Freeholder Lists

Shannon Potter Wilcox · April 5, 2023

Thanks to Ireland Reaching Out for the information.

Freeholder lists are a rare and valuable resource for pre-famine research. Was your ancestor a freeholder? Even Land tenure in Ireland was classed as either freehold or leasehold. Your tenant farmer ancestor, for example, could have been a freeholder, a leaseholder, or a tenant at will.

A freehold could be held (a) "in fee" meaning outright ownership, or (b) as a lease for an indefinite period of a life or a number of lives (e.g. three lives, roughly 31 years each).

A leasehold was a lease for a definite, fixed period (e.g. 9 or 14, or 31, or 99 years).

A tenant at will had no security of tenure.

By the 19th century, the class of holding was only important for political elections. A person with a freehold of sufficient value, depending on the law at the time, could register to vote. A tenant who held land for a definite period such as 31 years or 300 years did not qualify as a freeholder.

Tenants with smaller freeholds can appear on early 19th century voter registrations. Where are these lists and how can they be found online or elsewhere?

Where can I find Irish freeholder records?

Most of the original freeholders' records were lost when Ireland's Public Records Office went up in flames in 1922. But other copies and abstracts have survived.

Valuable collections of freeholders registers can be found at:

Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) online search (free)

For the Republic of Ireland, the majority of surviving lists are held (undigitized) at either the:

National Archives of Ireland (NAI) catalogue
National Library of Ireland (NLI) catalogue

However, newspaper archives are a wonderful online resource for Freeholders lists.

British Newspaper Archive online search (paid)

In addition, some counties have digitized their own or added them to the IGP Web. online search (free)

For a comprehensive overview of what freeholder records (online and offline) are available for your ancestral county, check out John Grenham's County Records.

ANTRIM Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI)

ARMAGH Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI) | Newry Telegraph 1842

CAVAN Registry of Freeholders in the County of Cavan | Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI) | Enniskillen Chronicle May 1829

CARLOW Carlow Sentinel 1836

CLARE County of Clare, a list of Freeholders for the Year 1821 | Clare Journal 1841

CORK Cork Constitution 1829

DERRY ~ LONDONDERRY Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI)

DONEGAL Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI)

DOWN Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI)

DUBLIN Dublin Evening Packet 1830 (BNA) also 1831

FERMANAGH Pre-1840 freeholders' registers and poll books (PRONI) Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet (BNA)

GALWAY Tuam Herald 1843 (BNA) | Tuam Herald 1846 (BNA)