Guest Speaker Irish Interest Group

Richard Reid emigrated from Ireland to Australia in January 1972.

Back in his mother’s house was a load of family papers, mainly consigned to plastic bags and old envelopes. These bags and envelopes, at his mother’s death, went to his sister in England where they resided in an old trunk. Between 2015 and 2018 Richard sorted this material, catalogued it into archival boxes with acid free paper, and in late 2022, sent it all to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

It is a collection of very miscellaneous material, documents and photographs from c.1800 to the 1970s, full of connections to the lived experiences of a number of Ulster families over two centuries.

Richard will never write the family history (that may have been his father’s ambition) but he is aware that the items in this family collection point to dozens of fascinating questions about the rise and development of a religiously and ethnically mixed Ulster family over two centuries. The papers themselves will the focus of his presentation, a last, lingering look at his Irish forbears.

Richard will be our guest speaker at the next meeting of the Irish Special Interest Group on 13 May 2023.

Family History ACT members can book to attend this presentation via our FHACT Website