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County Louth Archaeological and History Society

Dundalk Grammar SchoolAuthor(s): Michael QuaneSource: Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1966), pp. 91-102Published by: County Louth Archaeological and History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27729125 .

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Page 2: Dundalk Grammar School

Bunbaife Grammar ?s>d)uol

By Dr. Michael Quane

In the year 1891 a visitor to Dundalk noted that "

at the entrance to the town there is a

Charity School, as appears by the following inscription in golden letters over the door1: This School was founded at the sole expence of the Honourable Anne Hamilton for the education of

Twenty Boys and Twenty Girls, 1726. And improved into a Charity Working School 1738. Train up a child in his youth the way he should go in, and when he is old he will not depart therefrom.

The date, 1726, would, however, appear to be incorrect, as in a pamphlet published in 1721 for

J. Hyde, Bookseller, Dame Street, Dublin, there is a notice of two Charity Schools in County Louth?one in Drogheda (supported by local subscriptions and a yearly sermon) and one in Dundalk with regard to which one reads

Dundalk. A Charity School erected about 1716 of twenty Children, Clothed, Taught and to be put out to

Services; supported by the Honourable Mrs Hamilton of Dundalk.2

These Charity Schools were set up in Ireland by the wealthy minority in imitation of hundreds of similar schools set up in England from 1698

" by persons eminent for their Learning and Piety . . .

wherein the Children of the Poor might be decently clothed, and usefully educated, being taught to read, write and cast accompts, and instructed in the Knowledge and Practice of the Christian

Religion, as professed and taught by the Established Church, and from whence they might be

apprenticed to useful trades and callings."3 When the movement spread to Ireland, Protestants here

" Considering also that by the laws

of this Realm, no Papist can teach School, and a succession of the Romish clergy is likewise

prohibited, the children of Papists must be abandoned to the grossest ignorance of Christian and moral Duties, unless some care be taken to breed them up in the knowledge of them ; and forasmuch as mild and gentle methods are in their own nature most effectual for the Propagation of Religion : it has been judged a farther reason for erecting Charity Schools in this Kingdom, wherein the

Children of the Popish Natives, being Instructed, Clothed and taken Care of, along with our own, may be so won by our affentionate endeavours, that the whole Nation may become Protestant and

English, and all such Rebellions as have heretofore arisen from the Difference between us in

Religion, Language and Interest, for the future be prevented/'4 The Charity School movement in Ireland

" obtained only in a place of two till the year 1710,"

but in 1716, when Mrs. Hamilton set up her school in Dundalk, there were about thirty schools.

By 1720 the number of schools was about one hundred and sixty, with more than three thousand children in attendance. Children were taken in between the ages of eight and twelve, and subse

quently bound as apprentices to trades or services with masters who were bound to "

cause his said apprentices to attend the Divine Service of the Established Church on every Lord's Day at least in the Church of the Parish where he shall dwell, without permitting him to be present at

any other place of worship whatsoever."

Lady Ann Hamilton, mother of James Hamilton, Viscount Limerick, had purchased in 1716 Lord BeUew's property in Dundalk. She later made further purchases of various premises in the

town, and in 1724 she conveyed all her Dundalk property to her son, Viscount Limerick, declaring that she had bought it in trust for him. Before her death, Mrs. Hamilton nominated three trustees to continue her Charity School. These were her son (Viscount Limerick), the Protestant Primate and Thomas Fortescue. The Charity School movement was not, however, producing the results

i. Report for the year i8gi on the Fund for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, ed. by Col. P. D.

Vigors, 1893, p. 448. 2. Methods of Erecting, Supporting and Governing Charity Schools, 3rd edn. Dublin, 1721.

3. ibid., p. 3.

4. ibid., p. 3.

91

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92 COUNTY LOUTH ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

expected of it; the main reason being that the Catholic parents declined to send their children to these schools. Another scheme then emerged which w7as to be known as the Charter School

system. Under this scheme a new set of charity schools were to be set up on a nation-wide basis, and the children in these schools were to be all Catholics. On 17 April, 1730 the Protestant

Primate, the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishops, Noblemen, Bishops, Judges, Gentry and Clergy of his Kingdom of Ireland represented to George II by petition

That in many parts of our said Kingdom there are great tracts of mountainy and coarse land, of ten, twenty and thirty miles in length, and considerable breadth, almost entirely inhabited by Papists, and that in most

parts of the same and more especially in the Provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connaught, the Papists far exceed the Protestants of all denominations in number. That the generality of the Popish Natives

appear to have little sense or knowledge of Religion, but what they implicitly take from their Clergy, to whose guidance in such matters, they seem wholly to give themselves up, and thereby are kept, not only in

gross ignorance, but also in great disaffection to our person and government, scarce any of them appearing to have been willing to abjure the Pretender to our Throne. So that if some effectual method be no tmade use of to instruct these great numbers of people in the principles of true religion and loyallty, there is little

prospect but that Superstition and Idolatry and Disaffection to us and Our Royal Posterity will, from Generation to Generation, be propagated amongst them.

That amongst the ways proper to be taken for converting and civilising of the said deluded persons, and bringing them (through the blessing of God) in time to be good Christians and faithful Subjects, one of the most necessary, and without which, all others are likely to prove ineffectual, has always been thought to

be the erecting and establishing a sufficient number of English Protestant Schools, wherein the Children of the Irish natives may be instructed in the English tongue, and the fundamental principles of True

Religion.1

In this way the infamous Society for the Promotion of Protestant Working Schools in Ireland came into existence. The main purpose of this project was to increase the Protestant population by

" rescuing the children of the poor natives from that ignorance, superstition and idolatry, to

which they were devoted from their infancy ; and to train them up in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which alone are able to make them wise to salvation ; and in the pure Protestant faith and worship." The Society so founded by the Charter of 24 October, 1733 founded a Correspond ing Society in England, from which substantial financial aid was annually obtained because of such representations as

Charity can never be carried higher than to rescue the Souls of Thousands of poor Children from the Dangers of Popish Superstition and Idolatry, and their Bodies from the miswries of Idleness and Beggary. This is not retailing Charity to Particulars, but diffusing it over a whole Nation ; it is a Charity that will make those who are at present a Nuisance and a Burden to their Country, to become a Treasure and a Blessing to it; that will make honest and industrious Men, of those who would have been brought up in Thievery and

