“Un-Irish and un-Catholic”: sports, physical education and girls’ schooling

ABSTRACT

This article charts the development of physical education and sports in girls’ schools in Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It notes how early developments were undoubtedly influenced by traditions and practices in English public schools, with games such as hockey and cricket becoming popular in Irish girls’ schools. The “Swedish” gymnastics movement, which became popular the 1870s, led to the introduction of callisthenics and drill in many Irish schools. By the turn of the twentieth century, drill and dance displays had become a highlight in the convent school calendar of events. Official policy following the introduction of the Revised Programme for National Schools (1900) placed unprecedented emphasis on the importance of physical education. While many embraced these developments, others were critical of girls’ involvement in competitive games and sports, particularly those considered “foreign” and “un-Irish”. Drawing on convent school archives, official sources, and newspaper articles, this article provides new insights into the evolution of physical education and sports in Irish girls’ schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Female education
• PE
• sports history
• Ireland
• convent

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Scholarship on the education of girls in Ireland includes O’ Connor, “Influences Affecting Girls’ Secondary Education”; Raftery and Parkes, Female Education in Ireland; and Hatfield and O’Neill, “Education and Empowerment”. Some understanding of the sporting activities of Irish girls and women can be gleaned from Naughton, Lady Icarus; Raftery and Parkes, Female Education in Ireland; and Naughton, “Irish Women’s Athletics”.

2. Finn, “Trinity Mysteries”; Hickey, “Evolution of Athleticism”. Elite education for Irish girls is examined in O’Neill, Catholics of Consequence, although the physical education of Irish girls is not a part of this study.

3. O’Neill, Catholics of Consequence.

4. McIntosh, Physical Education in England. For studies of women, sport and physical education in Britain see also McCrone, Sport and Physical Emancipation; and Coates, Women and Sport. For research on physical education and sports for girls in Scotland see Skillen, “Sound System”; Macrae, “Exercise and Education”; and Munkwitz, “Vixens of Venery”.

5. During the period under review here, Catholic women in religious “Orders” took solemn vows and were known as “nuns”, while women in religious “congregations” took simple vows and were titled “Sisters”. Nuns involved in education lived and worked inside the convent enclosure, while Sisters could work outside the convent; for example, the Sisters of Mercy could visit their local schools in Irish towns, but nuns in the Loreto and Ursuline convents taught inside their enclosure. Rules of enclosure would change after the Second Vatican Council. Throughout this article, the terms “nun” and “Sister” are used interchangeably, as is common in scholarship. See Magray, Transforming Power of the Nuns, 138.

6. The transnational elements of convent life and convent schooling are addressed in Raftery, “‘Je suis d’aucune nation’” and in O’Neill, Catholics of Consequence.

7. Naughton indicates that public sports and all-girls games events held in parks, played a role in developing athletics for girls in Ireland: Naughton, “Irish Women’s Athletics”, 38.

8. For a study of Sophie Elliot-Lynn (later Lady Mary Heath) see Naughton, Lady Icarus. For a study of Lena Rice see Bell, “Lena Rice”.

9. Sophie Elliot-Lynn published Athletics for Girls in 1925, advocating for women’s involvement in athletics.

10. Irish Press, February 24 1934.

11. Archibald MacLaren (1819/20–1884) was born in Scotland; he opened a school of gymnastics and fencing in Oriel Lane, Oxford, in 1858, and developed a physical training programme that was used by the army. His emphasis was on physical health and stamina. Per Henrik Ling (1776–1839) was a Swedish promoter of “free” exercises, without the use of apparatus, in order to develop physical dexterity and beauty. Ling’s callisthenics became popular in schools.

12. McIntosh, Physical Education in England, 95–6.

13. MacLaren, System of Physical Education.

14. McIntosh, Physical Education in England, 96.

15. Ibid.

16. Benn, “A Collective Biography”, 3.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Avery, The Best Type of Girl, 12.

20. McCrone, Sport Physical Emancipation, 61–2.

21. Avery, The Best Type of Girl, 13.

22. Ibid., 13.

23. Ibid., 269.

24. Ibid., 264.

25. Ibid., 267.

26. See Letter of the Right Hon. E.G. Stanley, Chief Secretary to His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, addressed to His Grace the Duke of Leinster, October 1831, in Hyland and Milne, eds. Irish Educational Documents I, 98–103.

27. Ibid.

28. Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Nature and Extent of the Instruction Afforded by the Several Institutions in Ireland for the Purposes of Elementary or Primary Education; Also Into the Practical Working of the System of National Education in Ireland, etc. 1870; chaired by Lord Powis, it became known as the Powis Commission.

29. Royal Commission on Manual and Practical Instruction in Primary Schools under the Board of National Education in Ireland. 1898 (C. 8923) xliv 1.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid., 50–1.

32. Ibid., 51.

33. Ibid., 52.

34. Revised Programme of Instruction in National Schools published in Appendix to the Annual Report by the Commissioners of National Education, 1902 (Cd. 1890) H.C. 1903.

35. Skibbereen Eagle, July 21 1900.

36. Freeman’s Journal, November 1 1900.

37. Freeman’s Journal, December 6 1900.

38. Southern Star, December 8 1900.

39. Freeman’s Journal, November 30 1900.

40. Freeman’s Journal, April 1 1901.

41. Cork Examiner, November 17 1900.

42. Cork Examiner, October 26 1900.

43. Irish Daily Independent, January 29 1901.

44. O’ Connor, “Influences Affecting Girls’ Secondary Education”, 83.

45. Ibid.

46. Ibid., 83–4.

47. O’Connor and Parkes, Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach.

48. Ibid., 85.

49. For a discussion of the curricula in girls’ schools, and the “accomplishments” that were taught, see Theobald, Knowing Women.

