Thurles Rare Gratuitous Famine Relief Book 1847/48.

The ‘Gratuitous Relief Ration Record Book,’ (or the ‘Distribution Book,‘ as it was also called), for the Electoral Divisions of Holycross, Thurles and Ballycahill, dated 1847/48, has now been fully digitized and is uploaded hereunder, allowing yet another search facility, for those anxious to trace their family roots back to their once local homestead, within the Thurles, Co. Tipperary hinterland.

This afore mentioned ‘Gratuitous Relief Ration Record Book’ (Videoed on two occasions, before being broadcast on at least seven different occasions in the past, on Irish national TV channels RTE1 and TG4), contains the names of those who were classed as paupers in the hinterland / towns-lands of Thurles district, during what was the most harrowing period of the Great Irish Famine, referred to as ‘Black ’47’.

This famine also known as “The Great Hunger”, lasted between 1845 and 1849 and was arguably the single greatest disaster that ever affected Irish history.

This extremely rare ‘Rations Record Book,’ which was hand written; contains the names of the heads of each household and in many cases the actual names of all the adults in each household. It also contains the number of rations each householder was allowed and indeed received, together with remarks, sometimes suggesting fraud, under what can be viewed as an early form of social welfare system, introduced after the closure of the Bord of Works schemes which had concentrate on providing employment for the destitute poor under acts passed early in the parliamentary session of 1846, for the sole purpose of affording relief by employment.

Just over 3 million Irish people were being supported nationally by outdoor relief in July of 1847. To those in the Thurles area it supported, (covering the electoral divisions of Holycross, Thurles and Ballycahill), it provides records of food rations distributed during the period May – Sept. 47 and part of 1848; the same distribution being a very humiliating and indeed an insufficient system, administered under British rule.
Nevertheless, it did keep starvation at bay for a very sizeable portion of Tipperary people at that crucial time in Black ’47’.

This new information can also be viewed on our other website, Hidden Tipperary.com, (under Downloads) or directly via the link located HERE

How to search this uploaded data.

Many of you will be aware that holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard of your PC or Laptop and striking the F key; a small box will appear on your screens, bottom left corner of the page being searched.
Type into this box the ‘search word’ with which you hope to glean the information and press Enter.

Note: When searching for an individual or townsland, there may be several persons of the same name, so use the arrow keys on right hand side of this search box, to complete your search. [Surname first followed by Christian name].
If anyone has any queries regarding the further understanding of this new data upload, please do contact us directly HERE.