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ABSTRACT
Discussions bearing upon the provision of intermediate (post-primary) schooling in Ireland in the nineteenth century were inextricably interwoven with debates regarding Catholic autonomy there. The establishment, in 1878, of the intermediate system, cannot be understood outside the context of Irish Catholic grievances, imagined or otherwise. This article excavates that theme within the context of the parliamentary debate that resulted in the passing of the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Bill 1878. The study does not range beyond this remit, rather, it seeks to demonstrates how hostility to the Bill, as a form of discreet funding of denominationally owned schools in Ireland, was implicit within objections to the absence of inspection, the form that payment for results might take and, on occasion, explicit in terms of antagonism to state funded Catholic intermediate-type schooling there. Intermediate schools were similar to present-day secondary schools in that they were intended for pupils who had completed primary school and entered pupils for terminal examinations. However, even in the period we are dealing with, definitions were vague. However, for the purposes of convenience, “intermediate”, rather than “secondary” is employed throughout. Intermediate education should not, however, be understood in the contemporary sense of a system underpinned by public money, designed, with a compulsory attendance element, to cater for all and staffed by trained graduates. We are not concerned with individual schools, their daily operation or the development of schools by denominational communities; rather, the article excavates the parliamentary discussion with a view to better understanding the denominational and practical challenges the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act faced before becoming legislation.
KEYWORDS:
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
2 Daniel Kelleher, James Dominic Burke (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1988), 100.
3 John Coolahan, Towards The Era of Lifelong Learning (Dublin: IPA, 2017), 59.
4 Thomas O’Donoghue, Catholic Teaching Brothers: Their Life in the English-speaking World, 1891–1965 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
5 See, for example, Deirdre Raftery, Teresa Ball and Loreto Education: Convents and the Colonial World, 1794–1875 (Dublin: Four Courts, 2022); Deirdre Raftery, Catriona Delaney, and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck, Nano Nagle: The Life and the Legacy (Dublin: IAP, 2018); Jacinta Prunty, Margaret Aylward, 1810–1889: Lady of Charity, Sister of Faith (Dublin: Four Courts, 1999).
6 Thomas O’Donoghue, Judith Harford, and Teresa O’Doherty, Teacher Preparation in Ireland: History, Policy and Future Directions (Bingley: Emerald, 2017).
7 Tom O’Donoghue and Teresa O’Doherty, Irish Speakers and Schooling in the Gaeltacht: 1900 to the Present (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019); Teresa O’Doherty and Tom O’Donoghue, Radical Reform in Irish Schools, 1900–1922: The “New Education” Turn (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).
8 Dáire Keogh, Edmund Rice and the First Christian Brothers (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008).
9 Tom O’Donoghue, Catholic Teaching Brothers: Their Life in the English-speaking World, 1891–1965 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
10 See T.J. McElligott, Secondary Education in Ireland 1870–1921 (Dublin: IAP, 1981), 108.
11 Tom O’Donoghue and Judith Harford, Piety and Privilege (OUP, UK, 2021) passim.
12 Jesse Merriam, Pew Research Center, 24 July 2008, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2008/07/24/the-blaine-game-controversy-over-the-blaine-amendments-and-public-funding-of-religion (accessed April 28, 2022).
13 See remarks of William Giddy MP, HC Deb 13 June 1807 vol. 9 cc798–806, 799
14 John Lawson and Harold Silver, A Social History of Education in England (London: Methuen, 1973), 268–9. An Act to regulate the Labour of Children and young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom.
15 W.B. Stephens, Education in Britain 1750–1914 (UK: Palgrave, 1999), 7.
16 Roy Hattersley, The Catholics (London: Vintage, 2017), 451.
17 Peel, Sir Robert (1788–1850), 2nd baronet, Irish chief secretary (1812–1818).
18 Cardinal Paul Cullen, Roman Catholic Bishop of Armagh (1849–1852) appointed Archbishop of Dublin 1852 and created Cardinal in 1866. John Henry Newman (1801–1890) created Cardinal in 1879.