50. O’Connor and Parkes, Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach, 56.

51. The Alexandran (June 1896), cited in O’Connor and Parkes, Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach, 57.

52. O’Connor, “Revolution in Girls’ Secondary Education”, 42.

53. Ibid.

54. Ibid., 43.

55. Raftery, Delaney and Nowlan-Roebuck, Nano Nagle, 135–6.

56. Hyland and Milne, eds., Irish Educational Documents I, 201.

57. Coolahan, Irish Education, 63.

58. See note 56 above.

59. Raftery, Delaney and Nowlan-Roebuck, Nano Nagle, 136.

60. Ibid. While the Presentation Sisters in Tralee were providing intermediate education to their pupils, the school was not selected as a centre for the examinations. As a result, their pupils were required to sit their examinations in the Loreto Convent school in Killarney. See Presentation Convent Tralee Annals, 1812–97.

61. Ibid.

62. Stuart, Education of Catholic Girls, 111.

63. MS House Journal, Mount Anville Sacred Heart School, September 1918. MAV/186 (2). RSCJ Provincial Archives, Dublin.

64. “Gymnastics: National Society of Physical Education”, Freeman’s Journal, January 8 1902.

65. “Irish Nurses Association”, Irish Independent, April 17 1905. Miss Studley also addressed a meeting of the Dublin Education Society, held in the lecture theatre of the Royal Dublin Society on November 2 1904. See Freeman’s Journal, November 3 1904.

66. “Physical Education for Children”, Freeman’s Journal, November 3 1904.

67. Proper training in physical education for teachers remained piecemeal in Ireland until 1954, when the Dominican Sisters founded St Raphael’s Froebel Training College; the qualifications of physical education teachers were not recognised in Ireland for the purposes of registration, until the 1960s.

68. Colum, Life and the Dream, 24.

69. See note 63 above.

70. MS Mount Anville Journal of Studies, 1900–1922. September 1918. MAV/187 (1). RSCJ Provincial Archives, Dublin.

71. MS Mount Anville Journal of Studies, 1900–1922. May 3 1924. MAV/187 (1). RSCJ Provincial Archives, Dublin.

72. Annals of the Dominican Convent, Cabra, 1647–1912. Prospectus, 151.

73. Ibid.

74. Ibid.

75. Ibid.

76. Ibid.

77. “Loreto Physical Education Society”, Freeman’s Journal, July 17 1901.

78. Ibid.

79. Mother Michael Corcoran, Loreto Abbey, Ballarat, to Irish Province, May 16 1903. MC/PRO/1/2/13. IBVM Generalate and Provincial Archives, Ireland.

80. “Loreto College Dublin: Physical Education of Girls”, Freeman’s Journal, March 12 1913.

81. Mr Leggette Byrne taught “dancing lessons” at Mount Anville Sacred Heart School in the early decades of the twentieth century, and his name appears regularly in the Journal of Studies. MAV /186 (2), RSCJ Archives, Dublin. Mr Harte was employed at the Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin, and at Loreto College, St Stephen’s Green, and Loreto Convent, Bray. See Freeman’s Journal, March 12 24 March 1913 1914.

82. “Women Athletes”, Belfast News-Letter, May 5 1928.

83. Ibid.

84. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Commentari Officiale, Vol XXII, 73. See also Divini Illius Magistri (1929), article 68: “[…] in gymnastic exercises and deportment, special care must be had of Christian modesty in young women and girls, which is so gravely impaired by any kind of exhibition in public”.

85. See Naughton, “Irish Women’s Athletics”, 39.

86. Irish Press, February 24 1934. John Charles McQuaid was Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland from 1940 to 1972. As head of the Catholic Church, McQuaid played an extremely influential role in religious, social, and political developments in Ireland during the twentieth century. Prior to his appointment as Archbishop, McQuaid had served as President of Blackrock College, Dublin where he developed a reputation for his expertise in educational matters. During the 1930s, McQuaid was regularly consulted by the Department of Education and also held a number of prominent positions including chairman of the Catholic Headmasters’ Association (1931–40). See Cooney, John Charles McQuaid.

87. Irish Press, February 9 1934.

88. Ibid., February 5 1934; Sunday Independent, February 11 1934.

89. Irish Press, February 5 1934.

90. The Irish Literary Revival emerged during the late nineteenth century as a movement committed to creating, through the medium of English, a distinctly national literature while the Gaelic League, established in 1893, was concerned with the preservation of the Irish language and its promotion as a spoken tongue.

91. Camogie is a traditional Irish team sport played by women. The game is played with a hurley (stick) and sliotar (ball). See Moran, A Game of Our Own.

92. Drogheda Independent, July 4 1904.

93. Cork Examiner, July 3 1913.

94. Cork Examiner, July 21 1913.

95. Southern Star, August 23 1913; Cork Examiner, October 22 13 November 1913 1913; Kerryman, June 19 1915; Nenagh Guardian, January 19 1918.

96. Duffy, “State Policy”, 55; Walsh, Pedagogy of Protest, 247–8.

97. Munster Express, May 23 1914.

98. Cited in Munster Express, May 23 1914.

99. Waterford News and Star, June 5 1914.

100. Cork Examiner, April 12 1918.

101. An Camán, 1, no. 4 (1931): 4.

102. Tuam Herald, August 11 1928.

103. An Camán, 1, no. 4 (1931): 4.

104. Duffy, “State Policy”, 55.

105. An Camán, no. 5 (1933): 10.

106. Nationalist and Leinster Times, March 30 1935.

107. Department of Education, Annual Report, 1924–25, 25.

108. Ibid.

109. Bunreacht na hÉireann (Dublin, 1937).