TheGenealogist adds Burke's Landed Gentry 1871

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist adds 1871 Burke’s Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland to its online collections

TheGenealogist is pleased to announce the release of the 1871 Burke’s Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, now fully searchable online.

This important reference work contains hundreds of thousands of names linked to the principal landed families of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, often tracing lines back several centuries. Researchers will find detailed pedigrees, family connections, heraldic information and references to estates, a rich resource for anyone with roots in the British and Irish gentry.

Adding these records further strengthens TheGenealogist’s growing collection of classic genealogical reference books, giving family historians more ways to bridge gaps in the civil and parish records.

TheGenealogist's Head of Content, Mark Bayley, commented: “Burke’s is one of those cornerstone sources that helps you understand not just who your ancestors were, but how they were connected. Making this available online and searchable will save researchers hours of work.” 

The new records are available now to Diamond subscribers at TheGenealogist.co.uk.

The Family of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the master of gothic suspense and author of Carmilla, the story of a mysterious female vampire that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, can be found in these records - read his story here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2025/ghosts-in-the-family-tree-8783/ 

(With thanks to Paul Bayley)

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

National Library of Ireland's Big Houses in Ireland online exhibition

The National Library of Ireland is hosting an online exhibition entitled Power & Privilege: the Big House in Ireland. From the site:

Ireland's “Big Houses” were the large country homes of local landlords. Most of them were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were usually surrounded by large estates. Tenants on the estate rented the land from their landlords.

These photographs, collected by the National Library of Ireland, capture scenes from life in the Big Houses before this way of life disappeared. The period they capture looks peaceful and prosperous, but by the 1920s the landlord system in Ireland had been dismantled. Without their large estates, combined with the economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s, few families could afford the upkeep of these homes, and the era of the “Big House” ended.

You can access the exhibition at https://artsandculture.google.com/story/9wWhhV1p6BkA8A 

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

University of Galway's Landed Estates database expands into Ulster

Some great news courtesy of Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News - the University of Galway's Landed Estates database at https://landedestates.ie, which previously covered the provinces of Connacht and Munster, from 1700-1914, has now expanded its coverage to include three of Ulster's counties - Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, the three counties within the province that are today within the Republic of Ireland (the other six now constituting Northern Ireland).

I have ancestry in all three counties, so am looking forward to exploring this in more depth! As Claire advises, access to the information is best gained via the interactive maps. Each of the pins is for the various baronies in a county - clicking on a pin leads to information on the main houses of the landed gentry within each. 

Whether Northern Ireland ever becomes included to complete the province is unknown, but one thing is for certain - Leinster is looking very lonely on this map just now. Fingers crossed that it gets a look-in also! 

For more on Irish land records, don't forget my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283 and in the USA via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.

(With thanks to Claire at https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2023/07/landedestatesie-database-expands-into.html)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Ireland's Landed Estates website comes back in from the cold

A big thanks to Claire Santry for blogging that the Landed Estates database from NUI Galway is back up and running, after an absence of several months. 

The site, available at www.landedestates.ie, documents the ownership of estates in the provinces of Munster and Connacht from 1700-1914, and can be searched by the names of families, houses, estates, or via an interactive map. It's a valuable site, and its return is definitely welcome!

(With thanks to Claire Santry; https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2022/04/irelands-free-landedestates-database-is.html)

Chris 

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.