National School Registers for County Monaghan
National School registers are a valuable source of family information. They contain the vital details of each pupil, along with a summary of their school attendance, the subjects they took, and their examination results over the years. Registers occasionally contain notes on departures from the school, careers after leaving school, emigration, serious illness, or even death.
Usually, there are separate registers for girls and boys who were attending the same school. Each register began with an index of pupils, followed by the register of infants, and finally the main part of the register.
The pupil’s name was written into the school register when they first entered the school, along with their age, religion, residence and the occupation of their parent or guardian. Each pupil was assigned a unique register number. If a pupil had moved from another school, the name and county of their previous school were added, and last class they had passed.
When a pupil graduated from the infant class, their details were transferred to the main part of the register, along with their register number. A school register might contain two or three entries for the same pupil, each accompanied by their register number. On very rare occasions, such as when a mistake was made in filling in the register, a register number might be re-used for another pupil.
The following abbreviations are found in school registers:
| Bret. | Plymouth Brethren |
| Brethren | Plymouth Brethren |
| C of E | Church of England |
| C of I | Church of Ireland |
| Cath. | Catholic |
| Diss. | Dissenter, i.e. Presbyterian |
| EC | Established Church, i.e. Church of Ireland |
| Elim | Elim Pentecostal Church |
| Free Pres. | Free Presbyterian |
| G | Guardian |
| Guard. | Guardian |
| IC | Irish Church, i.e. Church of Ireland |
| IM | Independent Methodist |
| Ind. Meth. | Independent Methodist |
| JW | Jehovah’s Witness |
| Meth. | Methodist |
| NT | National School Teacher |
| P | Presbyterian |
| PD | Presbyterian Dissenter |
| Ply. B | Plymouth Brethren |
| Pres. | Presbyterian |
| RC | Roman Catholic |
| RIC | Royal Irish Constabulary |
| Ref. Pres. | Reformed Presbyterian |
| Wes. | Wesleyan Methodist |
| WM | Wesleyan Methodist |
The Monaghan school records can be found on the Monaghan search pages under census substitutes.