15 per cent of Kiwis have Irish ancestry

DEFINITIVE COLLECTION OF 19TH CENTURY IRISH RECORDS LAUNCH ONLINE

15 per cent of Kiwis have Irish ancestry

• Research published ahead of St Patrick’s Day on 17th March
• Comprehensive pre and post Irish Potato Famine collections now online
• Famous Irish Kiwis include Sir Edmund Hillary and Helen Clark

**Under embargo until 12:00pm on Monday the 14th March 2011**
In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, Australia and New Zealand family history website Ancestry.com.au has launched The Irish Collection - the definitive online collection of 19th centuryhistorical Irish records, making it easier for the estimated 15 per cent of New Zealanders of Irish descent[i] to explore their heritage.

In total, there are now more than 35 million historical Irish records on Ancestry.com.au[ii], including two million comprehensive new and upgraded records from the critical periods prior to and following the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1852) - the single most significant event to drive 19th century global Irish diaspora.

Amongst the collections is the Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, 1824-1837, featuring more than 600,000 Irish land tax records which are a crucial addition to The Irish Collection as they cover all of pre-famine Ireland, creating a snapshot of Irish life prior to mass emigration.

Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland, 1848-1864 now features more than 2.5 million names and addresses in land tax records of people living in Ireland in the mid-19th century. They are especially valuable as a substitute for 19th century censuses of Ireland, most of which were destroyed during the Civil War.

Crucially, the Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland, 1848-1864 collection covers the years of the famine, which plunged Ireland into crisis and resulted in morethan one million Irish dying and a further one million emigrating, marking the start of Ireland’s depopulation throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

The Lawrence Collection of Photographs, 1870-1910 features more than 20,000 photographs of Irish people and scenes taken between 1870 and 1910. Lawrence himself was an amateur photographer and entrepreneur who saw the potential of selling photographicportraits and landscapes.

Also now online is the Ordnance Survey Maps, 1824-1846 - almost 2,000 historic maps of Ireland featuring incredible early geographical details of the whole country, revealing how Ireland evolved during the mid-19th century as well as linking directly to other collections available to reveal exact locations of where land was owned and by whom.

There were several waves of immigration to New Zealand, starting with the arrival of BritishImperial Regiments after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which resulted in large scale Irishsettlement. Many of the soldiers were Irish and taking their discharge in New Zealand.

Royal New Zealand Fencibles were pensioned soldiers from Ireland and Britain who enlisted in the UK as a defense force for the protection ofAuckland. They emigrated, often with their families, and between 1847 and 1852 alone, over 2,500 men, women and children, many of whom were Irish, arrived and settled across Auckland. In the early 1990s, it was estimated that 250,000 New Zealanders were descended from a Fencible family.

By 1851, one third[iii] of Auckland's population was of Irish background. This community continued to thrive, fuelled by the gold rushperiod of the 1860s, the Waikato Immigration Scheme, which was launched in a bid to bring large numbers of immigrants to help consolidate the land south of Auckland after the Land Wars, and the government’s Vogel Immigration Scheme of the 1870s.

It is a little-known fact that 21 per cent of New Zealand’s 38 Prime Ministers have Irish ancestry, including Robert (Rob) Muldoon, James (Jim) Bolger and Helen Clark.

In fact, Irish immigrants have had great success in achieving political influence, with 28 per cent of Australian Prime Ministers being of Irish descent and 27 per cent of American Presidents, including John F. Kennedy, whose 2x great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy is listed in the collection, and U.S. President Barack Obama, whose 4x great-grandfather Fulmuth Donavan is listed in the Tithes living in Ballygurleen, Tipperary in 1829. In contrast, just 17 per cent of British Prime Ministers can claim Irish ancestry.

Famous names already found in the records include:

• Arthur Guinness - the Irish brewer's descendants are listed in Griffiths and Tithes living in their rented property, “Beaumont”.

• Oscar Wilde - the author's father William R. Wilde can be found in Griffiths living at Westland Row, Dublin where Oscar himself was born in 1854. William is also listed in Griffiths at Lincoln Place, Dublin where he was attending medical school.

• Walt Disney - Arundel Elias Disney, the great-grandfather of the entertainer and founder of the Disney empire is listed in Griffiths and Tithes living in Clone, Rathbeagh and Kilkenny.

Notable early New Zealanders who can proudly claim Irish ancestry include:

• Lieutenant Governor William Hobson (1792-1842) - born in Waterford, Ireland in 1792, he signed the Treaty of Waitangi on behalf of the Crown in February 1840.

• Thomas Bracken (1843-1898) - born at Clonee, County Meath, Ireland in 1843, he wrote the words to the national anthem 'God Defend New Zealand'.

• Ellen Margaret “Nelle” Scanlan (1882-1968) - New Zealand's most widely read novelist of the ‘30s and ‘40s was born in Picton, Marlborough in January 1882 to Irish Catholic parents.

• Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (1919-2008) - the conqueror of Mt Everest’s grandmother Annie Clementina Fleming was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1856.
Ancestry.com.au’s New Zealand family historian Christine Clement comments: “Given that no less than 10 per cent of New Zealanders have Irish roots, the new collections will be hugely relevant to many as they may hold the earliest record of their ancestors’ existence during these tragic yet defining years in Ireland’s history.
“New Zealand has a rich history of immigration from all over the world and it is important that we not only celebrate our cultural diversity, but also explore its origins within our own families.”

The Irish Collection is available to UK Heritage Plus and World Heritage members. Those wishing to discover or learn more about their Irish ancestors can do so with a free 14-day trial at www.ancestry.com.au/Irishrecords.

ENDS

ABOUT ANCESTRY.COM.AU

Ancestry.com.au contains more than 930 million records in its Australian, New Zealand and UK collections, including New Zealand Naturalisations, 1843-1981, New Zealand City & Area Directories, 1866-1955, New Zealand Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981, New Zealand Maori Voter and Electoral Rolls, 1908 & 1919, New Zealand Canterbury Provincial Rolls, 1868-1874, New Zealand Jury Lists, 1842-1862, New Zealand, Maori Land Claims, 1858-1980, the Australia Birth, Marriage and Death Index, Australian Convict Transportation Registers, AustralianFree Settlers, Australian Electoral Rolls, New South Wales SANDS Directories, as well as the most complete online collection of England, Wales and Scotland Censuses and the England and Wales Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes.

Ancestry.com.au was launched in May 2006 and belongs to the global network of Ancestry websites (wholly owned by Ancestry.com Operations Inc.), which contains six billion records. To date more than 20 million family trees have been created and 2 billion profiles and 50 million photographs and stories uploaded. (Figures current as of 5 March 2011)

Forfurther stories and updates related to Irish family history research, you can also follow Ancestry.com on Facebook and Twitter .

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[i] The Irish In New Zealand: Historical Contexts and Perspectives by Dr Brad Paters (http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=479)

[ii] Ancestry.com.au's historical Irish record collection is comprised ofhistorical collections, and also Irish photographs and stories contributed by our members

[iii] 2,871 out of Auckland's population of 8,840, were of Irish background as documented in the 1851 NZ Census

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