About the Hussey-Walsh Manuscripts
The Hussey-Walsh Manuscripts form one of the IGRS’s most important collections.
Donated to the Society’s Library in 1937, the collection consists of twelve handwritten volumes lovingly and expertly collected by Valentine Hussey-Walsh (1862-1925). The material within was compiled before 1922 using archives and records that were destroyed in the Public Records Office fire.
These manuscripts refer to the Catholic gentry families of Walsh and Hussey as well as many related merchant, middle and upper class Catholic families.
This makes these manuscripts a rare resource for there is much in them relating to the 18th century when it is so difficult to find Catholic records.
The geographical sweep is large too; for example, Walsh families in France and America are included.
In all, there are 2,883 pages of information and there are references to over 100,000 persons. A huge number are neither called Hussey nor Walsh!
The manuscripts contain many copies of Wills, Marriage Settlements, Exchequer and Chancery Bills, Letters and Pedigrees, and are well worth perusal if you are searching for this type of Catholic family.
The links of marriage, intermarriage and business are enormous and extend well beyond the Hussey and Walsh families.
Peter Manning FIGRS, the Society’s General Secretary, has compiled an index to the manuscripts, which you can access via the Library Holdings page. He also listed the contents of the volumes in various editions of the Newsletter from 1998 to 2006.
More recently, our webmaster, Nick Reddan FIGRS, has converted Peter's index to a searchable database with links to the associated images of the manuscript. Search the index
The National Library of Ireland holds a microfilm copy of these volumes.
This is a rare and rewarding collection of manuscripts.
Examples:
In 1743, Thomas Merry, a ‘Protestant Discoverer’, laid claim to the lands of a Catholic named Dunn. Was he as predatory as he seemed?
Given that Daniel Dunn had died relatively recently (in 1739), perhaps Merry was assisting Dunn’s two daughters to keep the land by posing as a ‘Protestant Discoverer’ and, once receiving good title from the courts, holding it in “trust” for the two ladies! This was not an uncommon occurrence. A search of the index for Thomas Merry returns two entries, one of which is a summary of the court case.
The MacDonnell vs MacDonnell entry of 1753 tells of a lease from 1703 and refers to two generations of the MacDonnell family of Ballinchalla, co Mayo: Farragh MacDonnell, clearly born in the later 17th century, who subsequently married Mary Browne (sister of Andrew Browne of Beughavoy (sic)…), parents to Randall, Francis and James MacDonnell.
