The 1841 census for Ireland no longer survives, having been pulped by the British Government in the First World War. A new document to emerge though which is likely to attract the interest of many is Lord Viscount Morpeth’s Testimonial Roll. The following from Dan Jones of Ancestry.co.uk sets the context...
"In 1841, when he left his role as Chief Secretary for Ireland, the Yorkshire aristocrat George Howard (or Viscount Lord Morpeth as he was better known), was presented with a leaving card. Nothing unusual there – except this leaving card was in the form of a giant paper scroll over 400 metres in length, containing the names and addresses of an estimated 300,000 men from all over Ireland and from every level of Irish society!
"Presented to him at a ceremony in Dublin, the roll was packed into its mahogany box and returned to his family home, Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. It remained there in the archive until 2009 when it was sent to National University of Ireland at Maynooth, to be conserved, studied and – crucially – unrolled."
Dan's job is to look for new content for possible digitisation by Ancestry. Read his full post at http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2010/04/26/is-this-the-worlds-longest-document/. Dear God, let's hope he gets this online!
I'd like to add - for getting a chance to see such a remarkable document, I've only one thing to say to Dan Jones - ye jammy bugger! :)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
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