Analysis of historic census data reveals areas of Ireland with top literacy rates in 1911

By Rebecca Black, PA

Inishcaltra South in Co Clare and Lullymore in Co Kildare had the highest literacy rates in Ireland in 1911 with 100 per cent, it has emerged.

The Co Down town of Donaghadee was not far behind with a rate of 99.7 per cent.

Newly digitised tables from the Census of Ireland, 1911 also identified Dublin County (excluding the city centre) as the county with the highest literacy rate at the time (96.6 per cent).

Eimear Crowley, a statistician with Ireland Central Statistics Office (CSO), said the findings come in the second release in their Stories from Census 1911 Series.

The first release in the series looked at valuation and population statistics, giving insights into wealth and poverty in the country at that time.

She said a team of CSO volunteers have worked to unlock stories from Census 1911, and the latest release looks at literacy levels in Ireland at that time provides further insights into how people lived in 1911.

The census included a question on literacy for those ages nine years and over.

The findings revealed much lower levels of literacy along the Atlantic coast while higher rates of literacy tended to be centred around Tipperary, Dublin and the North East.

The top four areas for literacy were Dublin city, Dublin county, Belfast city, and Antrim.

Eleven of the 20 District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) with the highest literacy rates were in Leinster, and seven were in Belfast City, Antrim, or Down.

One example highlighted was that Donaghadee Urban DED in Down had one of the highest literacy rates in 1911 with a literacy rate of 99.7 per cent.

This area had a population of 1,797 aged nine years and over of which five were classed as illiterate.

Lettermore DED in Galway was identified as the DED with one of the lowest literacy rates in 1911 with a literacy rate of 38.8 per cent. It had a population of 1,003 who were aged nine years and over, of which 614 were illiterate.

The CSO’s Chapter on Literacy also looks at two different households using their 1911 Census return forms to tell their stories: the Louden household from the high literacy area of Donaghadee Urban DED in Down; and the O’Tooles from Lettermore DED in Galway, which was an area of low literacy.