Irish Land Commission
(Click to access document)
What was this institution and what records did it accumulate?
The Irish Land Commission was a British government institution set up to facilitate the transfer of lands from landlords to tenant farmers. It was particularly active in the late decades of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century and was still functioning in the Republic right up until the 1990s. Several Acts of Parliament were passed between 1881 and 1923, giving it powers and funds to achieve it aims.
The document you can access for free by clicking the image to the left is a bit of a dense read but gives you a flavour of how this institution sought to bring some order to proceedings. Owners had to prove they owned the lands they were selling, so it gives lots of examples of the myriad of documents that might be accumulated in order to establish ownership - deeds, leases, marriage settlements, pedigrees, wills, maps etc.
Where can you access these records?
Don't get too excited, as I'm afraid that in the Republic of Ireland, there is no public access to this treasure. The records are held in custody in a warehouse in Portlaiose by the Irish Department of Agriculture. By all accounts, they are regarded as "private property", not records of State.
Curiously though, pre-1923 records for the Northern Irish Ulster counties were transferred to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and they had no problems making them publicly available (no specific web page - you have to search their e-catalogue with the phrase "Land Commission" to find the 2000+ references.)
What efforts are being made to gain access?
As you can imagine, there has been a robust clamour of voices from the genealogical community for better access to the records in the Republic. John Grenham waxed lyrical in the Irish Times in 2013 in "Land Commission's Forbidden Fruit" - follow up his link to the Irish Government's brisk response the year before to questions of access. He also blogged recently about one lucky researcher's success in gaining access and the resulting book - "The Lost Gaeltacht". Fiona Fitzsimmons also made the case for more access in this History Ireland "Irish Land Commission" article of 2014.
There was apparently an announcement in March 2024 that the Department of Agriculture was finally going to transfer the majority of the records to their rightful place in the National Archives of Ireland. However, again don't get too excited as the Irish Independent article concluded with the gloomy prognosis that "due to the vast size of the archive (8-11 million records), digitisation was not a runner." It remains to be seen whether the NAI will be any better as custodians of these records when it comes to public access... I can't help thinking that maybe the team over at the Virtual Treasury of Ireland might be better equipped to take on the challenge?
The Irish Land Commission was a British government institution set up to facilitate the transfer of lands from landlords to tenant farmers. It was particularly active in the late decades of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century and was still functioning in the Republic right up until the 1990s. Several Acts of Parliament were passed between 1881 and 1923, giving it powers and funds to achieve it aims.
The document you can access for free by clicking the image to the left is a bit of a dense read but gives you a flavour of how this institution sought to bring some order to proceedings. Owners had to prove they owned the lands they were selling, so it gives lots of examples of the myriad of documents that might be accumulated in order to establish ownership - deeds, leases, marriage settlements, pedigrees, wills, maps etc.
Where can you access these records?
Don't get too excited, as I'm afraid that in the Republic of Ireland, there is no public access to this treasure. The records are held in custody in a warehouse in Portlaiose by the Irish Department of Agriculture. By all accounts, they are regarded as "private property", not records of State.
Curiously though, pre-1923 records for the Northern Irish Ulster counties were transferred to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and they had no problems making them publicly available (no specific web page - you have to search their e-catalogue with the phrase "Land Commission" to find the 2000+ references.)
What efforts are being made to gain access?
As you can imagine, there has been a robust clamour of voices from the genealogical community for better access to the records in the Republic. John Grenham waxed lyrical in the Irish Times in 2013 in "Land Commission's Forbidden Fruit" - follow up his link to the Irish Government's brisk response the year before to questions of access. He also blogged recently about one lucky researcher's success in gaining access and the resulting book - "The Lost Gaeltacht". Fiona Fitzsimmons also made the case for more access in this History Ireland "Irish Land Commission" article of 2014.
There was apparently an announcement in March 2024 that the Department of Agriculture was finally going to transfer the majority of the records to their rightful place in the National Archives of Ireland. However, again don't get too excited as the Irish Independent article concluded with the gloomy prognosis that "due to the vast size of the archive (8-11 million records), digitisation was not a runner." It remains to be seen whether the NAI will be any better as custodians of these records when it comes to public access... I can't help thinking that maybe the team over at the Virtual Treasury of Ireland might be better equipped to take on the challenge?
NLI (c) - Click to enlarge
What about any indexes?
I've no idea what sort of indexes or finding aids might have been created by previous clerks, but in 1969, Dr. Edward Keane was tasked with creating a cross-referenced set of finding aids that became known as the Keane index.