Rags, it is a Charity that wTill multip lyobedient and peacable Subjects to the King and render the Protest ants of Ireland safe in their Lives and Possessions. And it will for ever take away the chief Cause of those

Disquietudes and Apprehensions, which, upon some former Conjunctures, have alarmed the Government and People of England, by reason of the neighbourhood of a formidable Body of Papists, devoted to the See of Rome, and ready to rebel at the Instigation of their Priests, or the secret Machinations of a foreign Enemy.2

The first Charter School was erected at Castledermot in County Kildare in 1734, and in the years following schools were established all over the country. Some of these wrere based on, and exten

sions of, existing Charity Schools. In 1738 Viscount Limerick and his fellow trustees approached the Incorporated Society with a proposal that they should make over the Charity School founded in Dundalk by Lady Ann Hamilton, with the lands of Killinchy, to the Society

" that it may be a

Charter Working School under their Conduct and Direction."3 The following notice of the taking over of the School was published by the Society :

Dundalk in the County of Louth: A School-house having formerly been erected there, the Society have

expended about ?114 to inlarge the building: It was opened in June last and twenty children admitted. Both boys and girls are instructed, and employed by the gentlemen who carry on the Cambrick Manu

i. Preamble to Charter of 24 October, 1733 incorporating the Society for the promotion of English Protestant

Working Schools in Ireland.

2. Brief Review of the Rise and Progress of the Incorporated Society in Dublin from 6 Feb. 1733 to 6 Dec. 1744. Lond. 1745, p. 26.

3. A Continuation of the Proceedings of the Incorporated Society from 24 March, 1737 to 25 March, 1738. Dublin, 1738, p. 14.

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DUNDALK GRAMMAR SCHOOL 93

facture there ; in which they have made such a proficiency, that one girl particularly spins Thread of Sixty Hundred, which is finer than any they yet use in Cambrick?four hundred pieces of Cambrick have been

already wrought by the Manufacturers.1

The manufacture of cambric had then been started in Dundalk by the de Joncourt brothers, who had been encouraged by Archbishop Hugh Boulter, Viscount Limerick, the Earl of Kildare and others to introduce a colony of Huguenots from France to establish the industry there. The girls found ready employment in the new industry, and the Society decided to accommodate the boys in other schools and to confine admissions to Dundalk School to girls only. There was another reason for the intake of girls as it was the considered view of the Society that

the Education of Girls in the Protestant Religion, as not less deserving their attention than that of the

Boys, who by this means will, at the age of maturity be provided with Protestant Wives : The necessity of

this is too evident from Experience in some Parts of the Kingdom, where we see many Popish families with English Names, descended from the Soldiers that came over to suppress the Rebellion of Forty-one. These obtaining Settlements in Places wiiere Protestant Women were not to be found, took Popish Wives ; in Consequence whereof, their Off-spring are Zealous Papists at this Day.2

The connection of Dundalk Charter School with the local cambric industry is again referred to in a pamphlet issued by the Incorporated Society in 1745 :

Dundalk, County of Louth. This School owes its Foundation and Encouragement to the late Honourable

Mrs Ann Hamilton, who endowed it with the lands of Killinchy in the County of Down, let to responsible Tenants at ?35 2 4 half-penny per ann.

It consists of twenty girls only, who under the care of a qualified Spinning-Mistress, are instructed in

Spinning, for the Cambrick Manufacture in this Town, in which they are become great Proficients.3

By 1749 the number of girls in the School had been increased to thirty, and by 1772 the number had been increased to forty?all the children being engaged in spinning. At about this time, however, there was a good deal of uneasiness concerning the conditions in the Charter Schools

throughout Ireland. A Committee of the Dublin House of Commons was appointed in 1788 to

inquire into the state of these schools. This Committee considered a report from John Howard, the philanthropist, who had visited Dundalk School on 21 July, 1787. It was as follows:

Forty girls. The House clean, but the children seemed by their countenances to be scantily fed. Pantry

empty. Allowance now z\d. a day. linen wanted; no towels; no table cloths; only one sheet on a bed.

The Committee considered also a report from Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick, Inspector of Prisons, which read

He states that he visited twenty-eight Charter Schools, in most of which he found the Children rather

delicate, many of them afflicted with Itch, Scald, &c. and that the Athleticity so strongly marked in the

Children of the Poor in this Kingdom, however shabby their Clothing, is not to be found in Charter Schools, which he attributes in a great Measure to the Nature of their Employment, the bad quality of their Food, to Confinement, and to the Effects of unwholesome Exhalations from filthy Bed-clothes and foetid Straw incloased in odiously besmeared Tickens. He says the Nature of their Labour injures the health of many

who sit carding and spinning at the Linen Wheels; the Attitudes cripples their Limbs, whilst the constant

discharge of Saliva to wet the Thread injures their Digestions ; and employed at the large Wheels, their Limbs

being yet in the gristly State, they contract the Habit of turning in their Knees and Toes, and otherwise become distorted, which follow from the Positions into which they are thrown, which even in the state of

Manhood speaks their early Employments; and by the Master's paying for the Children's Labour he becomes more interested in the Profits arising from it than in their making the wished Progress either in a proper Knowledge of the Principles of Religion or Education. He also states that*the Charter School lands are in

general in worse Condition than their neighbouring Grounds ; this he attributes to Masters not being allowed for their Improvements, as also to the uncertainty of their tenures. . . .

i. Appendix to Sermon preached before the Society corresponding with the Incorporated Society in Dublin

by Rt. Rev. Joseph, Lord Bishop of Rochester at St. Mary le Bow, London, 17 March, 1738-9. 2. Abstract of Proceedings of Incorporated Society in Dublin from 6 February, 1733 to 25 March, 1737.

London (reprinted from Dublin edition), 1737, p. 6.

3. Sermon preached before the Society corresponding with the Incorporated Society in Dublin by Rt. Rev.

Matthew, Lord Bishop of Bangor, at St. Mary le Bow, March 28, 1745. Lond. 1745, p. 34. In a publication of the Society of 1740 it is stated that the School was

" opened December 30, 1739. An additional building has

since been completed and twenty children admitted. The girls have made good progress in spinning for the cambrick manufacture." Sermon preached in Christ Church, Dublin on 20 March, iy40 by Robert, Lord Bishop of Corke, Dublin, 1740, p. 14.

