I have been trying to locate the origin of my ancestor Jane Spence. She married in Australia in 1868 and her marriage certificate stated her father was Thomas Spence a policeman. All I know is Jane was born approximately 1849 in Ireland and probably CofI (as she married in the rights of CofE&I and all her children were CofE).
A few years back I looked up The Royal Irish Constabulary Index 1816-1921 on microfiche at my local LDS FHC. I only found one Thomas Spence in the expected date range – his details on LDS film 0856058 are as follows:
No 7138
Name Thomas Spence
Age when appointed 20
Height 5’ 11”
Native County Donegal
Religion Protestant
Recommendation Thomas Barton J.P
Trade or Calling Farmer
Date of Appointment 13 June 1845
Allocation Louth, W:Meath
If discharged, etc Resigned 5 April 1853, A3471/176
There is no mention of him being married, so suspect he may not be the person I am after.
I have also tried to locate Jane via the Family Search, www.rootsireland.ie and churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie web sites with no luck.
I also looked for Thomas Barton J.P. in Donegal to try and locate a town on these web sites. I found two christenings – one in 1835 where the father was given as Thomas Betton, Lieutenant Police. I then tried to look him up in the online Royal Irish Constabulary Index on Ancestry.com (and any variation of Betton or Barton I could find) but he could not be found.
In my research I also came across another family where the father was stated as Edward Spence policeman. Again I looked at the online Royal Irish Constabulary Index on Ancestry.com, but again there is no entry for Edward Spence either.
Hence, I am beginning to believe The Royal Irish Constabulary Index 1816-1921 does not comprehensively cover everyone.
I have also been doing some more googling. In doing so I found reference to several books written by Jim Herlihy which list constables and offices of the RIC and Dublin Constabulary.
To date I have been unable to determine if the microfiche index (or the online Ancestry.com version) contains RIC Constables only or if it contains some other combination of RIC constables and officers and Dublin constables and officers. I emailed the author Jim in May 2011 to ask but to date have not received a response. Does anyone know what lists are included in the above index?
If the index does not include all the lists that exist in the books, does anyone have access to or know where I can find the books not included. I would like to know if any of the books reference a Thomas Spence (other than the one mentioned above) during a time period which could conceivably make him Jane’s father?
Thank you!
Fiona
A few years back I looked up The Royal Irish Constabulary Index 1816-1921 on microfiche at my local LDS FHC. I only found one Thomas Spence in the expected date range – his details on LDS film 0856058 are as follows:
No 7138
Name Thomas Spence
Age when appointed 20
Height 5’ 11”
Native County Donegal
Religion Protestant
Recommendation Thomas Barton J.P
Trade or Calling Farmer
Date of Appointment 13 June 1845
Allocation Louth, W:Meath
If discharged, etc Resigned 5 April 1853, A3471/176
There is no mention of him being married, so suspect he may not be the person I am after.
I have also tried to locate Jane via the Family Search, www.rootsireland.ie and churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie web sites with no luck.
I also looked for Thomas Barton J.P. in Donegal to try and locate a town on these web sites. I found two christenings – one in 1835 where the father was given as Thomas Betton, Lieutenant Police. I then tried to look him up in the online Royal Irish Constabulary Index on Ancestry.com (and any variation of Betton or Barton I could find) but he could not be found.
In my research I also came across another family where the father was stated as Edward Spence policeman. Again I looked at the online Royal Irish Constabulary Index on Ancestry.com, but again there is no entry for Edward Spence either.
Hence, I am beginning to believe The Royal Irish Constabulary Index 1816-1921 does not comprehensively cover everyone.
I have also been doing some more googling. In doing so I found reference to several books written by Jim Herlihy which list constables and offices of the RIC and Dublin Constabulary.
To date I have been unable to determine if the microfiche index (or the online Ancestry.com version) contains RIC Constables only or if it contains some other combination of RIC constables and officers and Dublin constables and officers. I emailed the author Jim in May 2011 to ask but to date have not received a response. Does anyone know what lists are included in the above index?
If the index does not include all the lists that exist in the books, does anyone have access to or know where I can find the books not included. I would like to know if any of the books reference a Thomas Spence (other than the one mentioned above) during a time period which could conceivably make him Jane’s father?
Thank you!
Fiona
