Search Ireland, Londonderry (derry), Freemen Records 1604-1963
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Delve deeper into your Northern Irish roots with these records from Derry/Londonderry. Were your ancestors apprentices who made their way to becoming freemen of the city? Dating back to 1604, these records span generations of masons, blacksmiths, tailors, butchers, merchants and more. Generations of families who helped build and prospered in Northern Ireland. The original records are held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
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The individual transcripts you discover were created from the original records held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. They include the following details about your ancestor:
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Use the link to go to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland website, where you can see the original images.
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Records relating to the Freemen, covering the period from 1675 to 1945, survive in four manuscript volumes now available online. These comprise a volume of extracts from Corporation minute books relating to Freemen affairs, two accompanying index volumes, and a register listing Freemen along with selected personal details. Together, these records provide both administrative insight and a structured reference tool for identifying individuals and tracing the development of Freeman status over time.
During the Ulster Plantation, the Londonderry Corporation functioned as the central authority managing the city’s lands and property. In this role, it was responsible for collecting rents and defending its interests through legal disputes, particularly with the Irish Society, a powerful organisation created to plan and control the Plantation of Londonderry in the early seventeenth century, as well as with others who contested established local rights. Among those rights were the privileges of the Freemen, whose status and entitlements the Corporation played a key role in upholding and regulating.
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