Irish prison and petty session court records indexes added to Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added third party indexes for the following two collections from the Republic of Ireland's National Archives:

Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61943/
Source: Ireland Prison Registers, National Archives of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.

This collection includes records detailed in prison registers from across Ireland for the years 1790-1924. Originally serving largely as establishments for pre and post-trial detention as well as for the imprisonment of those who could not afford to pay their debts, gradual changes to the prison system in Ireland resulted in larger institutions, including four national convict prisons, 38 county prisons and 98 local jails. From 1850s, sentences of transportation were replaced with penal sentences and an emphasis was placed on reform.

Details for each individual recorded in this collection may include (where available):

Name
Residence
Place of birth
Occupation
Age
Offence
Sentence or discharge, or date and place of committal


Ireland, Petty Session Court Registers, 1818-1926
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61938/
Source: Ireland Petty Session Court Registers: CSPS 1, National Archives of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.

This collection includes details of petty session cases held in courts across Ireland for the years 1818-1926. It includes details of over 23 million individuals involved in petty session hearings.

Petty sessions were the lowest tier in the court system and usually involved cases such as drunkenness or minor theft. They were presided over by magistrates and did not involve a jury.

Details for each individual recorded in this collection may include (where available):

Name
Role in the case
Date of the hearing
Location of the court
Occupation
Offence

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.