1775 Dublin Directory Database

The following is an extract from a press release from the Irish Genealogical Research Society.

The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) is pleased to announce the launch of another online resource. It is a database index to Wilson's Dublin Directory, forming part of the 1775 edition of The Treble Almanac, which was published from 1787 to 1837.

As the name suggests, The Treble Almanac is comprised of three separate directories:

·         The first is John Watson Stewart's Almanac, which notes a wide variety of information relating to Ireland, encompassing details about mail and stage coach timetables, establishment lists for the army and navy, schools etc;

·         The second is the English Court Registry, listing royalty, nobility, parliamentarians, military and naval lists, the civil establishment and judiciary lists etc;

·         The third, and by far the most useful to genealogists, is Wilson's Dublin Directory. It includes a very comprehensive list of Dublin's barristers, attorneys, medical practitioners, merchants, pawnbrokers, grocers, shoemakers, tanners, upholsters, auctioneers, brewers, painters, ironmongers, drapers, butchers, bakers, tailors etc. It also includes a list of the capital city's streets, lanes and alleyways.

In the new online database, entries include the name of the person, their occupation and street address, and provides a link to a map taken from the Statistical Survey of the County Dublin, (Dublin, 1802). There are just over 3,600 entries available to search.

This edition of the Almanac is dated just a year before the American Declaration of Independence in 1776; interestingly the list of attorneys and barristers notes several who had qualified in Ireland but then migrated to the North American colonies. Among them are barristers Thomas Knox Gordon, who qualified in 1755 and by 1775 was the Chief Justice of North Carolina, and Edward Savage, who qualified in 1760 and subsequently became the Second Justice of North Carolina. There are also references to Canada, for instance barrister Jonathan Belcher qualified in Michaelmas term 1741 and by 1775 was the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia.

Everyone can access the free-to-all database, which includes each resident’s surname, occupation and address. However, only members can see first names. Here is a link to the search page: http://www.irishancestors.ie/resources/unique-resources/the-dublin-directory-1775/.

Thanks to Steven Smyrl of IGRS for the tip.