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94 COUNTY LOUTH ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

With regard to Dundalk Charter School, Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick reported Dundalk. C.S. 20th October, 1787. M. Bolton, Mistress. The ascent to this house, wThieh is at the entrance to the town from Ardee, is by three steps; it has a wall of six feet high in front, which encloses a small grass plot. As two of the Children were ill in the hospital room, which was uncommonly damp, the boards rotten, and the joists barely rendered, I recommend the removal of them to the store-room, and that the maid should lie in the room, as it was dry, for the convenience of attending them. There are nine beds in one of the sleeping rooms, and but one sheet on each ; the tickens are so small that they would require another breadth to make them fit the bedsteads; some of the blankets and several of the rugs are bad. In another

sleeping room are eight beds which are not faultless. These sleeping rooms are not ceiled, not even rendered. The garden, which is ill fenced, is constantly plundered. The School is well attended to, but should be removed from the town, as it is in want of play-ground, and unendowed with land. Of forty girls that were in the School, several looked delicate, which I attributed in a great measure to the want of play and exercise in the open air.1

The Commissioners appointed by the Lord Lieutenant, under an Act of 17882 to inquire into the state and condition of all schools on public or private foundations in Ireland reported so unfavour

ably on the Charter Schools?the pet scheme of the Dublin Parliament?that their reports made

during 1788-91 were suppressed and were not given to the public till 1857. These Commissioners, of whom John Hely Hutchinson, Secretary of State and Provost of Trinity College, was chairman, considered inter alia a report from John Howard, and said

we are concerned to take notice that it appears, from the said testimony and report of this gentleman, who had visited the four nurseries and all the Charter Schools (two only excepted), that in most of the said establishments the instruction, cleanliness, and health of the children had been most grossly neglected ; that they had not been allowed sufficient food, clothing, or other necessaries ; that in many of these schools

they are half-starved, half naked, and covered with cutaneous disorders, the effects of filth and negligence, while in some of these the children of the masters and mistresses appear fresh, clean and in good health.

This account of the wretched condition of these schools and nurseries is confirmed by further evidence which we have taken on oath, and also by the reports of some of us who have visited several of the said schools and nurseries ; and, upon the whole, it appeared that of all these establishments, being forty-four in number not more than five or six were properly taken care of. Under these circumstances it may wTell be imagined that the admission of children into the charter schools cannot be an object of solicitation to their parents or friends, or that respectable persons should be induced to resort to these schools for servants or apprentices.

These great evils appear to us to have arisen?

1. From the allowance of about 2d. per day only for the maintenance of each child, which was not sufficient for its support. 2. From a scheme, which has been found not to succeed, of having the clothes for the children made in, and

provided by contract, in Dublin.

3. From charges made upon the masters for the labour of the children, by which means the masters were

induced to devote too much of the children's time to labour, and to pay little attention to their instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the principles of the Christian religion.

4. From the ignorance, gross neglect, and frauds of the masters and mistresses.

5. From the inattention and neglect of many of the local committees, and from their unsatisfactory, inaccurate, and false reports, and from the want of visitors, or a sufficient control and inspection. 6. From the want of infirmaries, and due attention to the construction of the buildings to the preservation of the health of the children.

7. From the number of the charter schools being greater than the funds were able to support.3

The Act passed by the Dublin Parliament in 1788, providing for an inquiry into the operation of all schools of public or private foundation in Ireland was, after the Union, re-enacted by the

British Parliament, and a new set of Commissioners were appointed to conduct the inquiry. These Commissioners reported on the Charter Schools on 29 December, 1808:

Whilst we warmly and sincerely applaud the pious and patriotic efforts of those who contributed to the

establishment, and laboured for the success of the Institution, we feel ourselves bound to state, that during a considerable period of its existence it appears to have fallen short of attaining the purposes for which it

i. Apendix to Vol. XXV Commons Journals, 1788, pp. diii-dxxxi. It should be noted that of the twenth nine school reports furnished by Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick, that on Dundalk Charter School wTas the least unfavourable. Rev. Gervais Tinley, master of the Viscount Limerick Grammar School in the town, was returned as Catechist Visitor to the School, on which he gave a favourable report dated 28 March, 1788.

2. 28 Geo II, c. 15.

3. Report of Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry 1791 from Evidence Endowed Schools (Ireland) Com

mission, 1855-58, Vol. II, p. 357-8.

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DUNDALK GRAMMAR SCHOOL 95

was established, and to have failed of one great object, that was intended and expected from it?the con version of the lower orders of the Inhabitants of Ireland from the errors of Popery. The utter inadequacy of the Institution, in point of magnitude and extent, for that object, is sufficient to account for the failure,

independently of the operation of other causes. The number of Popish Children in all the Schools at any one

time, has never probably amounted to sixteen hundred ; and this must have borne so small a proportion to the whole number to be educated, as to have no sensible influence on the great mass of population, even

allowing, that all who were educated in these Schools, continued in the Protestant persuasion ; this however is certainly not the fact ; and though it is impossible to ascertain the number of those who have returned to the Popish persuasion, there is reason to believe that it has not been inconsiderable.

Nevertheless the Commissioners saw fit to recommend "

the Institution as deserving the continu ance of that Legislative patronage and support which it has so long enjoyed; and we are persuaded, that if the zeal now so happily excited for the general advancement of moral and religious education of the Poor, and which has already produced such salutary effects, shall continue to operate in

giving full efficiency to the measures recommended in this Report, the most beneficial consequences may be expected to result to this part of the Empire."1

An Appendix (No. 7) to the Report of 1808 contained a favourable report on the School from Rev. Dr. Beaufort:

Dundalk School for Girls : This School is situated near the extremity of the town of Dundalk, at the south end of it, and close to the Earl of Roden's demesne. The house was considerable enlarged in the course of last year, by an additional building of three stories in height at each end of the old house, which was at the same time put in complete repair; the rooms on the ground floor are, a good kitchen and scullery, and a

school-room 20 feet by 18, which serves also for a dining hall; over these are a committee room, with a

storeroom within side it, and a working room, off which are the Mistress's apartment and the infirmary; the upper storey is divided into two large and four small dormitories, which contain thirty beds, and might hold four more; these rooms are thoroughly ventilated and, as well as the rest of the house, are kept perfectly clean. . . . Eighteen children have been sent here from the Dublin Nursery in June; the number in the house at present is thirty-eight. They are all clean and tidy; and were all in good health before the children came from Dublin, but sixteen of these were affected with sore eyes, and the infection spread so extensively, that thirty of the old scholars caught the infection distemper.

