1805 newspapers available online

MORE than 200 years after it was first published, The Ennis Chronicle and Clare Advertiser is set to find brand new readers – online.

Clare County Library has put publications from 1805 up as PDF files on the internet. The 1805 issues cover topics such as the war between Britain and France, unrest in India and the Catholic question. Local news items include court reports, business advertisements and biographical notices.
The Ennis Chronicle and Clare Advertiser was published between circa 1784 and 1831. The newspaper appeared twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays, and was published by Foster Parsons in Jail Street opposite the Exchange, now O’Connell Street and O’Connell Square.
Each issue contained four pages of four columns each and measured 18 inches in length and 12 inches in width. Foster Parsons was one of a number of printers active in Ennis in the late 18th century and early 19th century, along with John Busteed, George Trinder, Frances Knox and Thomas Knox. The paper reported on international, national and local issues.
Clare County Library has a run of the newspaper from 1788 to 1797, 1799 to 1812, 1814 to 1820 and 1825 to 1831 available on microfilm in the local studies section of the library. Bound original issues are held by the library for the years 1805, 1810, 1811, 1812 and 1816.
“Clare County Library is delighted to now publish online PDFs of individual issues of the paper for the year 1805. These PDFs, ranging in size from 6.5MB to 7MB, require Adobe Reader to view and have been scanned with OCR and are therefore searchable,” explained Teresa Carmody O’Shea of Clare County Library.
To access these issues, visit Clare County Library’s website at www.clarelibrary.ie and click on the history section.