Historic 1926 census shows Protestant population drop in Irish Free State One of the most significant demographic shifts in the early years of the Irish Free State was the drop in the country's Protestant population, newly available papers from a 100-year-old census have revealed.

The 1926 census is available online from Saturday morning and the public are able to look up their own families.

The data shows that between the 1911 census, when Ireland was part of Britain, and 1926, there was a one-third decline in the non-Catholic population, which was mostly Protestant.

This compares to just a 2% drop among Catholics.

The years between the 1911 census and 1926 were some of the most tumultuous in Ireland's history, including the Easter Rising and two-year War of Independence.

That war led to the creation of the independent Irish Free State in 1922, which would later become the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom.

The decision to split Ireland in two followed decades of turmoil between nationalists, who wanted independence from British rule, and unionists, who wanted to remain in the United Kingdom.

Protestants were on the whole more likely to be unionists, while Catholics were more likely to be nationalists.

The 1926 census reflected the first few years of the new state's life.

Census officials estimated that about a quarter of the overall Protestant decline could be explained by the withdrawal of the British Army and their families.

Protestant communities were unevenly spread across the state, and the rate of decline varied by region.

Munster saw the sharpest fall (42.9%), followed by Connacht (36.3%) and Leinster (32.4%), while the Ulster border counties (Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan) experienced the smallest decline (22.5%).

However, even though their population declined, Protestants remained strongly represented in many professional, commercial and agricultural occupations in 1926.

They accounted for a high share of employers (17%), managers and professionals (18.4%), chartered accountants (46%) and barristers (39%).

The number of non‑Catholic farmers and their families had actually risen slightly since 1911 (by almost 4%).

'Significant drop' Protestants continued to be over‑represented among larger farms, partly because many had benefited from land....