Small Sources 23: This is a list of 79 tradesmen in Waterford compiled sometime between 1826 and 1847. It is in a file of documents in the National Library of Ireland (Ms. 15,028 (9)) entitled “Several hundred documents – petitions, resolutions, bills, lists of voters, etc., – in the Waterford election of .. 1826, the Tipperary election.., 1830, and..Waterford, 1847”. Joanne Rothwell, Archivist in Waterford City Archives has kindly confirmed that these names appear in the Freedom Roll of the City. This confirms that these tradesmen were entitled to vote in local elections (which was a restricted right at the time). These lists were presumably compiled by one of the candidates to validate the right of these individuals to vote. It shows the name of their trade and the different dates of their admission into the Freedom of the City. Joanne notes “Freedom of the City was open either by right of an apprentice to a tradesman who held the freedom, by application as a tradesman (to be voted in by the Corporation members) or by hereditary right as the son or son-in-law of a freeman”. It lists 40 Cordwainers (shoemakers); 17 tailors, 15 carpenters and 7 chandlers.
Pigott’s Directory of 1824 lists some of the listed tradesmen in Waterford, while none are listed in other towns in the region. This, together with the information from Waterford Archives above, would strongly suggest that all of these tradesmen were based in Waterford, and other details would suggest that it was compiled in the 1820s. None of the names appear in Shearman’s Directory of Waterford (1839) or Slater’s (1846) which covered the major national towns, including Waterford. The list also has a column headed ‘son of’ with a few entries; and all are prefixed by a year and month. The years listed range from 1785 to 1824 but the vast majority are between 1801 and 1806. Note that Waterford City Archives provides a search facility for relevant Trade Directories (1824-1910) which can be searched for any of these names.
The names are very varied and it is notable that many are not of Irish origin. This is reflective of two factors: (a) Waterford was a major port in this period and would have had interaction with many English port cities; and (b) These are mainly people who would have learned their trade through apprenticeships. Such apprenticeships were severely restricted for Catholics during the 18th and early 19th centuries (in addition to many other restrictions on Catholic service suppliers) so a body of Catholic tradesmen was still emerging at this stage in our history. 
The names in the list include some rare names including Streep, Budd, Dart, Elinor, Cachin, Rodney, Rothe as well as names such as Power, Ryan and Walsh which were more locally common. Further information on some of these families may be available through our e-book title ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021‘. It lists 6,500 books and articles written . The sources listed include books, journal articles and some other records written about specific Irish families. It provides access to a wealth of published information on about 2,500 Irish families.
The list used common abbreviations for names: Benj. = Benjamin, Saml. = Samuel, Danl. = Daniel etc.
The images of the document above and below were created by Ancestor Network in the National Library of Ireland and are reproduced here through their courtesy. If you need help in following up on anything related to this source, or any other Irish research, you can outline your requirements here and we will let you know what we might be able to do for you. Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, or on other tenants of this estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘SS23’ in the subject line.
The names of the tradesmen are below in sections by their trade and including additional notes where they are relevant.
Name Son of ..
Cordwainers
Butts, Saml. ?
Budd, Tobias (1)
Bayley, George
Clarke, William Godfrey C. (see above – voting rights could be claimed by sons of freemen)
Chambers, Benj.
Dart, John
Dart, John c/o William D?
Denny, Abraham (2)
Darcy, Patrick
Dart, George
Elinor, John John Esq.
Foy, Richard
Foster, Henry
Fowley, Thomas
Grierson ? John
Hearne, Maurice
Hearne, Peter
Hea??, Joseph
Henderson, Tom
Hogan, Mat
Hogan, Thomas
Jones, Richard
Jenkins, John
Matthews, ?
Moran, Tom
Morayarty, Ml. Son of John (more usually spelled Moriarty)
Morgan, John
Maddens, Tom
McCarthy, Danl.
Martin, George
Maguire, James
O’Brien, Redmond
Pittman, John
Ryan, Tom
Read, Tom (3)
Streep, John (4)
Tighe ?
Wright, James
Wood, John
Walsh, Henry
Tailors
Chambers, Tom
Cachin, Michael
Fitzpatrick, James
Harrison, John
Lawless, John
McConnell, Gavin
McCarthy, Felix
McConnell, Joseph
McConnell, Wm.
McConnell, Thomas
McCarthy, Timothy
Parker, John
Quinn, Laurence
Rodney, Thomas (5)
Rothe, Cornelius
Wade, John
??…, John
Carpenters
Bryan, John
Bryan, James
Coghlan, James
Egan, James
Flinn, Edward
Glanville, David (6)
Hogan, Danl
Moore, John (Turner)
Myler, Tom
Purcel, John
Purcel, James
??… Edward
Whyte, John
Curtis, James
Roberts, B…
Chandlers
Bradley, James
Flynn, Edmond
Poole, John
Ryan, Pat
Rogers, John
Rogers, Thomas
Rogers, George
Notes
- Listed as Shoemaker in ‘The Mall’ Waterford in Pigott’s Directory of 1824
- Listed as Shoemaker in ‘The Quay’ Waterford in Pigott’s Directory of 1824
- Thomas Read is listed as Collar and Harness maker in Shearman’s Directory, Waterford 1839
- Marriage to Elizabeth Hyde in 1789 recorded in Kill St. Nicholas, Waterford
- A child was born to a Thomas Rodney in 1802 in Waterford
- Death of David Glanville, carpenter, of Peter St., Waterford is listed in Connaught Journal 21.8.1823
Further articles in our series on Irish Family History sources include:
- Petty Sessions– the records of local courts
- Catholic Church records
- Grand Jury Presentments – records of local councils on payments for public works and staff
- Rentals – management of tenants by estates and the records created
- Middle names – the use (or non-use) of second or middle names in Irish records
- How comprehensive are Irish Civil Records?
- Census returns in Gaelic or Irish language
- 70+ blogs with names extracted from manuscript sources from many counties (including Cork). A handy map index to these is available here.
