1926 Census - my Grandparents IV

My grandfather Paddy Byrne was the most difficult of my grandparents to find, and I can't be certain that the one I identify as him is actually him. First to check was for his family in the Lorrha/Terryglass area for North Tipperary - this is where the family lived at the time of the 1911 census. His mother and father are listed as living in Terryglass along with Paddy's brothers Jimmy, Tommy, and Billy. His sisters Mary, Bridie, and Margaret are also present. Paddy is not there and neither is his older sister Julia (Eileen)...

My grandfather Paddy Byrne on his wedding day 12th November, 1933.

I know that Paddy Byrne was born on 20th July, 1905. This means that at the April 1926 census he was he was 20 years and 8 months old. He was born in Lorrha, Co Tipperary, so with these two clues I set off to find him. The first problem was that his name is common - there are 252 "Patrick Byrnes" listed in the census in Ireland. I tried Tipperary and Galway (where his father was from) with no luck. I then reduced the search to the age range 20-29 years - there are twenty-nine 20 year-old Patrick Byrnes. Many of these were easy to eliminate as the man listed was the son of another family. Only one matches the name, age, and place of birth. Much to my surprise the census return form seems to be from the Curragh Barracks - this Patrick Byrne was a private in the Defence Forces. 

Private Patrick Byrne - last name listed.

My Mum has no recollection of ever hearing that her dad Paddy was in the army, my uncle thinks it unlikely as he had a bad accident with his leg when he was young. We do know that he later served in the Local Defence Force (LDF) during World War II. All the evidence points to this man being my grandfather, but I can't be certain. The chances of there being two (or more) Patrick Byrnes exactly the same age and born in a small place like Lorrha, seem very low.

The next step is to check out the military record of the above Patrick Byrne who was in the army in 1926 for more clues - this is available form the Defence Forces archive section. I'll report findings here when I get them.