. . . This complaint has retarded their progress a little, but those who read to me performed very well; twenty girls learn to write and appear to be well instructed ; sixteen are taught arithmetic ; the heads of each class are always monitors to the classes immedi

ately below them, and assist in their instruction. . . . Until very lately the industry of the chilrden was

exerted in spinning flax, but the produce was so small that the Mistress lost four or five pounds every quarter. They are now employed in spinning wool, and knitting it into stockings for their own use and for sale : in the last quarter they made by this business alone a clear profit of ?2 15/- having sold eighty-four pair; and they earned about two guineas by plain work. The charge made by the Society to the Mistress for the value of their industry is one pound a year, for three-fourths of the number in the School. . . . Their apparel is remark

ably neat, and in good order at all times ; and when dressed for church they make a very pleasing appearance in blue stuff gowns with white pelerines and straw bonnets; the stuff is bought in Dublin and made up at

home by the girls ; the best leather is also procured, and a shoemaker employed in the house, by which their shoes are cheaper and better made than if they were bought. . . . Margaret Balmer has been Mistress of this School five years, and was assistant to her mother, the former Mistress, during eight years: Henry

Balmer, her husband, lives with her, and assists in the management and tuition; he has an allowance for diet but no salary. The usher is an elderly woman, of the name of Kennedy, who resides with her family in the town, and attends the School from eleven till three o'clock, and from five in the evening till bed-time; she instructs the children in writing, and assists Mr. Balmer in teaching arithmetic; her salary is ?15 and she is allowed 6d. a day for her diet. The Master and Mistress are very assiduous, and have a general good character. . . . The catechist is Reverend Mr. Finlay, Curate of the Parish, who pays great attentkon to his

1. One of the beneficial consequences confidently expected by the Protestant minority from the Charter Schools was that those of the boys who did not relapse to Catholicism would join the British army and fight for the Empire. It was felt by the Incorporated Society

" that though the Society's first and immediate view in these

Charter Schools, is to cultivate the Arts of Peace, and to make these children useful as husbandmen, Artificers, or Servants : Yet should the exigencies of these Protestant Kingdoms demand the Assistance of these Boys, when

grown to Manhood, in a Military Capacity ; the Society is far from thinking that their Education would indispose them to serve their King and Country in any lawful Way. And if the Irish in the Service of France and Spain are known to constitute the Flower of their Troops ; it is to be hoped, they will not fight the worse for being Protestants; nor show less ardour in the cause of liberty and their own Prince, than in that of Slavery, and to a Foreigner,"

Brief Review and Progress of Incorporated Society from 6 Feb. 1733 to 6 Nov. 1744?Appendix to Sermon

preached at St. Mary le Bow, London on 28 March, 1745 by Rt. Rev. Matthew, Lord Bishop of Bangor. London, 1745.

c

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96 COUNTY LOUTH ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

duty. The members of the Local Committee who regularly visit the School are, the Reverend Mr. Thackeray, Vicar of Dundalk, the Honourable Mr. Jocelyn, Messrs. John and Robert Page, and Mr. Ford.1

In their final Report, presented on 30 October, 1812, by the Commissioners inquiring into the Endowed Schools, it was stated

In the Charter Schools, thirty-nine in number, 2,251 children were, at the time of making our Report upon these Instutitions, lodged, clothed, maintained, and educated at an average expense of ?13 4/- each, and, on a very strict inquiry, in the course of which all these schools were visited and examined, under the direction of this Board, by most respectable persons, it appeared as we had the satisfaction of reporting to

your Grace, that they were in a flourishing state, the Education in them efficacious and practical, and in

every respect such as to put it beyond the reach of private defamation or public censure.2

This last expression may be attributed to wishful thinking or delusion?since at no time throughout the whole period of their existence were the Charter Schools outside the reach of both public and

private defamation and censure. The individuals signing the Report were the Protestant Bishops of Armagh, Cashel and Killala, Thomas Elrington, Provost of T.C.D., Rev. Jas. Whitelaw, two

M.P's. (Isaac Corry and Leslie Foster) and Richard Lovell Edgeworth. In 1817 the Charter School was removed from Ann Street (so called after the founder,

Lady Ann Hamilton) to another site, where a commodious building (now known as Dundalk Grammar School) capable of housing one hundred children, was erected at a cost of ?3,600. The old school building in Ann Street was used successively as a cholera hospital, a pin factory and a police barrack.

In 1824 John and Frances Kidd were Master and Mistress of Dundalk Charter School. Several children

" eloped

" (ran away) from the School during their term of office. Rev. Elias Thackeray

who, with his wife, had made a tour of inspection of the Charter Schools on behalf of the Incorpor ated Society, was particularly interested in Dundalk School as he was vicar of the parish. He was

entirely prejudiced in favour of the Charter School system, and was at loggerheads with Father

McArdle, parish priest of Dundalk, on the use of the Bible as a text-book in the Erasmus Smith School in the town, of which Thackeray was Manager. He had also joined issue with Rev. William

Lee, whose views on the Charter Schools did not coincide with his and who had reported :

Dundalk School. I regret that this particular school appears to me very deficient. Excepting three or four

girls, the progress of the children in religious knowledge, and acquaintance with the history and principles of our holy faith, cannot be estimated higher than the mere formal repetition of the church catechism. They have all been carefully brought through the different expositions of it that are used in these schools, but their answering is an act of memory, and not of the understanding. . . . The records of this School supply a

very unpleasant view of those who have been sent from it. From these documents it appears that the number of those who have eloped, and of those who by marriage with Papists, is, in proportion to the number of those who continue members of the Established Church, as one to three; that is, supposing those of whom there is no account, are to be considered as belonging to the latter class. But I fear it would be incorrect to suppose this. This is the view which an intensive search of the school registry during the last

twenty-five years, induced Mr. Horner and me to take of the subject. He has since undertaken personally to visit all who are within his reach.

