Thomas Devlin's Old Age Pension RecordAuthor(s): Elma WickensSource: North Irish Roots, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2000), p. 29Published by: North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27697329 .

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THOMAS DEVLIN'S OLD AGE PENSION RECORD Elma Wickens, Member B 0069

When the Old Age Pensions Act of 1908 came into force many of the elderly people of the day were very

grateful to Lloyd George, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, for introducing the pension and thus

saving them from suffering the indignity of the Workhouse.

Judged by modern standards the proposals which Prime Minister Asquith put before Parliament were

very modest. No pension was to be granted if the claimant had an income of over ten shillings a week.

The pension could not be claimed until the age of seventy and even then it only amounted to five shillings a week.

As those eligible had been born before civil registration of births in Ireland began in 1864, searches had to be made of the 1841 and 1851 census returns if no baptismal records could be found. These census

returns were among the many documents which were later destroyed in the Four Courts fire in Dublin in

1922.

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has the original Old Age Pension claim forms for the six

counties of Northern Ireland. The records were created between 1908 and 1922. They are not indexed,

but each county has a separate batch of claim forms, so it is not too time-consuming to make a search,

particularly if the county of origin of the family is known.

My husband's great grandfather Thomas Devlin had just reached his seventieth birthday when this new

Act was passed, and he was one of those who applied for the new pension. The story handed down in

the family was the familiar romantic one of the heiress who had married 'beneath her' and whose name

was therefore erased from the family tree. The only clue I had to Thomas' origin had been found in the

1901 census, where he gave his place of birth as County Armagh.

My search of the Old Age Pension records revealed more:

" Copied in 1909.

County of Armagh, Barony of Armagh, Parish of Derrynoose, Townland of Drumhirk.

Head of Family: William Devlin (Farmer), age 29. Married in 1834. Could read. Native of County Armagh. Wife: Jane Devlin, age 26. Could read.

Son: Thomas Devlin, age 3.

Found in the census of Sunday, 6th June 1841."

So there was the record of Thomas' parentage and, like those early pensioners of 1909, his descendants

will be eternally grateful to Lloyd George.

Note: The PRONI reference for the Old Age Pension Records is T.550/1 to T.550/38

Vol. 1 consists of 3 sections of certified copies (including a few counties now in the Republic of Ireland)

Vols. 2-10 Co. Antrim

Vols. 11-16 Co. Armagh

Vols. 17-20 Co. Down

Vols. 21-23 Co. Fermanagh

Vols. 24 - 29 Co. Londonderry

Vols. 30 - 36 Co. Tyrone (including Republic of Ireland counties)

Vol. 37 Republic of Ireland counties include Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan,

also some northern counties

Vol. 38 index

29

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