The question arises because my wife's mother and aunts came to England on borrowed passports at the age of 16 or so, from about 1947.
Yes! They were illegal economic immigrants to England, sending most of their earnings home to support the rest of the family.
Thanks all for the boosts - the question has been resolved.
The answer is - from the Early days of the Irish Free State and at least to 1924.
An extremely niche question from my granddaughter :
When were photographs first used on Irish passports?
Bedell, William https://www.dib.ie/biography/bedell-william-a0537
William Bedell sounds as if he was an attractive character, his life a ray of light in what is all too often the gloom of the early modern history of the English in Ireland.
#History #IrishHistory #Anglican #EcclesiasticalHistory #WilliamBedell #Irish #Ireland #TrinityCollegeDublin
Updated: bibliograpy of statutes of the Irish Parliament to 1800.
The Virtual Treasury has made the two last volumes ofthe IRO Early Statutes series freely available online
https://statutes.org.uk/site/collections/british-and-irish/ireland-to-1800/