Limerick puts burial registers on internet

KATHRYN HAYES

LIMERICK CITY Council has become the first local authority in the country to put its burial registers online.

Burial records for the city’s largest cemetery, Mount Saint Lawrence, dating back more than 150 years, are now available to the public over the internet.

Limerick City Council commissioned Medrex Systems to microfilm the records and to convert them into digital format.

It is now possible to access a copy of the original handwritten entries of burials in Mount Saint Lawrence cemetery from 1855 onwards on Limerick City Council’s website www.limerick.ie

Each entry in the record is handwritten and records the name of the person, the date of burial, the location of the grave, the age of the deceased and their last residence.

Mount Saint Lawrence was first opened in 1849 when a new graveyard was needed in Limerick as a result of the 1830s cholera epidemic and the Great Famine of 1845-1850.

“The register is a mirror to Limerick society from this time as all sections of society were buried here,” said Limerick City archivist Jacqui Hayes.

“Every person buried has a one line entry, and these persons came from every street and lane in Limerick.

“For many years the majority of entries on a single page are from the Limerick Union and Limerick Lunatic Asylum. These were later known as St Joseph’s Hospital and the City Home.”

According to Ms Hayes, the registers record the burials of many former mayors of Limerick, from Michael O’Callaghan and George Clancy, who were killed during the War of Independence, to the late Jim Kemmy TD in recent times.

The registers are also important from a demographic point of view as they provide statistics for the changing life expectancy rates and death rates.