Blog 12: The Census: From Women in 1650 to Women in 1926
By Darcy Rougeaux and Dónal Farrell
Conducted in the aftermath of the revolutionary Easter Rising and Irish War of
Independence, the 1926 Census was the first census of the newly established Irish Free
State. On 18 April 2026, after 100 years, the personal information collected by the census
takers will be made public. Data disclosing age, sex, marital status, religion, occupation, and
ability to speak Irish from over 700,000 households around the country will be released,
allowing for groundbreaking further analysis of what everyday life was like in a newly free
state. (National Archives, 2026)
In Ireland, however, this is not the first census conducted after a period of violence,
nor one that allows for a deeper understanding of personal stories. By looking back to the
1650 census, the VOICES Project has been able to recover the stories of ordinary women
during an even earlier period of trauma and transformation.
Sadly the 1650 Census, conducted in the aftermath of the Cromwellian conquest,
has only survived for the baronies of Newcastle and Uppercross in County Dublin. Within the
census, 2,327 people, both Protestant and Catholic, across 43 locations in County Dublin
were recorded, over half of whom (1,201) were women. While the original census
manuscript did not survive the 1922 destruction of the Public Records Office, a transcription
of it by Tenison Groves is still intact.
(https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRIV-46-ADD-M-2467)
Richard M. Flatman’s transcription of this was later published in The Irish Genealogist.
In this detailed census, the names, ages, occupations, and, unlike the 2026 Census,
the physical characteristics of individuals living in the Newcastle and Uppercross baronies
were recorded. These descriptions include women such as Margery Dowse, who was
described as ‘aged 35 years or thereabouts, middle size brownish hair’. The entry continued
that she ‘limps on one leg [and] is a dweller in Crumlin there 3 or 4 years’. Another woman,
Katherine Kelly of Ballydowd, was described as ‘aged 50 years, blind of an eye, black hair’.
Similarly, Cecily Donnell of Newcastle was described as ‘aged 20, pocky face, red hair’,
which suggests that Cecily may have recovered from a bout of smallpox that left her face
partially disfigured.
The Down Survey Map https://www.downsurvey.ie/down-survey-maps/?c=Dublin&bm=Newcastle
The 1926 Census explicitly records Irish language proficiency. In the 1650 Irish
speakers are glimpsed through how their names were recorded by the enumerators. The
Irish patronymic ‘Ní’ appears as ‘ny’ or ‘nyne’ throughout the 1650 census in names such as
‘Uny nyne Donell’ [Úna Iníon Uí Dhomhnaill] of Gallanstown, ‘Onora nyne Dermott’ [Onóra
Iníon Uí Dhiarmada] of Deansrath, and ‘More ny Bardon’ [Mór Ní Bhárdáin] of Newcastle.
More generally the variety of names associated with people of Gaelic Irish, Old English, and
New English provenance highlights the diversity of the individuals residing in the baronies at
the time.
On the one hand, by providing the physical and ethnocultural details of these women,
the 1650 Census reiterates the individuality of early modern women within Ireland. On the
other hand, the inclusion of these details also reflects the tensions associated with living in a
militarised state where the Crowellians kept track of individuals by recording their physical
stature and appearance.
With the upcoming release of the 1926 Census, a renewed public interest in the
transformational period of the early 20th century in Ireland is imminent. In that excitement,
there will also be an unveiling of individual stories and everyday lives. Like the 1650 Census,
these personal details and stories will help to develop a deeper understanding of Irish
society and especially the women whose stories have been neglected for so long.