Finding out why someone was in Prison

discostu1 · 29-04-2026 10:35PM #1

Hi looking for some help or point me in the right direction we are doing our family history and have come across a great Uncle who is in Cork Prison in 1878, aged 13 or 14 and we would love to know why.Contacted National archives and Cork Prison but they were unable to help We have his name, address and his prisoner number, any ideas

gipi · 29-04-2026 10:45PM

Local newspaper reports?

Mick Tator · 29-04-2026 10:48PM

The Petty Sessions Reports - see

https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/irish-petty-sessions.html

discostu1 · 29-04-2026 11:24PM

Thank you both, l am very new to this stuff, I am on Ancestry.com and that's where we found the records Re Irish Geneology site amI missing something I can't seem to see a place to basically type in a name?

55Gem · 30-04-2026 06:44AM

Irish Genealogy doesn’t have any records it explains what records exist and where to find them, so there is no where to type in a name.

Petty Session records are on Find My Past. (Subscription)

You could check if his name appears on the index on Family Search, (free but you must register)

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/2487287

Hermy · 30-04-2026 07:41AM

The Petty Sessions are available on Ancestry as well.

discostu1 · 30-04-2026 07:43AM

Thank you all, he was convicted of larceny , sentenced to 14 days. It looks like he stole some matches 😢

discostu1 · 30-04-2026 09:04AM

He stole some matches, got 14 days and 4 years in Upton Reformatory

Finding out why someone was in Prison

Comments