Stores and food. Although I am inclined to believe that justice is done to the children in this as well as every other respect generally, I yet cannot but report, that upon my visiting very early in the morning, I found several porringers of milk remaining from the suppoer of the night before, which I tasted, and found to be of the worst kind, and such as could not be used, it was perfectly disgusting; some of the same

was served at breakfast. The master (who returned to the school just as I wTas leaving it) assured me that this was accidental ; that sweet buttermilk had been bespoken, but on that day could not be supplied ; that his own cows had not 3^et calved, &c, &c.3

Part of Rev. William Lee's evidence given to the Commissioners on 11 November, 1824 reads:

Do you think that any considerable improvement is produced upon society in Ireland, by mixing wTith it, from time to time, the girls and boys who are educated within the walls of those Charter Schools ? I do not.

Are they so instructed generally as to be likely to become useful members of society, and to communicate to others the knowledge of industrious habits ? Judging from my own experience and observation I should think they are not; I should rather look upon the system as not suited to the feelings or habits of the

country.

i. Third Report of the Commissioners of the Board of Education in Ireland, 1807-1812, pp. 24, 66.

2. Fourteenth Report of the Commissioners of the Board of Education in Ireland, 1807-12, p. 319.

3. First Report of the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, 1825, pp. 130/1.

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DUNDALK GRAMMAR SCHOOL 97

Do you feel generally, that the boys and girls when they are sent out from the Charter Schools, are deficient in such knowledge as would facilitate their providing for their own livelihood ? I consider the situation of the females leaving the school as a very forlorn one; I look upon it in general, that they are not provided

with that sort of knowledge which would render them useful to society, or capable of supporting themselves. Do you attribute it to the friendless state and hopeless condition in which they are when they leave the school ? Yes; I am quite sure it must be owing entirely to the destitute state in which they leave the school,

whence they are moved into the families of farmers, where they have no good example before them where the

discipline of the school is removed, and so many circumstances concur to occasion a dereliction of those

principles they had acquired in the school ; in very few instances are they bound into families where we could

wish, but we were obliged to place them wiiere we could, not being able to get better places. Why cannot better situations be obtained for them ? It appears to me, that there is a disinclination in the masters of better families to choose out of Charter Schools. Are the girls found to be helpless ? For the most part they are destitute of friends; and if they should

happen either to give no satisfaction to their master, or if the master happens to be (which is in too many instances the case) not kind or conscientious in his treatment, they may leave their place, and are driven forlorn upon the world. Is the expression

" A Charter School Girl

" a term of reproach ? It is decidedly so; the very fact of her

bearing the name of a charter school girl, I have knowrn to exclude her from useful places. Have many instances come to your knowledge of their changing their religion and becoming Roman Catholics ? Yes, a great many.1

It may be assumed from the foregoing extract that the question of continuing their girls' schools on the existing system must, about this time, have been of considerable concern to the dis

tinguished committee of highly placed clergymen and others then administering the affairs of the

Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Working Schools in Ireland. In Dundalk steps were taken to reduce the numbers of girls in the Charter School. By 1835 there were only eleven

girls in the school, and wrhilst the full accommodation was for considerably more, it was indicated that

" The School has been allowed to decrease gradually, and it is contemplated making it a

boarding and day school of commercial education for boys."2 This change was mainly due to the

representations of Rev. Elias Thackeray, Vicar of Dundalk. Mainly because of the findings of the Commissioners of 1825, the Parliamentary Grants to the Incorporated Society were withdrawn in 1832. During the preceding ninety-nine years the Society had received state aid totalling ?1,105,869, in addition to large donations and bequests. It had landed property of upwards of

17,240 acres of profitable land in fifteen counties, from which and its investments it had an income of ?8,000 a year. The withdrawal of Government support obliged the Society to close many of its schools and to make altered arrangements for those remaining. Rev. Mr. Thackeray had dwelt on

the difficulties of placing in employment girls from the Charter School in Dundalk, he was aware too of similar difficulties in connection with the boys' schools because of the odium attaching to the

description of both boys and girls as "

Charter School Brats." the defection of many of them from

Protestantism, and the practical impossibility of procuring sufficient Catholic children to take their places in the schools. It w7as his idea that the Charter School for girls in his parish should be changed to a school for boys, and to evade the likelihood of these boys being described as Charter School brats he felt that the substitution of the name

" Institution

" for that of

" School

"

would effect this. Accordingly in the autumn of 1835 the girls' school was disbanded and a school for boys opened in its stead. The Charter Schools had by now become schools for Protestants only, and Thackeray's scheme to open the Dundalk School for both boarders and day-boys, selecting the boarders by competition amongst the boys attending the scriptural schools in the area, was

approved by the Society. The School was visited in 1842 by William Makepeace Thackeray, the

English novelist (namesake but not kinsman of the Vicar of Dundalk) who wrote

From the hospital we bent our steps to the Institution; of which place I give below the rules, and a copy of the course of study, and the dietary: leaving English parents to consider the fact, that their children can

be educated at this place for thirteen pounds a year. Nor is there anything in the establishment savouring of Dotheboys Hall. . . . Boarders are received from the age of eight to fourteen at ?12 per annum and ?1 for

washing paid quarterly in advance. Day scholars are received from the age of ten to twelve at ?2 paid quarterly in advance. The Incorporated Society have abundant cause for believing that the introduction of boarders into their establishments has produced far more advantageous results to the public than they could, at so early a period, have anticipated; and that the election of boys to their foundations only after a fair competition with others of a given district, has had the effect of stimulating masters and scholars to

i. ibidem, pp. 138/9. 2, Second Report of Commission of Public Instruction, Ireland, 183$, p. 178a.

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98 DUNDALK GRAMMAR SCHOOL

exertion and study, and promises to operate most beneficially for the advancement of religious and general knowledge. The districts for eligible candidates are as follows : Dundalk Institution embraces the counties of Louth and Down, because the properties which support it lie in this district. ... I never saw, in any

public school in England, sixty cleaner, smarter, more gentlemanlike boys that were here at work. The

upper class had been at work on Euclid as we came in, and were set, by way of amusing the stranger, to

perform a sum of compound interest of diabolical complication, which, with its algebraic and arithmetic

solution, was handed up to me by three or four of the pupils; and I strove to look as wise as I possibly could. Then they went through questions of mental arithmetic with astonishing correctness and facility; and

finding from the master that classics were not taught in the school, I took occasion to lament this circum

stance, saying, with a knowing air, that I would like to have examined the lads in a greek play. Classics then these young fellow do not get. Let English parents bear this fact in mind; but that

the lads are happy and healthy, anybody who sees them can have no question ; furthermore, they are well instructed in a sound practical education?history, geography, mathematics, religion. What a place to

know of would this be for many a poor half-pay officer, where he may put his children in all confidence that

they will be well cared for and soundly educated.

