Irish Dog Licences
Irish Dog Licence Revenue Stamp. Photo Wikimedia Commons (British Government)
Yes, you read that correctly - only in Ireland! This resource is available exclusively on FindMyPast as the Ireland Dog Licence Register. With over 7 million records of pooches dating from 1865 right up into at least the early decades of the 20th century you are almost bound to find some reference to your ancestors' farm dogs, gun dogs and pampered lap dogs.
Why is this relevant to your family history research? Read what you like into an ancestors choice of breed, but one thing's for sure - they had to have had a pulse to register their dogs as they were required to do every year. So, tracing an ancestor at an address forward through the years until they no longer appear can give you a clue as to when they might have died. Or maybe that was just the dog ...!
Me? I'm a cat person, an animal that apparently is still classed as "wild" (Yup!), so my future relatives are not going to find me registering Tiddles alas!
Why is this relevant to your family history research? Read what you like into an ancestors choice of breed, but one thing's for sure - they had to have had a pulse to register their dogs as they were required to do every year. So, tracing an ancestor at an address forward through the years until they no longer appear can give you a clue as to when they might have died. Or maybe that was just the dog ...!
Me? I'm a cat person, an animal that apparently is still classed as "wild" (Yup!), so my future relatives are not going to find me registering Tiddles alas!
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2020
