1851 in Ireland

Events from the year 1851 in Ireland.

Events

 * 30 March – the United Kingdom Census shows that, as part of the legacy of the Great Famine, the population of Ireland has fallen to 6,575,000 – a drop of 1,600,000 in ten years. This is the first census to note use of the Irish language.
 * 1 August – Midland Great Western Railway extended from Mullingar to Galway.
 * 7 August – Poor Relief (Ireland) Act provides for the establishment of dispensaries.
 * Construction of MacNeill's Egyptian Arch, a railway bridge near Newry on the Dublin-Belfast railway line is completed.
 * Tillie and Henderson open their first shirt factory in Derry.

Undated

 * Ancestors of Presidents of the United States Barack Obama and Joe Biden migrate from Ireland to the U.S.
 * Jacob's brand of biscuits, bars and coffee is founded; their first biscuit is possibly Goldgrain.



Births

 * 8 January – William McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim, peer (died 1918).
 * 14 March – Paddy Ryan, boxer (died 1900).
 * 17 March – Ted Sullivan, Major League Baseball player and manager (died 1929 in the United States).
 * 21 March – Henry Prittie, 4th Baron Dunalley, peer and Lord Lieutenant of County Tipperary 1905–1922 (died 1927).
 * 4 April – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, lawyer, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, first Chairman of Seanad Éireann (died 1931).
 * 22 May – William Moxley, representative from Illinois's 6th congressional district (died 1938 in the United states).
 * 4 September – John Dillon, land reform agitator, Irish Home Rule activist, nationalist politician, MP and last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (died 1927).
 * 3 December – George Noble Plunkett, nationalist, politician, museum curator (died 1948).

Deaths

 * 23 May – Richard Lalor Sheil, politician, writer and orator (born 1791).
 * 1 September – Anne Devlin, Irish republican and housekeeper to Robert Emmet (born 1780).

Census

 * Surviving 1851 Census Returns of Ireland