Arrangement of School Business in Dundalk Institution

Hours 6 to 7 7 to 7i

7i to 8i 8? to 9

9 to io io to io? io| to n? Il? to 12

12 tO I2|

I2| tO 2

2 tO 2\ 2\ to 5

5 to 7i

7ito8 8 to 8\ 8?to9

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Rise, wash, &c.

Scripture by the master & prayer

Reading, History, &c. Breakfast

Play English Grammar

Algebra Scripture

Writing

Arithmetic at Desks and Bookkeeping

Dinner

Play Spelling, Mental Arith

metic and Euclid

Supper Exercise

Scripture by the Master and Prayer in the Schoolroom

Retire to bed

Tuesday and Thursday Rise, wash, &c.

Scripture by the master & prayer

Reading, History, &c. Breakfast

Play Geography Euclid Lecture on Principles

of Arithmetic

Writing

Mensuration

Dinner

Play Spelling, Mental Arith

metic and Euclid

Supper Exercise

Scripture by the Master and Prayer in the Schoolroom

Retire to bed

Saturday Rise, wash, &c.

Scripture by the master & prayer

Reading, History, &c. Breakfast

Play i o to u Repetition i o to ii repetition ii to 12 Use of Globes

12 to i Catechism and

Scripture by the Catechist

Dinner The remainder of this day

is edvoted to exercise till the hour of supper, after

which the boys assemble in the Schoolroom and

hear a portion of Scrip ture read and explained by the Master.

The Sciences of Navigation and practical Surveying are taught in this Establishment, also a Selection of the Pupils, who have a taste for it, are instructed in the art of Drawing.

Dietary Breakfast?Stirabout and milk, every morning. Dinner?On Sunday and Wednesday, potatoes and beef: ten ounces of the latter to each boy. On Monday and Thursday, bread and broth : half pound of the former to each boy. On Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, potatoes and milk: two pounds of the former to each boy.

Supper?Half pound of bread with milk, uniformly, except on Monday and Thursday: on these days,

potatoes and milk.1

As the writer, W. M. Thackeray, noticed, the classics were not taught in the Incorporated Society's Institution at Dundalk, and local Protestant boys requiring instruction in Latin and Greek received

i William Makepeace Thackeray, The Irish Sketch Book (illustrated), 1879 edn., Lond., pp. 277-8. Thackeray might have, but did not, make some inquiry into the provision for education for the native Catholic population. Outside Waterford he noted:

" I saw here the first hedge school I have seen: a crowd

of half-savage looking lads and girls looked up from their studies in the ditch, their college or lecture-room

being in a mud cabin hard by." He passed on and in Cork he "

listened to two boys almost in rags: they were lolling over the quay balustrade, and talking about one of the Ptolemys, and talking very well too. One of them had been reading in

' Rollin

' and was detailing his information with a great deal of information

and fire. Another day, walking in the Mardyke, I followed three boys, not half so well dressed as London errand boys; one was telling the other of Captain Ross's voyages and spoke with as much brightness and

intelligence as the best read gentleman's son in England could do. ..."

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DUNDALK GRAMMAR SCHOOL 99

it at the Viscount Limerick endowed Grammar School, also in the town. The children attending the Institution were

given a sound general education in reading, writing and arithmetic, and the

more advanced pupils in English grammar, French, Mathematics, Drawing and Scriptures (including the Church catechism). The fees for both boarders and day boys were much lower than those charged at the Grammar School, and the children attending the latter school came from families with much higher social pretensions than those at the Institution?though indeed it was a case of the pot and the kettle. The foundation boarders at the Institution had obtained their

places by competition and were the pick of the neighbouring scripture schools (national schools

being excluded) ; some of these and of other ambitious children in the School had intentions towards the University and required Latin to matriculate. It was contrary to the policy of the

Incorporated Society to include this subject in the curriculum of their schools, but the masters

surreptitiously used a discretion and Mr. John Turner, Master of the Institution, informed the Endowed Schools Commission at its sitting in Dundalk on 17 October, 1855 that

" the classics

are taught in hours which are not school hours; in after hours."1

On that date he had eighty-six boarders, of whom forty-two were foundation boarders, forty-two pay boarders, and two of his own children. In addition he had nine day scholars, making a total of ninety-five. The Grammar School was at this time equally flourishing under the master

ship of Rev. Edward Maynard Goslett. The Institution was inspected on 18 September, 1856 by Frederick William McBlain, Assistant Commissioner, who reported:

This Institution is respectably conducted, and in good working order. I examined a numerous class in

English dictation, English history, grammar and reading, in all of which the pupils acquitted themselves well. The course of education given in the school might, however, be usefully extended by embracing navigation?an important branch of instruction in a commercial seaport town like Dundalk. I may also observe that it was not satisfactory to find in a school of such pretensions, and so numerously attended, only two boys learning book-keeping, a defect the more remarkable as the pupils in after life generally turn to commercial pursuits.2

The success of their foundation schools at Dundalk, Kilkenny and Athlone suggested to the

Incorporated Society the desirability of opening a similar school in the metropolis. The announce ment of this decision, conveyed through the public press,3 reads

INCORPORATED SOCIETY?DUBLIN ENGLISH SCIENTIFIC AND COMMERCIAL DAY SCHOOL

The Incorporated Society having determined to extend to the

City of Dublin the advantages of the system of Education which has

proved so beneficial in other parts of Ireland, has resolved to OPEN a DAY SCHOOL, in which the Children of the Middle Classes may be instructed in the most improved and efficient manner, in the various

departments of an English General Education, including Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, with the addition of the Modern Languages when required, the Classics, however, being omitted.

The object of the Society is to afford to the Children of the Middle Classes in Dublin the most favorable opportunity of competing for

appointments in the Civil Service, and of preparing themselves for Commercial Pursuits.

Instructions in the Holy Scriptures will be given weekly by one of the Parochial Clergymen, and the utmost attention will be paid to the

morals and general deportment of the Pupils. The Terms will be ?4 per Annum, payable quarterly in advance,

with ?1 entrance, which will be returned on the Boy leaving the

School, provided he shall have attended regularly for one year, and shall have satisfied the Committee with his progress.

