The Freeman's Journal

Founded in 1763, The Freeman’s Journal was published until 1924 and was Ireland's first national newspaper. Over its long history the political tone of the newspaper changed with its proprietors, moving from a focus on policies emerging from London in the early period to a more distinctly Irish focus from the 1830s onward.

Stories for the paper were sourced from all over the country and provide commentary on all the major events of the nineteenth century. In 1872 the paper doubled in size from four pages to eight pages.

Search Freeman's Journal

Date Coverage

Overall coverage: 1820 – 1900

Due to the delicate nature of the materials involved gaps in the collection are inevitable. Newspapers are usually printed on cheap paper with lower quality inks. This makes their storage and preservation more challenging. As a result where date ranges are listed this does not guarantee that every issue in that date range has survived.

The coverage for The Freeman’s Journal is comprehensive for the period 1830-1899, with the exception of 1834-36. The following gaps occur outside of that date range: 1822-1829; and 1900: October – December

Search Freeman's Journal