19 See Maurice Hime, Efficiency of Irish Schools and their Superiority to English Schools as Places of Education for Irish Boys Proved and Explained (Dublin: Sullivan Brothers 1889), 18, for a list of such schools operating in Dublin in 1899, two decades after the establishment of the Intermediate System.
20 Erasmus Smith Trust established 1657 for the support of schooling in Ireland. The schools promoted a Protestant ethos.
21 Sir Michael Edward Hicks Beach (1837–1916) 9th Baronet appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland 1874.
22 HC Deb February 15, 1877 vol. 232 cc374–5. Richard O’Shaughnessy (1842–1918) Constituency Limerick 1874−1888.
23 Lady Victoria Hicks Beach, Life of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, First Earl St Aldwyn (London, 1932), I: 46–7.
24 HL Deb 21 June 1878 vol. 241 cc7–197, 7–9.
25 Ibid. On discussion pertaining to the Endowed Schools Commission. See https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/1858-05-03/debates/EndowedSchools(Ireland).
26 Ibid. HL Deb 21 June 1878 vol 24, 9.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., 9–10.
29 Institutions proposed by Sir Robert Peel in 1844 to address the issue of university education for Catholics in Ireland: C. Barr, Paul Cullen, John Henry Newman and the Catholic University of Ireland 1845–1865 (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003), passim.
30 HL Deb 21 June 1878 vol. 241 cc7–197, 11.
31 Ibid. Hansard records two different figures again demonstrating the difficulty of establishing, with certainty, the number of intermediate-type schools in Ireland in the period.
32 These colleges are usually referred to as Irish Colleges. Approximately 34 such colleges were established throughout Europe in the period following the Reformation. It was in order to dissuade Catholics of means from sending their sons to the colleges abroad that the Lord Deputy, Henry Sidney proposed, in 1577, that the University of Dublin (Trinity College) be established (1593).
33 HL Deb 21 June 1878 vol. 241 cc7–197, 11.
34 HL Deb 21 June 1878 vol. 241 cc7–197, 14–15.
35 Ibid.
36 HL Deb 21 June 1878 vol. 241 cc7–197, 16–18.
37 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46.
38 Thomas O’Hagan, First Baron O’Hagan, Liberal Party (Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1868–1874, 1880–1881).
39 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46. 422, 423–4. William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton (Conservative Member of Parliament for Mid Surrey 1868–1870).
40 Model schools were designed to train monitors, that is, older pupils who wished to become national schoolteachers. The first school was established in Dublin in 1835.
41 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 425.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid.
44 Chichester Samuel Parkinson-Fortescue, 2nd Baron Clermont and 1st Baron Carlingford. Liberal Member of Parliament. Lord Chief Justice of Ireland 1865–1866, 1868–1871.
45 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 429.
46 Ibid.
47 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 430.
48 Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore, held a number of posts between 1886 and 1913.
49 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 441. John William Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany (Conservative Member of Parliament for Thornbury, 1886–1892)
50 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 435.
51 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 440.
52 HL Deb 28 June 1878 vol. 241 cc415–46, 440, 444I.
53 HC Deb 15 July 1878 vol. 241 cc1482–1536, 1503. William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal Member of Parliament. Gladstone served as Prime Minister for four terms: 1892–1894, 1886– (1 February–20 July), 1880–1885, 1868–1974.
54 Ibid., 266.
55 Ibid.
56 Leonard Courtney, Member for Liskeard, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith.
57 HC Deb 15 July 1878 vol. 241 cc1482–536, 1510.
58 HC Deb 25 July 1878 vol. 242 cc261–327, 291. Fawcett, Liberal Party, held the seat for Brighton 1865–1874 and Hackney 1874–1884.
59 In 1863 Fawcett published his Manual of Political Economy and was appointed Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge. He subsequently published a number of books on economic theory and, in 1883, was appointed Rector of Glasgow University.