There was a surprising announcement in 2021 that moves were afoot to consider at least digitising this index, apparently due to its fragility rather than as a magnanimous gesture towards clamouring genealogists! The Irish Times carried a couple of stories, including a short video (see my blog post.) The budgets being talked about were tiny and the timescales glacial and as for any similar plans for the actual records themselves - who knows? Not in this lifetime or the next, predicted an animated John Grenham! There were not even any firm promises to put the digitised finding aids online. Mind you, imagine knowing that there were more detailed records available and not a hope of accessing them!
Fast forward to Spring 2026 and with thanks to Chris Paton, it appears I must eat my words! A collaboration between the National Library of Ireland and the Irish Manuscripts Commission now means that there is an Index of the Irish Land Commission Records available to browse online via the NLI catalogue. Click on the image to the right to see the structure of the collection.
There is also a short article on the NLI website about the project, which gives the scope of the records indexed as those covering land purchases covered by the Acts of Parliament between 1881 and 1909 only. So, not a complete index to all those lovely records but a good start...
I've no idea what sort of indexes or finding aids might have been created by previous clerks, but in 1969, Dr. Edward Keane was tasked with creating a cross-referenced set of finding aids that became known as the Keane index.
There was a surprising announcement in 2021 that moves were afoot to consider at least digitising this index, apparently due to its fragility rather than as a magnanimous gesture towards clamouring genealogists! The Irish Times carried a couple of stories, including a short video (see my blog post.) The budgets being talked about were tiny and the timescales glacial and as for any similar plans for the actual records themselves - who knows? Not in this lifetime or the next, predicted an animated John Grenham! There were not even any firm promises to put the digitised finding aids online. Mind you, imagine knowing that there were more detailed records available and not a hope of accessing them!
Fast forward to Spring 2026 and with thanks to Chris Paton, it appears I must eat my words! A collaboration between the National Library of Ireland and the Irish Manuscripts Commission now means that there is an Index of the Irish Land Commission Records available to browse online via the NLI catalogue. Click on the image to the right to see the structure of the collection.
There is also a short article on the NLI website about the project, which gives the scope of the records indexed as those covering land purchases covered by the Acts of Parliament between 1881 and 1909 only. So, not a complete index to all those lovely records but a good start...
Estate index card (NLI (c)) - Click to enlarge
How to navigate the indexes
I've been having a bit of a roam around these records and this is my advice for getting something out of the scant information available.
Estates Index
Firstly, take some time to study that NLI catalogue page to understand the structure of the collection. Remember the Keane index was created to allow people to find the right box containing all the records pertaining to the the sale of lands associated with the estate of a particular land owner. It is the names of these landowners that were indexed on cards like the one pictured left for Charles Stewart Parnell. From the hole punched in the lower edge, I imagine these were originally arranged alphabetically threaded on to a long metal rod in a shallow drawer and have no doubt been pawed through by many sweaty fingers over the years!
My first observation is that sometimes the records are not strictly in alphabetical order, so take the time to browse carefully through the images to make sure you have searched exhaustively.
Note both the Box No. and the Record No. - more on the latter below.
I've been having a bit of a roam around these records and this is my advice for getting something out of the scant information available.
Estates Index
Firstly, take some time to study that NLI catalogue page to understand the structure of the collection. Remember the Keane index was created to allow people to find the right box containing all the records pertaining to the the sale of lands associated with the estate of a particular land owner. It is the names of these landowners that were indexed on cards like the one pictured left for Charles Stewart Parnell. From the hole punched in the lower edge, I imagine these were originally arranged alphabetically threaded on to a long metal rod in a shallow drawer and have no doubt been pawed through by many sweaty fingers over the years!
My first observation is that sometimes the records are not strictly in alphabetical order, so take the time to browse carefully through the images to make sure you have searched exhaustively.
Note both the Box No. and the Record No. - more on the latter below.
Will index card (NLI (c)) - Click to enlarge
Wills Index
There is also a separate index of wills, most likely submitted as supporting evidence of land ownership transferring from previous generations. An estate may have several wills filed as evidence, with each indexed separately. Again, the images may not be in strict alphabetical order, so browse fully and carefully.
There may be some useful contextual information as pictured right - locations, dates of wills and dates of probate. These are particularly poignant references as they point to the existence of copies of wills that were later destroyed in the Four Courts inferno.
Note the same reference numbers as found on the estate cards.
By the way, there is an error in the NLI catalogue where the links for the I-L and M-N wills have been mixed up. I have emailed the NLI, so it may have been rectified by the time you are reading this. *** STOP PRESS *** Well, they fixed the link to the I-L file... but not the M-N file, which is now not accessible at all - 1 step forward, 2 steps back...!
