5 million court records available to search online in its Irish Petty Sessions Court Registers 1828-1912 record set, which exposes the petty crimes Ireland’s residents committed and how they were punished.
The additions feature 44 new courts in 19 counties around Ireland. A further 55 courts have been supplemented with records from additional years. This brings the total Petty Sessions Court Registers on findmypast.co.uk to over 12 million records.
Notable new courts that have been added are the Limerick City Children’s Court and two courts with pre-famine records – Moynalty, Co. Meath and Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. As well as that, for the first time, seven new courts from Co. Longford have been added, bringing online over a quarter of a million new records for the county. Also well represented with totally new courts are Laois (five) and Cork (four).
Being drunk in a public place, being drunk in charge of a cart, failure to pay rent and allowing livestock to wander on the road are among some of the most common misdemeanors that our ancestors found themselves in court for. Although most defendants got away with a fine, the variety of cases heard gives a real flavour of life in Ireland at the time.
Debra Chatfield of findmypast.co.uk said “The British public has always had very close ties with the emerald isle, so this is a fantastic new resource for those looking to understand a little more about what their ancestors did before they came to Britain and maybe even in some cases why they left Ireland in the first place!”
New courts have been added to the following counties: Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford and Westmeath.
To find out if you have ancestors who had their day in court visit www.findmypast.co.uk