60 HC Deb 25 July 1878 vol. 242 cc261–327, 292.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid., 293.
63 HC Deb 25 July 1878 vol. 242 cc261–327, 294.
64 Ibid.
65 Member for North Warwickshire 1843–1885. Newdegate had, in the past, won a vote in the Commons (by two votes) requesting that a select committee investigate convents and monasteries. See Hansard, cc, 9 0 6–8, 29 March 1870.
66 HC Deb 25 July 1878 vol. 242 cc261–327, 294.
67 Sir Patrick O’Brien, 295.
68 Ibid, 297. Sir William Ewart, 1st Baronet, Member for Belfast/North Belfast 1878–1889.
69 HC Deb 25 July 1878 vol. 242 cc261–327, 298.
70 Ibid. Frank O’Donnell, MP for Dungarvan, a prominent supporter of Home Rule and obstructionist.
71 Ibid., 300. John Edward Jenkins, Member of Parliament for Dundee 1874–1880.
72 Ibid., 301.
73 HC Deb 15 July 1878 vol. 241 cc1482–536, 1489.
74 Communities falling outside these categories such as the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) had also established schools in Ireland. “Friends” schools had been established in Lisburn (1774), Newton, Waterford (1798) and Rathgar Junior School, Dublin (1919). In 1956 the Friends assumed the running of Drogheda Grammar School, established in 1669 under the Erasmus Smith Trust. Ballitore Quaker School was founded in 1726 and continued in existence until 1847. There were also Quaker schools at Edenderry, Mountmellick, Clonmel and Brookfield near Lisburn: https://quakers-in-ireland.ie/about-us/schools/ (accessed 2 November 2021).
75 HC Deb 15 July 1878 vol. 241 cc1482–1536, 1489, 1507.
76 Ibid., 1505.
77 Ibid., 1510.
78 Ibid., 1511.
79 HC Deb 25 July 1878 vol. 242 cc261–327, 290.
80 Ibid., 292.
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid., 294.
83 Ibid., 301.
84 Ibid., 314.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid., 315.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid., 315–16.
91 Ibid., 317.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid.
94 Ibid.
95 Ibid., 318.
96 Ibid. John Ellison-Macartney, Conservative Member of Parliament for Tyrone 1874–1885.
97 Ibid., 319.
98 Ibid.
99 Ibid.
100 The Schools Inquiry Commission (Taunton Commission) 1864–1868.
101 HC Deb 12 August 1878 vol. 242 cc1776–1828, 1809.
102 Ibid., 1801.
103 Ibid. Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne, Attorney General for Ireland 1877–1880.
104 HC Deb 12 August 1878 vol. 242 cc1776–1828, 1801.
105 Ibid., 1802.
106 Ibid., 1812.
107 Ibid.
108 HC Deb 12 August 1878 vol. 242 cc1776–828, 1814.
109 HC Deb 12 August 1878 vol. 242 cc1776–828, 1823.
110 HC Deb 24 February 1921 vol. 138 cc1118–19, 1119.
111 “Superior school” is defined by the Census as “all teaching not strictly elementary”: Census for Ireland, 1871, 162.
112 See The Report of the Council of Education: The Curriculum of the Secondary School (Dublin: Stationary Office, 1960), 40.
113 Cited in ibid., 170.
114 Peter Birch, St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny (Dublin: M.H. Gill and Son, 1951), 120. St Kieran’s was the first Catholic diocesan school founded in Ireland.
115 S.P. Farragher, Blackrock College 1860–1995 (Dublin, Paraclete Press, 1995)(), 279. See also E. Watters, ed., Go Teach All Nations (Dublin: Paraclete Press, 2000), 59–60.
116 Frank H. O’Donnell, The Ruin of Education in Ireland (London: David Nutt, Long Acre, 1902), 24.
117 Stephen Gwynn, Irish Books and Irish People (Dublin: The Talbot Press, 1919), 71.
118 D.V. Kelleher, James Dominic Burke (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Dublin, 1988), 100.
119 See P. Corish, ed., A History of Irish Catholicism, Vol. V, Catholic Education (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1970), 62.