Find your ancestors in Reports from Committees, Fictitious Votes (Ireland), Select Committee on Fictitious Votes, 1837-1838

Electoral registers are an important source of information for family history research. This data-set lists those eligible to vote in Ireland after the electorate had been greatly increased following the Great Reform Act of 1832. It lists 52,600 names, with details of occupations, addresses and entitlement criteria to vote.

Users can search the data under the following criteria:

  • Name
  • Town
  • County
  • Year
  • Register
 

The data was compiled by a parliamentary Select Committee tasked with the job of rooting out corruption and vote rigging, after several accusations and allegations had been made. This Committee, known as the “Fictitious Votes” Committee found little evidence of irregular activity. But they did require the police and magistrates to compile registers of those entitled to vote throughout Ireland between 1832 and 1837 under the terms of the reform act.

 

In Ireland the electorate consisted of £10 freeholders and leaseholders, £20 leaseholders and freeholders, £50 freeholders and those in Corporation Towns, Cities and Boroughs afforded the right to vote as freemen or paid-up members of one of the trades guilds. As a consequence the electoral registers are very detailed for cities and towns, especially for the smaller corporate towns where there are no surviving street or trades directories such as Sligo, Clonmel, Cashel, Dungannon, Lisburn, Enniskillen, etc.

 

Dublin city is by far the best-documented part of this publication and far exceeds the information available in any city directory.

 

Registers included

 

Register

Year

          Number

"Waste and Poor" Cork city

1838

            364

£10 Householders in Cork city

1837

            368

£10 Householders in Cork city not registered

1838

            112

£10 Householders in Cork city struck out

1838

             55

Aldermen, Burgess & Freemen since 1831

1837

             51

Applications for Excise Licences

1838

             273

Applications to be Registered

1837

             773

Assistant and Deputy Assistant Barristers since 1833

1837

             89

Borough of Armagh elections

1837

             2

Borough of Carlow elections

1837

             3

Borough of Cashel elections

1837

             2

Borough of Clonmel elections

1837

             2

Borough of Coleraine elections

1837

             2

Borough of Downpatrick elections

1837

             4

Borough of Ennis elections

1837

             2

Borough of Portarlington elections

1837

             2

Borough of Sligo elections

1837

             2

Borough of Tralee elections

1837

             2

Borough of Wexford elections

1837

             2

City of Waterford elections

1837

             4

Cork city elections

1837

             4

County Cork elections

1837

             4

County Kerry elections

1837

             4

County Louth elections

1837

             3

County of Clare elections

1837

             3

County Roscommon elections

1837

             4

County Sligo elections

1837

             4

County Tipperary elections

1837

             2

Excise Licences since 1832

1838

             211

Freemen admitted since 1831

1837

             2,647

Freemen admitted since 1831

1838

             426

Freemen of the guilds or corporations of Dublin city

1837

             2,427

Freemen registered in Dublin city since 1832

1832

             865

Freemen registered in Dublin city since 1832

1837

             2,673

Houses & occupiers in Clonmel

1837

             1,013

Houses & occupiers in Drogheda

1837

             756

Houses & occupiers in Dundalk

1837

             913

Houses which return Members to serve in Parliament

1837

             7,104

List of £50 freeholders in Dublin city

1837

             738

List of Freeholders for Co. Fermanagh

1832

             1,745

Londonderry city elections

1837

              2

Names of persons etc. in 1828

1837

              53

New list of £10 Householders Cork city

1838

              88

New valuations of voters with unvalued property or unregistered 1832-37

1838

              85

Non-resident freemen in Cork city in 1837

1838

             376

Persons applying for or receiving excise licences for the sale of spirits since 1832

1838

             3,286

Persons applying for or receiving excise licences for the sale of spirits since 1837

1838

             395

Persons Registered as householders in Cork city 1830-37

1838

             127

Persons registered as marksmen

1837

             294

Persons registered as marksmen

1838

             235

Queen's County elections

1837

             5

Register of Marksmen

1837

             1,408

Registered voters in unvalued property Cork city 1832-37

1838

             61

Rentcharges registered since 1832

1837

             1,764

Rentcharges registered since 1832

1838

             1,519

Return of Voters for Cork city

1838

             742

Returned "Poor" by Churchwardens or Grand Jury

1838

             238

Town of Carrickfergus elections

1837

             2

Town of Galway elections

1837

             2

Voters & Excise Licences

1837

             2,858

Voters and Excise licences

1837

             44

Voters for Dublin city registered in 1832

1837

             7,004

Voters for Dublin city registered in 1833

1833

             80

Voters for Dublin city registered in 1834

1834

             41

Voters for Dublin city registered in 1835

1835

             2,267

Voters for Dublin city registered in 1836

1836

             2,015

Voters in Cork city exempt from rates 1832-37

1838

             538

Voters registered since 1832

1837

             2,790