Historical directories are a great resource for family history research. They allow you to chart the growth of your ancestors' businesses and professions over time. They also have some useful descriptions of the services to be found in the principal towns. Whilst directories are not census records and don’t list all people or locations, they often include helpful details about various institutions, officials, professions, clergy and certain trades, along with historical or geographic details of various towns and cities. The directories often have very informative and attractively designed advertisements on businesses in the city and county. Some directories which cover cities and larger towns, may also include street listings, allowing you to see which business and institutions existed on each street. While some local directories have existed since the mid-1700s, it was only in the 19th century that more detailed directories become available. Slater’s is one of the most important, published at varying intervals between 1846 and 1894.
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Background
Until the productions of Pigot and Co. in the early nineteenth century, very few directories exist which cover the entire country. Most produced before this period tended to be local in nature, focused around the major cities of Belfast, Cork and Dublin. The earliest countrywide directory of Ireland covering more than the gentry was Pigot's Commercial Directory of Ireland (1820), published by James Pigot. Pigot’s Directory went through the towns of Ireland alphabetically, supplying the names of nobility and gentry living in or near the town and arranging the traders of each town according to their trade. Pigot published a subsequent edition in 1824. He made his apprentice, Isaac Slater, a partner in the firm. After the death of Pigot in 1843, Slater took over the business and began printing directories under his own name. He issued expanded versions of the directory in 1846, 1856, 1870, 1881 and 1894. These followed the same basic format, dividing the country according to its four provinces and then dealing with towns and villages alphabetically within each province. With each edition the scope of the directory was steadily enlarged, including ever more towns and villages.[1]
Using Slater’s
Organised by Province, and then town, Slater’s lists all the principal office holders, gentry, professionals, trades, hotels, schools, public institutions, churches, and even pubs for each town in Ireland.
Those using the directory should be aware of some differences between the various editions. The most important differences are as follows:
1824 (issued as Pigot’s Commercial Directory): Includes a countrywide alphabetical index to all the clergy, gentry and nobility listed in the entries for individual towns, which is omitted in subsequent issues.
1846: This version has almost twice as much detail as its 1824 predecessor, with 103,674 names and 783 pages. The 1846 book is organised into four sections, by province, with additional details for the four main cities (Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Belfast). The names of schoolteachers for the towns are included and this is continued in later editions.
1870: Contains 1,224 pages of information. There are 154,108 names, being principal residents, gentry, tradesmen, medium and large farmers, office holders, professionals, clergy and other officials.
1881: Contains 1,580 pages of information including a large-scale map of Ireland. There are 181,917 names. In a departure from previous editions, it supplies the names of the principal farmers near each of the towns treated, giving the relevant parish. This was continued in the 1894 edition.
1894: This was the 5th edition of Slater’s Irish directories and appeared in two volumes. This is the most comprehensive edition of Slater's ever published for Ireland, as for the first time it comprehensively covered all farmers. It contains almost 3,000 pages of text, a detailed map, and 346,589 names. Each town and village contained in the Directory is introduced by its geographical location in relation to its nearest railway station together with population statistics derived from the 1891 Census of Ireland as well as a brief geographical and topographical description. Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Galway are provided with complete street directories as well as lists of gentlemen, nobility, merchants and traders.
Where to find Slater’s
Physical copies of the directory can be found in the holdings of the National Library of Ireland.[2] Local editions of the directories, detailing the principal residents and businesses for the major towns in each county, were also published and can be accessed through the local county libraries and archives in Ireland.[3] MyHeritagecurrently has a number of Irish directories available to search in its database, including Slater’s directories for 1846, 1870, 1881 and 1894. The directory for 1856 has not been digitised fully and is only available at the local level and in the National Library of Ireland.
See also
Research your ancestors on MyHeritage
Explore more about Slater’s National Directory of Ireland
- MyHeritage has four collections of different years of the Slater’s National Directory of Ireland with 786,288 records available:
- Are you Lost? Using Maps, Gazetteers and Directories for British Isles Research webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Foundations of Irish Genealogy 9: Wills and Directories webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
References
- ↑ "Irish Historical Directories". www.johngrenham.com. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
- ↑ "Slater's National Commercial Directory of Ireland ..." catalogue.nli.ie. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
- ↑ "Archives and Repositories in Ireland and Northern Ireland". www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com. Retrieved 2024-08-26.