There is also a separate index of wills, most likely submitted as supporting evidence of land ownership transferring from previous generations. An estate may have several wills filed as evidence, with each indexed separately. Again, the images may not be in strict alphabetical order, so browse fully and carefully.
There may be some useful contextual information as pictured right - locations, dates of wills and dates of probate. These are particularly poignant references as they point to the existence of copies of wills that were later destroyed in the Four Courts inferno.
Note the same reference numbers as found on the estate cards.
By the way, there is an error in the NLI catalogue where the links for the I-L and M-N wills have been mixed up. I have emailed the NLI, so it may have been rectified by the time you are reading this. *** STOP PRESS *** Well, they fixed the link to the I-L file... but not the M-N file, which is now not accessible at all - 1 step forward, 2 steps back...!
Summary Description (NLI (c)) - Click to enlarge
Summary Descriptions
Now this is where is gets interesting. Those Record Numbers are prefaced by letters. If you look again at the image of the NLI catalogue description of the collection above, you will see that those letters relate to land transactions taking place either under the auspices of different jurisdictions or different Acts of Parliament,
Follow the links above to learn more about the context for these different classifications as the history is quite interesting and ought to give us pause for thought about what was going on in the different communities documented.
Using the prefixed record number from either the estate or will index card you are interested in, choose the appropriate summary description file from the catalogue and browse through to the right record. Click on the image to the right to see the sort of information that you learn about the contents of the box. Unfortunately, there are some files that are not loading into the browse window at the moment (MAY 2026) - I have emailed the NLI (twice) on this as well. The files are;
If you can get access to the estate you are interested in, there may some nuggets that help with people puzzles. So for example, this summary relates to the estate of Ellen Jane Revell, widow of the John Anthony Revell whose will is referenced in the summary. But who are the other men whose wills are referenced and what about that 1879 deed naming Edward Beatty and John Fox? I now have some information to use to hunt for that deed in the Registry of Deeds. Who was William Viridet Horton and was he the source of the Horton middle name borne by John's 1st cousin once removed, William Horton Revell and his son of the same name? All clues, note them down and you never know when they are going to come in useful.
So, we may not currently have access to all the Irish Land Commission treasure, but we can use these indexes to help us with our research until we do - fingers crossed!
Incidentally, as the index images are only available to browse, I'm afraid you cannot use an unique URL in any source citation you create. I recommend recording the image number in the named file instead and making screen shots of the relevant images.
Now this is where is gets interesting. Those Record Numbers are prefaced by letters. If you look again at the image of the NLI catalogue description of the collection above, you will see that those letters relate to land transactions taking place either under the auspices of different jurisdictions or different Acts of Parliament,
- A = Lands purchased through the Land Judges Court,
- C.D.B. = Lands dealt with under the Congested Districts Board,
- E.C. = Lands purchased through the 1903 and 1909 Land Acts,
- L.C. = Lands purchased under the 1881 Act.
Follow the links above to learn more about the context for these different classifications as the history is quite interesting and ought to give us pause for thought about what was going on in the different communities documented.
Using the prefixed record number from either the estate or will index card you are interested in, choose the appropriate summary description file from the catalogue and browse through to the right record. Click on the image to the right to see the sort of information that you learn about the contents of the box. Unfortunately, there are some files that are not loading into the browse window at the moment (MAY 2026) - I have emailed the NLI (twice) on this as well. The files are;
- E.C. 4000 - 4499 (MS ILC/2/14)
- E.C. 4500 - 4998 (MS ILC/2/15)
- E.C. 6500 - 6995 (ML ILC/2/19)
If you can get access to the estate you are interested in, there may some nuggets that help with people puzzles. So for example, this summary relates to the estate of Ellen Jane Revell, widow of the John Anthony Revell whose will is referenced in the summary. But who are the other men whose wills are referenced and what about that 1879 deed naming Edward Beatty and John Fox? I now have some information to use to hunt for that deed in the Registry of Deeds. Who was William Viridet Horton and was he the source of the Horton middle name borne by John's 1st cousin once removed, William Horton Revell and his son of the same name? All clues, note them down and you never know when they are going to come in useful.
So, we may not currently have access to all the Irish Land Commission treasure, but we can use these indexes to help us with our research until we do - fingers crossed!
Incidentally, as the index images are only available to browse, I'm afraid you cannot use an unique URL in any source citation you create. I recommend recording the image number in the named file instead and making screen shots of the relevant images.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2026
[I-ILR-ILC]
[I-ILR-ILC]
