We are delighted to report that Oxford researchers now have access to Dublin Castle Records, 1798-1922, providing access to the records of the British administration in Ireland prior to 1922.

The Dublin Castle administration in Ireland was the government of Ireland under English and later British rule, from the twelfth century until 1922, based at Dublin Castle. The records cover a crucial period which saw the rise of Parnell and the Land War in 1880 through to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921.

This collection comprises materials from Series CO 904, The National Archives, Kew, UK. Most of these papers relate directly or indirectly to the methods adopted by the authorities, using civil and military forces, to combat the efforts of the Nationalist organizations to secure Irish independence.

Among the contents of this archive are:

• Police Reports. Divisional Commissioners’ and County Inspectors’ monthly confidential reports from January 1892 to December 1897.

• Inspector General’s and County Inspectors’ monthly confidential reports from January 1898 to December 1913 and January 1914 to September 1921 respectively.

• Files recording outrages against the police and reports from individual counties on criminal offences.

• Public Control and Administration from 1884-1921 including the seizure and censorship of various publications and journals.

• Judicial Proceedings

• Enquiries and Miscellaneous Records from 1872-1926

• Information on various petitions, court appeals and compensation claims

• Royal Irish Constabulary Prime Special Branch files on over 440 individual Sinn Fein and Republican suspects from 1899-1921, including Eamon de Valera and Sir Roger Casement. Each file contains information on an individual suspect.

More information on the administrative background.

Dublin Castle Records 1798-1926 can be accessed via SOLO (in due course) and Databases A-Z.

While you are here, you might also be interested in…

• Irish Newspaper Archives (1738- ) & Radical Newspapers Archive
• Irish Times (1859-2018) / Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958)
• Waterloo Directory of Irish Newspapers and Periodicals, 1800-1900
• Northern Ireland: A Divided Community, 1921-1972: Cabinet Papers of the Stormont Administration
• JSTOR Ireland Collection
• Bibliography of British and Irish History
• Dictionary of Irish Biography