Instruction in French and German may be secured on payment of an additional fee of ?2 per annum for each.

The School will Open (D.V.) on the ist November, 1856.

i. Endowed Schools (Ireland) Commission, 1855-58, Vol. I, Ev. Q. 12286, p. 680.

2. ibidem, Vol. II, Tables, p. 182.

3. Saunder's Newsletter, 18 October, 1856.

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100 COUNTY LOUTH ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

The foregoing advertisement indicates a change of outlook in the Incorporated Society, as the concern is no longer with the education of the poor but with the so-called

" middle classes "?but

with the limitation that whatever else these classes might get they would not get any instruction in classics. There was, however, a

growing demand for such instruction, and in a return made by the master of Dundalk Educational Institution on 9 June, 1871 the course of instruction is boldly set out as Greek, Latin, French, German, Geometry, Algebra, Mensuration, Trigonometry,

Mechanics, Electricity, Chemistry, Physical Geography, Metallurgy, Navigation, Geology, Arith metic, Drawing, W7riting, Reading, Spelling, Grammar. The Master, Rev. John Turner, had as

principal assistant Hugh McEwen, and also on the teaching staff were John W. Turner, Thomas

Chapman and Herr Crenn. There were thirty-four free foundation boarders in the School and

thirty-one pay boarders?hall boarders paying twenty to twenty-six pounds a year and parlour boarders thirty to thirty-seven. At this time the Viscount Limerick Grammar School w7as under the control of a most efficient teacher?Rev. Richard H. Flynn, but when he left Dundalk in 1879 to take charge of the Erasmus Smith Grammar School at Ennis, the Dundalk school went into a

rapid decline. The new master, George William Johnson, lost pupils to the Educational Institution

despite the fact that some residents felt that the Institution was somewhat of a charity school and that it was not fitting that thek children should associate with the children attending it. The local rector, Rev. Dr. J. G. Rainsford, felt strongly that because his gardener's son?evidently a

brilliant boy?was a pupil at the Institution, it was not pleasant that his sons should mix with

boys of that class. Despite the objections of Dr. Rainsford and those who shared his views, the Grammar School was closed, and its endowment shared between the schools in the town who

presented pupils for examination in Latin and English at the annual Intermediate Examinations. The Incorporated Society still, however, kept up a pretence that classical education was outside its province. The Secretary to the Society informed the Endowed Schools Commission on

25 April, 1879 that

we do not employ any master to teach classics, still we are glad if a master introduces them. It has been attended with very good results . . . the master may teach classics as a private speculation.1

John Pentland Mahaffy, F.T.C.D. (later Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin) reporting to the Endowed Schools Commission on 7 October, 1880 said, with regard to the Incorporated Society's Schools :

there might be room for improvement in the following respects: In the first place there is a great deficiency in classical teaching through all the schools, a deficiency not arising from neglect, but from the original conception having failed to satisfy the clever and ambitious youths trained under the old system. The school

only professed to teach Mathematics, English and Scripture, whereas of late all the most brilliant of the

pupils seek sizarships and other honours in the University of Dublin and thus require the "

humanities "

to a larger degree. The mathematical teaching is no doubt the best in Ireland, but so far as we may judge, from the many instances before us in Trinity College, the most careful training in English, without classics, fails to produce good English scholars, and I have known more than one first-rate Santry pupil suffer

incurably from a vicious English style, if not from more serious defects. This is a most remarkable practical instance of the old theory which is now reviving, that the teaching of English in the modern fashion is of little

value, and that the old method of teaching Latin grammar, and allowing English to take care of itself, is

really sounder and more practical. If a boy in the Incorporated Society's Schools has classical tastes, he is obliged to prosecute them

outside the usual school hours; he requires no classics for his school competitions, and he often begins his Latin and Greek at an age far too advanced for the easy and thorough acquisition of languages. If the elements of Latin were allowed to replace the inordinate amount of Scripture insisted upon at the entrance examination for foundations, and if some allowance was made to the masters for classical teaching, these excellent schools would become far more efficient. . . .2

There were sixty-eight pupils in the School when Mahaffy visited it, of whom thirty were boarders on the foundation; the remaining thirty-eight were paying boarders of whom parlour boarders

paid ?31 105. a year and hall boarders paid twenty-one pounds a year. Classics were extra at -?3 a

year and French, German and Drawing at ?2 2s. each. The school lands, bequeathed by Mrs. Ann

Hamilton towards the support and maintenance of her school, produced at this time an annual income of ?605 4s. including a rental of ?56 95. Sd. in respect of the old school building in Ann

i. Endowed Schools (Ireland) Commission, 1881, Vol. II, p. 155. 2. ibidem Report, p. 244.

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DUNDALK GRAMMAR SCHOOL 101

Street let to the Royal Irish Constabulary on a twenty-one years' lease from 30 June, 1868.

Dockrey and Jessop were successively masters of the School. Rev. John Turner, who had been master of the Dundalk Educational Institution from

July, 1853 till December, 1885, informed the Educational Endowments Commission at its sitting in the Court-house, Dundalk on 22 October, 1886 that the School contained one hundred and six boarders at one time during his tenure of office, and that the largest number of day boys that he had was sixteen. He was asked:

I suppose your course of instruction was the ordinary one in the Incorporated Society's schools; chiefly English and Mathematics ? Yes. I would not say

" chiefly

" because Scriptural instruction forms a great

part of the education given in the school. As regards classics, had you any provision ? Yes, we always had some classics ; but we taught them under difficulties. Classics were not recognised by the Incorporated Society. . . .

During your time was the Grammar School a school for classical education ? Yes. Did it compete with your school ? No, we did not compete with it in classics ; I daresay we did in mathe matics. Did it draw boys from your school ? I should think not. Has the Dundalk Grammar School been a large school in your time ? Well, not particularly large; it has not been as well supported as it deserves to be.1

Mr. Thomas Alexander Finch, B.A., informed the Commission that he had succeeded Mr. Turner in the previous December as Master of the Institution. His evidence went as follows:

I believe this is not your first connexion with the school ? No, I was educated in the Dundalk School

myself. What was the number of boys in the school at the time you became master ? There were thirty-six boarders when I opened, and six day boys.

