G2G: Looking for an English ancestor born in Northern Ireland

Question

My maternal great, great grandfather Henry John ALDRICH was born in 1840 in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland reportedly the son of English parents. He immigrated to America in 1850. One researcher claims that his father was in the British Navy (Coast Guard) but to date I haven't found a birth record or his immigration record or any other record to verify who his parents were. I'm traveling to Ireland in 2024 so any suggestions as to where to search for more information would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The Civil Registration of Births didn’t start for another 20 years, so your best bet would be to see if there were records of a baptism at a church of the correct denomination of your ancestor. Carrickfergus isn’t very far from Belfast, where there might be copies of the registers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).