The locations of the Wesleyan Connexional School (right) and Wesley College (left) on St Stephen’s Green South. “City of Dublin 1890,” held by Ordnance Survey Ireland. Public domain. Click to open a zoomable map in a new tab.
The Wesleyan Connexional School was established in 1845 by a group of Methodist ministers and laymen who wanted to provide a religious, literary, scientific, and commercial education, the religious instruction being in accordance with the principals of Wesleyan Methodism. The school was located at number 79 St Stephen’s Green South, and number 78 was leased in 1851 to reduce overcrowding. The Governor and Chaplain was the Reverend Robinson Scott, and the school offered a curriculum that included:
Theology—The daily and careful reading of the Holy Scriptures—The Doctrines and Evidences of Christianity—Scripture History and Antiquities.
Language—The Greek and Latin Authors read in the University (Trinity College) for Entrance and Sizarship Examinations—The Hebrew language.
English Literature—The Grammatical Structure of the Language—Composition, Elocution, Ancient and Modern History—Select Readings from the English Classics—also Logic.
Mathematics—Arithmetic and Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Differential and Integral Calculus.
Natural Science—Elementary Lectures in Mechanics, Optics, Astronomy, Hydrostatics etc., also in Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, and Animal and Vegetable Physiology.
Commercial Studies—Plain and Ornamental Penmanship, Commercial Arithmetic, Book Keeping, Geometry, Mapping, Mensuration, Land Surveying and Navigation.
Physical Education also received special attention and there were extra fees for Drawing, Music, and the Modern Languages.
Boarders were expected to attend services in one of the Wesleyan Methodist Churchs and were to be provided with a Bible and Hymn Book, two suits of clothes, six shirts, three night shirts, three night caps, six pairs of stockings, six towels, three pairs of shoes, one pair of slippers, six pocket handkerchiefs, and it was deemed necessary that each article be distinctly marked with the owner’s name.
By 1879, the two houses were becoming inadequate, and a new school – Wesley College – was built at the rear of the Methodist Centenary Chapel on St Stephen’s Green South on a site formerly occupied by Brown’s Livery Stables. The three-storey over basement building was in the Gothic style with castellated gables, a central spire and clock tower, and was of red brick with bands of blue and white brick, and limestone and granite dressings. There was a staff of twenty-four masters, and the College was divided into three schools:
The Preparatory School—for pupils from six to ten years of age.
The Commercial and Civil Service School—in which pupils were prepared for business or mercantile life and the various Civil Service examinations.
The Intermediate and Collegiate School—which consisted of classes for the Intermediate Examinations, Entrance, Exhibition, and Scholarship Examinations for the Royal University of Ireland; Entrance, Exhibition, Sizarship, and Prize Examinations for Trinity College, Dublin; also for the examinations of the Pharmaceutical Society and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.
The 1895 College Crest with the Latin motto ‘Aut discite aut discedite sors tertia hic nulla est’ which translated is ‘Either learn or leave; here there is no third choice’.
In 1911, the school admitted girls as well as boys, becoming one of the first co-educational schools in Ireland. Boys were called by their surnames and girls had their surnames prefixed by ‘Miss’. Casual conversation between boys and girls was discouraged, and they didn’t dine together until 1954.
Dublin Daily Express – Wednesday 23 August 1911
In 1969, Wesley College moved from St Stephen’s Green South to a new campus in Ballinteer, a Dublin suburb. The buildings on St Stephen’s Green South were sold for redevelopment and were demolished in 1972.
The gates to Wesley College on St Stephen’s Green South c1962
© Lorna Peel
Dublin, Ireland, December 1889. Will celebrates his fortieth birthday as reports reach Dublin of a mysterious illness in faraway St Petersburg. As Russian influenza sweeps through Europe and reaches Dublin, Will and Isobel must put their lives on hold and confront the epidemic.
When Bob declared his love for Sarah, it couldn’t have come at a worse time, but he kept his word and stayed away from her. Two years have passed since John’s death, and Sarah has adapted well to widowhood, but she never mentions Bob. With Sarah’s life on Merrion Square, and Bob’s life in the Liberties, can they have a future together, or did Sarah simply view Bob as a pleasant distraction?
Read an excerpt from Chapter Three…
“There will be other changes next year,” [Will] said. “John will start at Wesley College, and when John’s father started there, he moved out of the nursery and into a bedroom of his own. It is up to John – and Vicky – whether they would like to do the same and each move into a bedroom downstairs.”
“And what about Ben and me?” Belle asked.
“When you and Ben leave Mrs Pearson’s school, you can also decide what you want to do. We don’t have as many bedrooms as we would like. Your mother and I intended to have more built on the back of the house, but Grandfather became ill, and some important money decisions had to be made. If you were all to move downstairs eventually, John and Ben would have to share a bedroom, and Vicky and Belle would have to share a room, too.”
“What will happen to the nursery?” Ben asked.
“This room will become the schoolroom. I used the schoolrooms at number 67 and at number 1 to study all the way through school, and all the way through my time at Trinity College.”
“And our bedroom here?”
“If one or more of you want to continue to use the bedroom, you may do so, but as you get older, boys will share with boys, and girls with girls.”
“Why?” Belle asked, and he kissed her hair to hide a smile.
“For privacy,” he told her. “Discuss it amongst yourselves.”
“We shall,” John said. “Thank you, Will.”
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Lorna Peel 