QUEEN’S COLLEGE, GALWAY, THE EARLY DAYS

by Tom Kenny

The Queen’s Colleges in Galway Cork and Belfast were established in 1845, and shortly afterwards, construction of the quadrangular building started in Galway. In May, 1847, despite the Famine, William Brady, the contractor for the building, advertised for thirty stone cutters and thirty stonemasons. Large working sheds were erected on the site so that the work could be carried out in inclement weather. There was no big rush to work from the stone men as the money he offered was below the going rate, but as it was a long term job with shelter provided, so it had a security of employment not available on other building projects. In the end, the building of the College did have a beneficial effect on the depressed conditions in Galway at the time.

The first students walked in the gate in October 1849, 175 years ago. The Colleges had been denounced as ‘godless’ by the Catholic hierarchy so Galway had, from the beginning, difficulty in attracting students. But, by 1859, 18 of the 31 students who sat the matriculation exams here were Catholics. There were eleven entrants for arts, twelve for medicine, one for law, three for engineering and four for agriculture.

Dr. Nicholas Colohan was a medical doctor who rendered singular service to the poor of Galway during the two great cholera outbreaks of 1832 and 1848. Immediately on the opening of the College, he was appointed Professor of the Practice of Medicine and so would be considered the father of the medical Faculty, a department that started off with very high standards and has continued as such to the present day.

The local Press reported on events and developments in the College and were invariably supportive. When a series of extra-mural lectures were proving to be very popular and attracted members of the public, pupils from the Model School and a number of ladies even though they were excluded from University courses, it received a lot of attention in the local press.  When a local reporter was banned from the talks, it received a lot more attention as the reporter had been publicising the lectures. There was a beneficial end to the affair as College authorities dissociated themselves from the gentleman who had barred the reporter and the centre continued to attract large numbers, but lessons were learned.

Students became a major part of the town and the exuberance of youth had its impact on the life and the attractiveness of the streets. Occasionally, that quality led a few to exceed the bounds of propriety, and this was often because the students were of different faiths. When a group of youths attacked an unoccupied by house owned by Fr. Peter Daly, the cost of repairing malicious damage had to be borne by the ratepayers, so the case went to trial. Five students were sentenced to one month’s imprisonment with penal servitude which was severe. The sympathies of the town were aroused and the College authorities were petitioned to deal leniently with the boys and the magistrates were asked to reduce their sentences. The goodwill between town and gown was strengthened rather than weakened by the affair.

There were major restrictions on female students. Frances Moffett in her wonderful book I also am of Ireland wrote that the Lady Superintendent in College had to chaperone any woman student who went on a picnic or an extrusion, and furthermore, that they dressed decorously. Frances was once reprimanded for wearing a ribbon … Ribbons are not allowed in College. Initially, women were excluded from University Degrees … the first female graduate was Hannah Moylan in 1896. When Agnes Perry took her B.A. in 1896, she was the sixth woman to graduate. Three of her sisters also graduated, one of whom, Alice was the first female engineering graduate in the country.

So to celebrate the notable anniversary of this great institution, we have two images for you today. The first is an 1852 drawing of the quadrangular building, the ‘quad’ and the second, an aerial photograph, was taken about one hundred years later, again showing the quad. On the Newcastle side, you can see the Anatomy Department and to the right you can see the engineering building. The complex was probably much the same then as it had been when the College opened.

But everything was about to change. The first major development was the opening of what was then called ‘the new arts building’ in the early sixties. College were very fortunate in having a visionary buildings officer named Gerry Lee and he began slowly and gradually to buy up virtually all of the land you see on the top of our photograph. He created room for expansion and so the campus was able to grow into the wonderful institution we have today. There should be a statue to him erected somewhere on the grounds