Pre 1922, Pension Enquiry Forms Church of Ireland Fanlobbus and Coolkelure (Dunmanway) West Cork.

Some Dunmanway Births:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZlOKW3lYj9K8zdG12cC-X8h4JYEOgkrNHKG_TbIgJB0/edit#gid=0

Pre 1922, Pension Enquiry Forms Church of Ireland Creagh (Skibbereen) West Cork.

1917 Confirmation by Public Records Office, Dublin of Deposit of Church of Ireland Registers all Destroyed in 1922 (Query on Family of Canon Goodman, Creagh, Skibbereen, Professor of Irish Trinity College, Dublin and  Saviour of Irish Music).

Pre 1922, Pension Enquiry Forms Church of Ireland Castlehaven, Castletownshend, West Cork.

1851 Census Summary, Family of Thomas and Abegail Attridge, Glasheenaulin, Castlehaven, West Cork.

1851 Census Summary, Family of Richard and Anne Driscoll, Castlehaven, West Cork.

Pre 1922, Church of Ireland Pension Enquiry Forms, Bantry Kilmoe (Goleen), West Cork

Pre 1922 Pension Enquiry Forms, Schull District.  Names include, Blatchford, Brooks, Cole, Courtenay, Gallagher, Humphreys, Landers, Levis, King, Newman, Roycroft including 1851 census, Skuse, Swanton

Schull East 1828-1867 Church of Ireland Births

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O7S7YgZS2OGbpCtmam1e5Ks_LVNC7U-Bz4vEiZDNQKI/edit#gid=0

Schull Reproduction Loan Records:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SjD7EiRBDPjnsK4c4B9xIu9HV2WPBOuY0jj5_Td7ogc/edit

These search forms are mainly to test claims of applicants for the Old Age Pension. Since civil registration was only introduced in Ireland in 1864, those applying for an old age pension in the early years after its introduction in 1909 had to rely on parish records. Since many births, marriages or deaths ended up not being recorded in the parish registers, confirmation of the applicant’s age would then be looked for in the 19th Century censuses.

Since so many Irish records were destroyed in the Public Records Office fire of 1922 these search forms provide an invaluable record of some of those lost records. Searches were generally requested on behalf of the applicant by whoever was certifying their claim, often a local vicar or Justice of the Peace. Many later forms have the address of solicitors or professional genealogists and may have been filled out as part of a probate claim after the named applicant’s death.

The forms were filled out by staff at the Public Records Office as they searched the various sources. You can often see their notes as they found other family members and for this reason the search forms can be a pot of gold if you are researching your Church of Ireland ancestors. Very often the whole family will be listed with dates of birth and the address. Sometimes you will see the letters NF written on the form, even if there are names and dates filled in. This means that the applicant was not found, even if members of their family were.

For the first 10 years the old age pension was set at 5 shillings a week for a single person and 7 for a married couple. It was later raised to 10 shillings. The figure was deliberately kept low to encourage people to save for their retirement but at a time when a labourer’s wage was only 10 shillings a week it was still a useful sum.