Freeholders list added to library archive

CLARE County Library has recently built on its archive with the addition of the 1821 List of Freeholders, thereby adding approximately 35,000 names of Clare people from the early 19th century to its website, www.clarelibrary.ie.
Due to the destruction of records and the lack of census material covering the 19th century, freeholders’ lists are an invaluable census substitute and the list contains the names of landholders who were registered to vote in Clare in 1821.
A freeholder was a man who owned his land outright in fee or who held it by lease, which could be for one or more lives, for example, his own life or for the lives of other people named in the lease.
This rare publication was unearthed by Ennis man Louis Quinn, while doing research in the bishop’s residence at Westbourne House, Ennis.
A significant percentage of the population was entitled to vote between 1796 and 1820, the time period covered by the list, when both Catholic and Protestant 40s (shilling) freeholders qualified for the franchise.
A 40s freeholder held a freehold worth at least 40s per annum above the rent, enabling the inclusion of substantial farmers in the voters’ list. In 1829, the franchise level was increased to £10. At the time, there were 20s in a pound, thus barring the 40s freeholders, whom Daniel O’Connell had mobilised and consequently confining the vote to landlords. The 1821 list provides a range of information about people and land ownership. It also provides for the names of other people associated with the lease, such as general tenants and the date of the freeholder’s registration.
Clare County Library was given a copy of the list of freeholders by the Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly and it is now available in the local studies centre in Ennis.
The list was transcribed and proof-read by volunteers Joan Birtles (Australia), Dwaine O’Donoghue (Canada), Peter Beirne and Brian Doyle (Ennis), Elaine Pratt (UK) and Mary Cecilia Murphy, Ruth Ver and Kevin O’Brien of the Buffallo Irish Genealogy Society, USA. The project was managed by executive librarian Maureen Comber and the data was converted for the website by Jackie Dermody, staff officer of the library’s ICT and Information Services Department.