This collection contains records of freeholders in the province of Ulster, Ireland, between the years 1662 and 1839. Freeholders are men who owned or held land in lease for the duration of a lifetime, giving them the right to vote in an election. Records typically include the name of the freeholder, and the year and residence of the freeholder at the time the election occurred.<br><br>Due to the scarcity of records in Ireland from this period of history, they can be invaluable to deduce more about the residence, living conditions and social class of your ancestors.<br><br>Although these records can contain details of the candidates that individuals voted for, before the 1872 Ballot Act, voters had to publicly declare their allegiance, which could lead to landlords putting pressure on their tenants to support their chosen candidate. The people allowed to vote also changed through this period, notably with only Protestants with a freehold of at least 40 shillings a year able from 1727 to 1793, both Protestants and Catholics with 40 shilling freeholds could vote from 1793 to 1829. After 1829 the rate was increased to 10 pounds, removing the right to vote from all 40 shilling freeholders and confining the electorate to those with considerable property and money.<br><br>This collection Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.
