Census Search Form

Jim,

I have some experience of the Pension application procedures. What is it you would like to know? 

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn,

What I'd like to know is:

Was the census search successful in prooving a birth date?

Would this indicate that the applicant was form this area?

Did the applicant get approval to receive the old age pension?

Thank you

Jim,

You refer to an address in Co. Sligo and to a payment drawn on the Hibernian Bank Sligo. I can?t see either of those references on the document you have attached. I think you may have omitted the page with that information.

You may know this anyway but just to be 100% clear, the old age pension was introduced in Britain & Ireland in 1909. To qualify, you had to be 70 or over, of good character and there was also a means test. People with an income of about ?30 a year or more were not eligible. You had to prove your age but obviously no-one aged 70 in 1909 and born in Ireland would have had a birth certificate at that time. So other forms of evidence were required. The most common were baptismal certificates and military discharge papers.  If you couldn?t obtain either of those, then a document from a reputable authority likely to have knowledge of your age was acceptable. Failing which, you could also ask for a copy of the 1851 (and in some cases the 1841) census for your household to prove your age that way. There was a fee payable for the census search service (hence the need for a cheque, in this case apparently drawn on the Hibernian Bank, Sligo).

What appears to have happened here is that these two people applied for census checks. The official who checked the censuses did not find either of them. (I think the initials N. E in the top left hand corner probably mean No entry found.) So he has written back suggesting that instead, in the case of Patrick McGunnigal, he either tries to get a baptismal certificate or tries his local schoolmaster in the hope that the school still has his attendance records.

James Gilroy?s situation is different, because you will see that the note suggests that his best option is to apply for a birth certificate. This puzzles me because it implies he was born after 1864. The oldest he could have been therefore, in 1916, was 52. Since the qualifying age for a pension was 70, I am not sure why he was applying for a census check. He wouldn?t have been eligible for a pension. Perhaps I am missing something? And why did he apply for an 1851 census check if he was born after 1864? He would surely realize he wouldn?t be in it. I am not sure I really understand why James applied. Did the census search clerk misread the age information on the application form? It doesn?t quite make sense to me.

You ask whether they got their pensions. The short answer is I don?t know. That information is not contained in these records. If they were able to obtain the relevant proof of age, then the next step was to apply to the local Pension Office (presumably in Coatbridge in this case) for a state pension. That would have been approved if the applicant met the qualifying criteria mentioned earlier. As I understand it, the vast majority of applications were approved, but as I say, that information was recorded in a different location. If they survive then applications made in Scotland may be in the National Archives in Kew, London.

You ask whether the applicants came from the Sligo area. I would certainly infer that whoever was the signatory on the Hibernian Bank cheque probably came from the Sligo town area.  That area is in the RC parish of Sligo St John?s. Their baptism records start in 1833. Those records for 1831 ? 1899 are on the rootsireland site (subscription). If you haven?t already done so, it might be worth checking them for the relevant baptisms.

Elwyn

Thanks so much for your insight Elwyn,

I am attaching the second document which has the ref to the Hibernain Bank on the top left corner. Apologies for my omission.

The Kilross NS Collooney address seems to provide proof of the connection of James Gilroy to this area, I think,

Jim

Excellent. Yes, that?s likely to be where Anthony went to school. Kilross is the name of a townland and of a civil parish, to the east of Collooney. It falls within the RC parish of Taunagh. Their records start in 1803 but they are not listed as being on-line on the rootsireland site. However there?s a copy on microfilm in the National Library in Dublin. LDS also have a copy, which can be ordered in to the nearest LDS library. ref: British Film Area 0989737 item 1-4

Thank you so much !

Onward in the search,

Jim