British Biography

The Gentleman's and Citizen's Almanack. Dublin: Stewart & Hopes, etc., 1733-1844.
Special Collections Library, A-22 G&C
Library has: 1752-1754, 1760-1761, 1764-1769, 1772, 1778-1779, 1786-1787, 1796, 1800, 1805, 1812, 1815, 1818-1819, 1825, 1828.
Many also available in Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
For Ireland, the equivalent of the Royal Kalendar for Great Britain, that is, the most comprehensive register available here for the Irish civil, military, and ecclesiastical establishment. Some organizations and businesses are also included. The English Registry and Wilson's Dublin Directory are bound with a number of the volumes. Wilson’s Dublin Directory is especially useful because of extensive listings of business and professional people as well as the nobility and gentry.

Hughes, James L. J., ed. Patentee Officers in Ireland, 1173-1826, Including High Sheriffs, 1661-1684 and 1761-1816. Dublin: Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1960.
Library Service Center (use Request link in the catalog.)
The most comprehensive alphabetical list available here for the civil officials of Ireland ranging from chief governors to ushers.

The Dublin Almanac and General Register of Ireland. Dublin: Pettigrew and Oulton, 1834-1849.
Special Collections Library A-22 Dublin
Library has: 1834, 1839, 1842.
A civil, military, and ecclesiastical directory for Ireland, including some private organizations and businesses. The editions for 1839 and 1842 contain alphabetical lists of residents, street directories with names and addresses of residents, and classified directories of businesses for Dublin and its suburbs.

Thom’s Directory of Ireland. Dublin: 1844-
Perkins/Bostock Stacks JN107 .T8
Library has: 1846, 1849, 1852-1853, 1861-1868, 1870-1871, 1873-1878, 1880-1882, 1912, 1915-1916, 1921, 1937, 1945, 1949, 1958.
A most detailed directory of the civil, military, and ecclesiastical establishment of Ireland, as well as many private organizations and businesses. Especially notable are the extensive alphabetical list of nobility, gentry merchants, and traders and the classified trades directory, both for Dublin and vicinity. The county and borough section provides considerable coverage for the provinces. A street directory with names of residents is available for Dublin. There are lists of the clergy of both the Church of Ireland and the Catholic Church; the public officials in Dublin; and the magistracy.

De Burgh, U. H. Hussey, comp. The Landowners of Ireland. An Alphabetical List of Owners of Estates of 500 Acres or £500 Valuation and Upwards in Ireland, with the Acreage and Valuation in Each County. And Also Containing a Brief Notice of the Education and Official Appointments of Each Person, to Which are Added his Town, and Country Addresses and Clubs. Dublin: Hodges, Foster, and Figgis, 1878.
Special Collections Library E#18879

Bradshaw, Thomas, of Belfast. Belfast General & Commercial Directory for 1819: Containing an Alphabetical List of the Merchants, Manufacturers, and Inhabitants in General; and a History of Belfast, and Its Institutions. With a Directory and History of Lisburn. Belfast: Printed by Francis D. Finlay, 1819.
Special Collections Library, Library Service Center, Rare Books (Reading Room only)
Includes alphabetical lists of names, classified commercial directories, and a list of English, Scottish, and Irish bankers. Note that the map is mutilated in our copy.

Howard, Joseph Jackson, 1827-1902. Visitation of Ireland. Edited by Joseph Jackson Howard and Frederick Arthur Crisp. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1973. 6 vols. in 1 (Reprint of the 1897-1918 ed.).
Perkins/Bostock Stacks 929.72 H849VI
These family genealogies are valuable, because biographical data is supplied for each member of the family when available. Each volume has a list of pedigrees as a table of contents and an index and additions and corrections at the end. Facsimiles of autograph signatures are common.

Ireland (Eire). Irish Manuscripts Commission. A Census of Ireland, Circa 1659, with Supplementary Material from the Poll Money Ordinances (1660-1661). Edited by Seamus Pender…Dublin: Stationery Office, 1939.
Library Service Center (use Request link in the catalog.)
Includes extensive indices of names and places.

Dublin National Library of Ireland. Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilisation…Boston: G. K. Hall, 1965.
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Four of the eleven volumes consist of entries for persons, institutions, societies, titles, etc.

Phillimore, William Phillimore Watts. Indexes to Irish Wills. Edited by W. P. W. Phillimore and Gertrude Thrift. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1970 (Reprint of 1909-20 ed.).
Perkins/Bostock Stacks 929.3 P556I
Persons are listed alphabetically within each diocese. This book is useful because of the large number of names and because a date of probate and a place name are usually given for each individual. Periods covered in the volumes vary, the earliest and latest dates being 1536 and 1858.

Vicars, Sir Arthur Edward, 1864-1921, ed. Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810…Dublin: E. Ponsoby, 1897.
Library Service Center (use Request link in the catalog.)
The Index contains an enormous number of names. Dates, places, and some identification are usually supplied for each individual.

Ireland (Eire). Registry of Deeds. Abstracts of Wills…Dublin: Stationery Office, 1954-56.
Perkins/Bostock Stacks CS482 .A54 1954
Volumes I and II cover the period of 1708-1785 and include indices of personal and place names.

School registers are not included in this bibliography, and the reader should be reminded that the alumni register of Trinity College, Dublin, is an especially good biographical source for Ireland.