Census of Ireland, 1901
For the Census of Ireland, 1901 the final report was divided into two parts: Part I the "county books" and Part II the "general report."
The county books are arranged in four volumes, one for each province of Ireland. The county books contain detailed information down to the "district electoral division" and "townland" level. DEDs are somewhat equivalent to "tracts" in the US Census while townlands are like "block groups." County books also contain some data for other delineated areas such as parliamentary constituencies and poor law unions.
The general report contains nationwide data plus maps and graphs.
Organization of Data in County Books
For general administrative purposes counties were divided into electoral districts which in turn were divided into district electoral divisions. The basic hierarchy for census data tabulation follows:
County
|
County District (grouping of electoral divisions)
|
District Electoral Division
|
Townland
Some data are also tabulated by the following:
Parliamentary Divisions
Principal Towns not in Urban Districts. An urban district consists of one or more urban district electoral divisions.
Poor Law Unions (boundaries cross county lines)
Click on the above link for a description of the territorial divisions of the census (CensusTerritories.pdf). The 72kb file on this website will open in a new browser window.
n/ Census of Ireland, 1901, General Report, 1902, [Cd. 1190], at 9-10.
Territorial divisions explained using Co. Louth as an example. Includes the historic land divisions of baronies and civil parishes.
Report location finder for all geographic subdivisions including Townlands (60,462) and antiquated units such as Civil Parishes (2,428) and Baronies (327).
The pdf file for this document is archived on Google Books. To download the file click on the above link. The page for the file will open in a new browser window. See Download Instructions if you're unfamiliar with the website.
The General Report
A single volume of 660 pages excluding figures. Much of the data is tabulated on a provincial basis as well as nationwide. The report consists of the following:
Narrative Report
Maps and Diagrams
Summaries of Tables in County Books
Special Tables for the General Report
Appendix (procedures and specimen forms)
1901 Census Documents on the Internet Archive
All these documents are in .pdf files and are fully readable. To download the file click on the document name. The file will open from the other website in a new browser window. See Download Instructions if you're unfamiliar with the website.
National and provincial data.
Carlow, Dublin, City of Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, King's, Longford, Louth, Meath, Queen's, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow.
Clare, Cork (separate tables for City of Cork), Kerry, Limerick (separate tables for City of Limerick), Tipperary, Waterford.
Antrim, City of Belfast, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, County and City of Londonderry, Monaghan, Tyrone.
Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo.
Census 1901/1911, The National Archives of Ireland
The National Archives has transcribed and digitized the reporting forms for the Census of Ireland in 1901 and 1911. The records are in a database "searchable by all information categories. Only a small amount of material is missing." Note that tabulated data can't be accessed on the website; for such material use the census reports.
You can also browse the returns by location. The hierarchy is County> DED> Townland/Street. The results list contains house numbers.
Click on the links below to access the Irish census website. The pages will open in a new browser window.