What are the numbers now ? We have now forty-two boarders and ten day boys. How many of the forty-two boarders are free scholars ? Thirty. Are the free pupils on the foundation of the Incorporated Society, and their expenses paid by the Society ? Yes.

What is the amount you receive for their board and teaching ? There is ten pence a day allowed for their

dietary. In addition to the free boarders who are on the foundation of the Incorporated Society, have you also boarders who pay for their board and education ? Yes, there are two classes of paying boarders, parlour and hall boarders; the parlour boarders pay ?32 a year and the hall boarders ?22.

What is the distinction between the parlour and hall boarders ? The parlour boarders dine with ourselves? with the family and the masters; that is the only distinction. How many of them have you ? Six at present. How many hall boarders ? Six.

What are the fees for day boys ? ?1 5/- a quarter. What is your course of instruction ? English and mathematics; fairly advanced mathematics, and a good English education. I believe you have also some provision for classical education ? Yes, those that wish for it can join the classical course, but we charge extra for it??1 a quarter.

How many of the boys are learning classics ? At present, twenty-eight. Then a considerable number of your free boarders?those on the foundation?are learning classics ? Yes, I allow a foundation pupil wishing to learn classics to take up the classical course for half the fee that a

pay boarder pays. What is your teaching staff ? Myself and three assistants.2

Mr. Finch had ?100 a year from the Society ; his first assistant master got ?40 a year ; the second assistant master?Dr. Schlomka of the University of Berlin who taught classics and modern

languages, was paid ?60 a year by Mr. Finch ; and the third assistant was a senior past pupil who received instruction in classics and had charge of junior classes at a salary of ?10 a year. All the classes in Mr. Finch's school were inspected on nth and 13th April, 1910 on behalf of the Inter

mediate Education Board for Ireland by their Inspectors?R. C. B. Kerin and T. Rea. A few of their reports are as follows :

Mathematics Middle Grade (10) Mr. Finch. Nearly all the boys are working for Honours. The course had been covered in Geometry and Arithmetic, and a very large number of deductions had been solved. In

Algebra the class were doing hard examples in progressions. Two typical questions were worked on the board by the Master, whose explanations of the various steps were distinguished by clearness and lucidity.

i. Annual Report Educational Endowments (Ireland) Commission, pp. 1886-7, 214-5. 2. ibidem, p. 213.

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102 COUNTY LOUTH ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

The class had been splendididly drilled in their work and were very intelligent. I set them two hard questions in

progressions, which were solved at once by the majority of the boys. Workman's Arithmetic, Baker and Bourne's Algebra, and Hall and Steven's Euclid are the ordinary text books. French?Mr. A. D. Lewis. French is taught by Mr. Lewis, who is responsible for the Science teaching also. The headmaster informed me that he had obtained Honours in the Welsh University degree examination in French. He seems to have a competent knowledge of book French, but he has never been to the country, and I noticed many mistakes in his pronunciation during the time I was present.

Preparatory Grade (14). This class has been worse taught than any I have seen up to the present. Although they have been learning French for seven months the children have not been taught to

pronounce a single word correctly. Hardly one could pronounce moi ! I spoke somewhat severely to the teacher about the matter and he told me he purposely avoided pronunciation as no credit was given for it in the examinations ! All the time of the class is taken up with formal grammar and the translation from the prescribed book.

Latin?Junior Grade (12)?Mr. Boyd. On the day of inspection a lesson was given on composition. Sentences adapted from Caesar had been turned into Latin by the class. Each sentence was discussed. Alternative versions, if neater, were written out on the blackboard by the teacher, wTho took every oppor tunity of impressing on the boys the main rules of syntax. A good explanation, for example, was given of the usages of prohibeo. The teacher, in distinguishing between consilium and condilium, did not give the two meanings of the former. He, perhaps, thought it unnecessary to do so for a junior class. In the second half of the lesson the boys translated Caesar and Ovid, but did not read the Latin aloud. The translation seemed to have been well prepared, and the teacher's explanations were given in a lucid and clear manner. Some of the class were strong in syntax, but no one knew that insiurandum had no plural, and many con

fused vinco and vincio. The teaching is sound and good.1

The teaching staff was returned as Thomas A. Finch, M.A., Arthur D. Lewis, B.Sc. (Wales), Hugh Boyd (Exhibitioner and Honourman R.U.I.), Frank G. Griffin (Matriculation R.U.I.), Robert W. Kinghan and Miss Georgina Sutton (Drawing). There were thirty-eight boarders and nineteen day boys in the School on the days of inspection.

The Master (Finch) died in 1916 and because of his death and circumstances arising from the Easter Rising of that year, the School was closed for the duration of World War I. It was used for a time as a Red Cross Hospital, and later as temporary barracks for the King's Own Yorkshire

Light Infantry. In 1921 it was leased from the Incorporated Society by a local group representa tive of the various Protestant sects, and it was reopened in October of that year as a co-educational

school and named Dundalk Grammar School, the original Grammar School founded by Lord Limerick having closed down in 1885.2 Rev- A. A. Hanbidge was appointed Master, a post which he retained till 1954. A press report on his retirement is as follows:

Dundalk people are showing their appreciation of the good work done by the Rev. A. A. Hanbidge, who was for 33 years headmaster of Dundalk Grammar School, and is now leaving to become rector of the parish of St. John Out-Rawcliffe at Blackburn, Lancashire.

When he first became headmaster of this successful co-educational boarding and day school he was

only 28 years of age. He leaves the school with a good name; for the last three years it has had 100 % successes in Intermediate Examinations. He and his wife were most popular in the town. Presentations

have been made to them by Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, as well as the parish church of St.

Nicholas, and the church of Heynestown, of which Mr. Hanbidge was rector during the past few years. From next Wednesday, the newT head will take over. He is the Rev. Albert Finamore, from Durrow,

who was curate of Wexford for two years before he became a teacher in Dundalk a year ago. It is perhaps a lucky coincidence that the new headmaster is also 28 years of age; he thinks he is probably the youngest head at the moment in Ireland. He was a pupil of Dundalk Grammar School himself, as are several other

members of the present staff.3

i. Intermediate Education Board for Ireland. Reports of Inspectors, igog-io, No. 75.

2. The Work of the Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Schools, by Canon H. Kingsmill Moore,

Dundalgan Press, 1938, p. 54.

3. The Irish Times, 29 November, 1954.

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