As mentioned in my summary of the recent PRONI stakeholder forum (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2021/12/proni-to-release-belfast-poor-relief.html), PRONI has now made available online the indexes to the indoor poor relief records for the city of Belfast from 1892-1921, as catalogued from BG/7/GK/1 to BG/7/GK/107. These are the records of workhouse admissions only, not for outdoor relief. The records continue beyond 1921, but only those up to 1921 are available here, presumably for privacy purposes.
The records are the indexes, not the full entries themselves, but knowing when an application was made is half the battle. As with the tithe applotment records added some months back, access is granted via the online catalogue, as follows:
i) On the catalogue page at https://apps.proni.gov.uk/eCatNI_IE/SearchPage.aspx, type in the relevant code at the PRONI Ref: box for a period of interest - e.g.
BG/7/GK/1, which calls up entries for the first register, covering July-October 1892.
ii) After you click Search, one entry appears in the search results. In the final box is the word View with a blue hyperlink - click on this and you will be asked to agree to a copyright declaration - click on I Agree. You will then be asked if you wish to save the file or open it with a PDF viewer.
The registers list applicants in alphabetical order of surname (although not in strict order under each individual letter) for the period in question. The information provided is the individual's number in the workhouse register, the pauper's name, and their age. Once an entry is found, you will then be able to look for the original record at PRONI itself.
Have fun hunting down those elusive Belfast ancestors! For more on PRONI's workhouse registers, visit https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/poor-law-records.
(NB: Some of the register index files are quite large, so they may take a few moments to open or download)
UPDATE: For a breakdown of the various catalogue codes, and the periods that they cover, visit https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/01/catalogue-codes-for-belfast-workhouse.html.
Chris
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Thanks Chris.
ReplyDeleteHad a look. Best way to search is to just input BG/7/GK/* against PRONI Ref., and select 50 results/page. As you say the indexes
start with BG/7/GK/1 July 1892-October 1892
are digitised to GK/107 May 1921-September 1921,
but continue on to BG/7/GK/249 Dec 1948.
If find a name and decide to visit PRONI and order the Registers
The Indoor Register Ledgers themselves are under BG/7/G [BG/7/G/*]
but BG/7/G/1 is July 1864-April 1865 and is annotated indexed.
BG/7/G/19 is July 1892-October 1892
BG/7/G/131 is May 1921-September 1921 [difference of 24 to GK/107]
BG/7/G/271 is the last one May 1948-August 1948 [index BG/7/GK/247]
so one has to consult the eCat as the catalogue reference number differs between index & Register.
Seems BG/7/G/2 to /18 (1865-1892) could well have no index.
Thanks John, very useful - I think you're right on the earlier records being unindexed. I have a transcribed entry of a record from 1891, and at the time (written a few years ago) I remember spending quite a bit of time browsing through the register to try and find it. I knew that the individual concerned had died in the workhouse, so I at least had an end point to work back from!
ReplyDeleteChris