A lecture by Gregory Walls, hosted by the Dublin City Council Heritage Office. Part-funded by the Heritage Council.

About the Talk

On 18 April 1926 the first census of an independent Irish state was held. A century later, the National Archives of Ireland released these records free to public inspection. Utilising the newly released census returns, this public lecture explores life in Ireland’s capital a century ago. Drawing on expert insight into the National Archives’ wider Census 1926 project, this presentation considers the significance of the 1926 census and charts how the census was enumerated, conducted and compiled. An array of themes will be considered, prompted by what is contained in the 1926 census returns, including identity, language, revolutionary politics, migration, social class, housing, institutions, religion, employment, and glimpses of everyday life. Particular focus is given to Dublin, its inhabitants, and its social contexts, as revealed by the information recorded in the 1926 census returns, through both the questions the census asked and what it did not ask.

About the Speaker

Gregory Walls is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and part of the Research Ireland-funded Witnessing War Making Peace project. His research considers how the nature of violence and crime evolved, ebbed and flowed in 1920s and 1930s Ireland. Gregory was involved with the National Archives’ Census 1926 project as social historian. He co-curated the major Census 1926 exhibitions presented by the National Archives in Dublin, London and Boston, and contributed multiple chapters to The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 census, edited by Orlaith McBride and John Gibney (Irish Academic Press, 2026).

About the Series

The Dublin City Heritage Talks free public lecture series aims to showcase heritage projects, topics and new research across Dublin city, and is an action of the Dublin City Strategic Heritage Plan 2024 - 2029.

The series has received grant support from the Heritage Council.

This talk will be recorded and made available online at a later date.

ISL interpretation will be provided.

Image courtesy of the National Archives of Ireland.

Description supplied by the event organiser.