Millions of documents released to help Irish trace family history

Some 2 million documents are being released on the internet, showing records of Irish people from the 19th century. There will also be 20,000 photographs available, assisting those of Irish descent to trace their ancestry.

The aim is to make it easier for those who had relatives or descendants in Eire that now wish to discover more about their backgrounds. The documents will be of particular interest to the likes of President Barack Obama, Sir Paul McCartney, footballer Wayne Rooney and Chancellor George Osbourne. It will also be of interest to relatives of Oscar Wilde, CS Lewis and President John F Kennedy. The vast number of manuscripts, called The Irish Collection, will include records of people who survived the Irish Potato Famine of 1845. The seven-year famine drove millions to seek a new life elsewhere. The United States became a very popular destination with over 40 million descendants living there today. The documents along with the photographs are to go on show on a British ancestry website, some 9.5 million people living in the UK have Irish ancestry, reports Metro UK. The 20,000 photographs, called the Lawrence Collection, show Irish people and landscape scenes from 1870 to 1910.