Obituaries in Ireland are death notices published about recently deceased persons.[1] The term derives from the Latin obit, meaning death. Obituaries in Ireland can be extremely valuable for genealogy research, especially in recent decades as they have evolved over the years. Typically they can be found through libraries, archives, or online databases.
In order to search for an obituary, it is helpful to know the death date of the person of interest. MyHeritage has the following collections for death records in Ireland:
- Ireland Deaths, 1864-1958 on MyHeritage
- 7 million+ records for all 32 counties in Ireland between 1864 and 1921, continuing for the Republic of Ireland until 1958
- Republic of Ireland, Index of Burials, 1900-2019 on MyHeritage
- 205,995 records
If the date of death is unknown, you might check with the General Register Office in Dublin or for Northern Ireland, The NI Direct General Register Office. The Northern Ireland site is free to search their database and the general public is able to access death records that are older than 50 years.
Another resource to find a death date is Irish Genealogy's civil records. This official database contains original images for many death records back to the 1860s and transcriptions for more current deaths well into the 1900s.
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Information contained in an obituaryInformation contained in an obituary
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Most obituaries recorded in the Irish press from the mid-1700s to the late-1800s were specific to certain classes, like professionals, clergy, merchant families, and wealthy farmers.[2] This only recorded the deaths for a minority of the population, while the vast majority of inhabitants of Ireland were of lower classes.
The earliest death notices were inconsistent. For example, Patrick Murphy may appear as P. Murphy or Mr. Patt Murphy, so variations of names need to be searched.[2] They were typically limited in details about the deceased person with some exceptions.
Over time, by the 20th century, the general population began to appear in death notices. The most recent death announcements are likely to include where the person lived or passed away, surviving family members, and a listing about funeral arrangements. Occasionally hobbies, interests, or other biographical information are listed. Since the 2000s, it has become more common for a photo of the person to be included, as long as one is provided by the family or friends of the deceased individual.
How to find obituaries in IrelandHow to find obituaries in Ireland
The following online databases are worth checking for obituaries in Ireland:
- RIP.ie: A collection of death notices for all of Ireland, dating back to 2006. This site originally started as a funeral notices platform and it was acquired by The Irish Times in 2024.[3] It is free to browse and it is possible to search by surname and county, as well as filter by date.
- iNotices.ie: Death notices for throughout Ireland, dating back to about 2020
For obituaries or death notices in the 20th century or earlier, the best place to check is the National Library of Ireland, which has made enormous efforts in collecting and preserving all Irish newspapers. More than 2,000 publications are listed in their database of newspapers. For each one, critical information is provided such as how to access the historic newspapers (typically microfilm or digital formats). These can be searched by keyword or place name, and you can narrow your search by date to see what publication might be available.
If you are visiting the National Library of Ireland on site in Dublin, you have access to many databases that include digitized forms of these historic newspapers, including obituaries. Otherwise you may need to subscribe to a database to locate scans of the newspaper of interest online. The NLI database contains links to websites with those subscription options available.
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See alsoSee also
Explore more about Ireland obituariesExplore more about Ireland obituaries
- Our Collections: Newspapers by the National Library of Ireland
- Irish Newspaper Archives by The Irish Ancestry Research Centre
- RIP.ie by Irish Times Media Group
- Treasure hunting in obituaries & death notices by Claire Bradley
- Irish Death Records by Irish Genealogy Toolkit
References
- ↑ Cambridge Dictionary, obituary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/obituary
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Irish Newspaper Archives. Timeline Genealogy in Ireland, Irish Ancestry Research Centre. https://timeline.ie/tracing-irish-ancestors-online/irish-newspaper-archives/
- ↑ Irish Times Media Group buys funeral notice platform RIP.ie, 5 May 2024. Irish Genealogy News.https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2024/05/irish-times-group-buys-funeral-notice.html