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So I've got a relation that was born 8th February 1917 Tuam, Galway, Ireland. Now at that time Ireland was under British rule but shortly afterwards gained independence (that's my understanding anyway).

So I'm trying to trace the birth certificate and I'm wondering about open questions such as: was she 'British' or 'Irish' or did she start 'British' and become 'Irish' automatically as a child?

And more to the point - where am I likely to find her birth certificate? Would that sort of thing have been centrally held at the time?

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  • There are two questions here: what was the nationality and where are the birth certificates. Morph this question into asking one of those and create another question with the other? – Sardathrion - against SE abuse Mar 8 '12 at 15:52
  • @Sardathrion: no, the question is basically only where to get the birth certificate, and the "other question" is just a likely prerequisite of that one. – o0'. Mar 8 '12 at 15:56
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A lot of the records were lost when the Dublin Public Record Office was blown up in 1922.
But see http://www.gov.ie/en/essays/genealogy.html

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I'm trying to trace the birth certificate and I'm wondering about open questions such as: was she 'British' or 'Irish' or did she start 'British' and become 'Irish' automatically as a child?

Remember that people can be both 'British' and 'Irish'.

This might help track down her parents: Online, searchable, Irish censuses from 1901 and 1911 http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

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The Dublin Public Record Office wouldn't have held birth certificates for people born in Tuam, if anywhere for that matter. There would probably be a paper record held in the parish church (cathedral in Tuam). I grew up a few miles from Tuam but I doubt if they've anything digitised.

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The records are held at the General Register Office (GRO) in Dublin. They (currently) have free searchable indexes for birth records dating to 1864 to 1915 online.

The searchable indexes currently (August 2017) include:

  • Births: 1864 to 1915
  • non-Roman Catholic Marriages : 1845 to 1940
  • Roman Catholic Marriages: 1864 to 1940
  • Deaths: 1864 to 1965

For more recent records, they have a search facility in Dublin at:

General Register Office Werburgh Street, Dublin 2, D08 E277

Searchable indexes are also available on Ancestry.com. These require a subscription, and I am not sure how good their coverage is.

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