Jameson Distillery Dublin : Employment records 1862-1969 - free and online during July 2021

Do you have family who lived in Dublin? Is yes, you might be interested in over one million employment records from Dublin's Jameson Distillery which have been digitised thanks to a partnership between the company and Ancestry. They are available free and online at Ancestry for the month of July 2021 only, so you will need to be quick before they disappear behind the pay wall.

Jameson Whiskey photo circa 1924 courtesy of pegatina1 via www.Flikr.com

The records span over a hundred years from 1862 to 1969 and include:

• employees names;

• their occupation;

• date of employment;

• place of employment;

• hours worked;

• wages paid;

• sick leave;

• miscellaneous information - for example:

• special war time allowance of 2 shillings and sixpence per week for employees;

• time off for Army Reserve attendance.

Ancestry has indexed the record images which can be searched by:

• name;

• date;

• keywords;

• occupation;

• department;

• description.

My favourite record is from 1916. If you click on the first sample record below on the left, you will see a handwritten note at the top left corner of the page which states: "Rebellion in Dublin. All employees paid full week". This refers to Jameson's distillery being taken over by rebels during the Easter Uprising in 1916 and, in my view, indicates the company was a good and fair employer

The information in this collection of images is taken from Jameson's wage books, time books and national health insurance books. Be aware though that in line with privacy regulations, any records which contain personal information are only available to view up to 1937. As with so many genealogical record collections, this is to protect the privacy of any living people. That said, there are many records I viewed from the 1950s and later showing individuals' wages, occupations and more.

This, together with the Guinness factory records in Dublin, is an outstanding collection of searchable images which date back earlier than civil records in Ireland (which didn't start until 1864). It's a shame that unlike the Guinness records, it is only free to view for the month of July.

Happy ancestor hunting.

Therese

Your Family Genealogist

Pictures:

• Flikr;

• Pixabay;

• Ancestry.