Abstract
This chapter assesses the themes and contents of the preceding chapters. It considers whether the agency of the Ascendancy women, whose lives are outlined in Part 2 of this book, amounted to convention or innovation. This chapter appraises the women’s political, pragmatic and religious motivations for supporting the education of poor Irish children at the end of the long eighteenth century and it evaluates the effect and legacy of their involvement. During research for this book, sources were consulted that had not previously been considered regarding the history of education in Ireland. The use of these sources is reviewed. This chapter also considers the modern educational issues in Ireland that mirror the themes of this book, for example children’s rights to equitable education, regardless of parental income or status, and the concerns surrounding governance of schools and the teaching of religion there.
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Notes
- 1.
Baylis, “Introduction and Notes” in Hamilton, Munster Village, ix.
- 2.
A. Foreman, Georgina Duchess of Devonshire, 428, footnote 27. Foreman cites H. Barker, and E. Chalus, (eds.), Gender in Eighteenth Century England: roles, representations and responsibilities.
- 3.
GFP, letters from Eleanor Godfrey: at Aberystwyth, Wales to William Duncan Godfrey, July 28, 1826; at Matlock, Bath to William Duncan Godfrey at London, June 3, 1828; to William Duncan Godfrey at Milltown, December 5, 1826; to Ellen Day at Valentia, February 7, 1840.
- 4.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 846, MS 1002/3, letter written by Charlotte, Lady O’Brien, dated October 4, 1820.
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V.E. Neuburg, Popular Education in Eighteenth Century England, 2, 6, 7.
- 6.
Foreman, Georgina, 403, 404, 428, footnote 27.
- 7.
J. Logan, “Governesses, tutors and parents: domestic education in Ireland, 1700–1880,” Irish Educational Studies 7, No. 2 (1988): 11.
- 8.
M. Luddy, “The Lives of the Poor in Cahir in 1821,” Tipperary Historical Journal, (1991): 79.
- 9.
Ibid., 78, 79.
- 10.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 852, Archive Number 108; Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 846, MS 1002/2; KPS Archives, 846, 1002/3. Letters written by Charlotte, Lady O’Brien dated April 21, 1823, September 20 and October 4, 1820.
- 11.
A.P.W. Malcomson, “Dunraven Papers Summary List,” D/3196, /E/2/1-68, 23-28.
- 12.
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Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, Second Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry (Abstract of Returns in 1824, from the Protestant and Roman Catholic Clergy in Ireland, of the State of Education in their respective Parishes), 1826–27, Appendix 3, 48; Appendix 22.
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- 22.
O’Connell, Fiction of Improvement, 74, 75. O’Connell notes that “Leadbeater’s very use of the word ”ennui”…is…an explicit reference to Edgeworth’s novel Ennui (1809).”
- 23.
Foreman, Georgina, 428, footnote 27.
- 24.
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- 27.
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- 30.
Raughter, “Eighteenth-Century Female Philanthropy,” 86, 87.
- 31.
Ibid., 84.
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Barnard, Ancien Régime, 17.
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- 43.
C.E. Beeby, Planning and the educational administrator, 23, 24.
- 44.
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- 45.
Second Report, 1826–27, 4.
- 46.
L. Cohen and L. Manion, Research Methods in Education, 45.
- 47.
S. Tillyard, Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox 1740–1832, “Preface,” x.
- 48.
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- 50.
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- 51.
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- 52.
G. McCulloch and W. Richardson, Historical Research in Educational Settings, 5, 6; Cohen and Manion, Research Methods, 45. Cohen and Manion cite J.E. Hill, and A. Kerber, Models, Methods and Analytical Procedures in Educational Research.
- 53.
J. Harford, “Women as agents in the movement for higher education in Ireland, 1850–1910” (University College Dublin, 2005), Vol. I, 93.
- 54.
S. Chuinneagáin, “Women Teachers and INTO Policy 1905–1916” (Trinity College Dublin, 1994).
- 55.
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- 56.
Letter from the secretary for Ireland to His Grace the Duke of Leinster on the formation of a Board of Education, 1837 (485) ix 585.
- 57.
Harford, “Women: higher education”, Vol. 1, 2. Harford cites R. Aldrich, “The Three Duties of the Historian of Education”, History of Education, 2003, Vol. 32, No. 2, 135.
- 58.
S.M.P. McKenna-Lawlor, Whatever Shines Should Be Observed [quicquid nited notandum], “Introduction,” 12.
- 59.
C. Maxwell, The Stranger in Ireland from the Reign of Elizabeth to the Great Famine, 148, 149.
- 60.
N.C. Smith, A “Manly Study”? Irish Women Historians, 1868–1949, 100–109.
- 61.
Maxwell, Stranger, 162.
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O’Sullivan, E. (2017). Conclusion. In: Ascendancy Women and Elementary Education in Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54639-1_14
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