Vol. 6 No. 1 - 1989

Lurgan High School Register 1923

by Ian Wilson

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A recent clearout of cupboards at Lurgan College produced the School Register for Lurgan High School, better known as the Misses Frasers School, for the last years of its existence 1923-25. I had always been told that there were no surviving records of the old school, so this document was of considerable interest, and a study of it has answered a number of questions about education in Lurgan in the first two decades of this century. 1 have listed the names on the register at the end of this article, and this may prove to be of some interest to readers.

Girls Schooling in Lurgan

As I noted in my articles on 19th century schools in Lurgan, there was a long established tradition of Girls schooling in Lurgan, dating back to the 1850s and earlier. I suggested then that there may have been only one school, but with a succession of proprietors, as was normal practice at the time. Mrs Green's School, in North Street, seems to have ceased operating around 1880. In 1881 there are records of Miss Macklin's School in High Street, and by 1886 we can find Lurgan Ladies' High School, also in High Street, run by Mrs Graham.

I have always assumed that there was a connection between these schools - indeed I suppose that it is possible that Miss Macklin became Mrs Graham! There is a gap in the records, however. I have been able to find one last mention of Mrs Graham's school in 1892, when the Intermediate lists showed three pupils from the school as having passed at the Junior Level in the Intermediate examinations - (W W McC Kennedy, A M Brownrigg and M M Livock). Kennedy was in the unfortunate position of being a male pupil at a Ladies' school. He was, I think, the son of Rev C W Kennedy, minister of Hill Street Presbyterian Church.

The next mention of a Girls' School is in the report of the Intermediate Education Board for 1897 which lists Lurgan Ladies' Collegiate School, situated at Shankill Buildings. The Ladies school had 14 pupils, and was under the principalship of Miss E B Fraser. It is clear that the school was already established in 1897, so that the gap to 1892 can, I think, be narrowed.

In my previous article I referred to the Misses Fraser, who taught in the College until 1944. Miss E M and Miss R M Fraser had, until 1925, run the Lurgan High School before coming to teach at the College. I suggested that either there had been a misprint in the 1897 report, or there had been another Miss Fraser. Among the papers recently found at the College was a presentation copy of a little Primer entitled Roman Literature, by Professor A S Wilkins. The book was published in 1898, and carries the name E B Fraser on the fly-leaf. Since these papers were all part of the High School set, I can say with confidence that there was another Miss Fraser, and that her school was the one amalgamated with the College in 1925.

In the early days of this century there developed a fairly bitter rivalry between the High School and the College. The College had, under W T Kirkpatrick, enjoyed an enviable reputation for examination success. But the school was a unique place in Northern Ireland. The College charter prohibited any religious instruction during school hours, and this was strictly observed.

As can be imagined, this led to all sorts of strange rumours about the College, which may have been held in check by Kirkpatrick's success as a teacher, along with the fact that he had been for a time a licentiate of the Presbyterian Church. The school was actually referred to as "a heathen institution" at a meeting of the County Armagh Education Committee in the 1920s. Further, Kirkpatrick, although a Presbyterian, was known to be theologically liberal, in a town where such liberalism would not have been widely appreciated! During Kirkpatrick's term as headmaster, the impact of this situation was never acknowledged, although we know that some Lurgan families refused to send their children to the College, even in the days of the "Great Knock". I have already noted that some boys were being sent to the Ladies' High School as early as 1892, although Mrs Graham clearly felt unable to deal with the more advanced work, because Kennedy (noted above in the Intermediate lists of 1892) was a pupil at the College by 1894. With the appointment of a new Headmaster, James Cowan, in 1899, the College entered a difficult few years. This was no reflection on Cowan, who was, by all accounts, an accomplished teacher. By 1914, however, numbers at the College, which had been maintained at a fairly healthy 50-70 during Kirkpatrick's tenure, had fallen sharply to below the 30 mark, and the boarding department had closed. At this stage, the College clearly perceived the admission of boys to the High School as an unwarranted intrusion into its territory. This reaction was probably unjustified, since, by its own admission the High School saw itself largely in the role of preparatory school, preparing pupils for admission to the senior departments of established Grammar Schools, mainly in Belfast.

There was a steady flow of girls from the High School to Victoria College, and this continued right up to 1925. Nevertheless, as the College numbers continued to fall the presence of boys at the High School was more and more resented. I was told by a former pupil at the High School that by 1915 the number of boys had grown to over one quarter of the total enrolment. This had unexpected results. The winner of the prize for the best girl in the School in 1916 was a boy! It may be that the Misses Fraser considered themselves reasonably secure.

Troubled waters

The College was passing through troubled waters in the years 1912-14, and was not really in a position to retaliate. However, the closure of the Boarding department in 1914, along with a growing reliance on female assistant staff after 1916, made the admission of girls much more feasible, and by 1918, the position had stabilised sufficiently for counter action by the College. The College's retaliation was to become officially co-ed, in 1918, when girls were admitted to the school for the first time. The legal niceties were completed in May, in good time for the new year's intake. In the event a number of girls were admitted in May. The total number of girls admitted during 1918 was 12. The female influx had a dramatic effect on the College. By 1919, over half the pupils were girls, although numbers were still not totally satisfactory.

It would appear that the High School had, by this time, become formally organised. It had a Board of Governors and there was also a school uniform, something which the College still did not possess. The Misses Fraser had objected strongly, and publicly to the College's move into female education, and their response was, apparently, to attempt to compete with the College across the whole range of College courses, as is witnessed by the sprinkling of High School pupils going straight on to university (4 in the years 1923-4). This was almost certainly an extension of the previous High School policy, which seems to have involved pupils only up to the age of 16. In addition, an increasing number of boys was being recruited, including one from the College itself. The High School register contains the names of 26 boys - something less than 25% of the total. This number is significant, particularly since it almost certainly meant that the High School had more pupils than the College.

Another interesting thing to be gleaned from the Register is the extent to which certain local Primary Schools provided most of the High School's intake. 27 came from the Model, 10 from Waringstown, 9 from Windsor Avenue and a further 11 from John Street, Queens Place and Queen Street. This was certainly not something that could be said about the College, where Cowan had always bemoaned the failure of local schools to support the College.

It is clear that the existence of two schools, competing with each other for pupils in a town the size of Lurgan, was an extravagance that could not be continued indefinitely. While the College had the buildings and the endowments, it did not have the pupils. The High School had the pupils, but no endowments, and inadequate accommodation (the school was based in upstairs rooms in Market Street, beside the Ulster Bank).

Amalgamation

When exactly the notion of amalgamation surfaced is not clear. The crucial year however, seems to have been 1922. James Cowan, now 74 years old, retired and was replaced by an ambitious young teacher from Campbell College, V M Harper. Harper immediately embarked with considerable vigour on reviving the School His first year saw plans adopted for the first major building extension since the opening of the College Walk premises in 1873. In addition, numbers began to rise, although slowly at first. It is clear that the Misses Fraser had been considering amalgamation for some time, and as soon as Cowan's retirement was announced, they broached the matter with the College Governors. It is possible that the two ladies saw themselves in charge at an amalgamated school, but the College governors were not prepared to make a move until a new Headmaster have been appointed.

As soon as Harper was appointed, the Frasers sought negotiations with the College governors. These negotiations were complex, and at times stormy. The sticking point again and again was the position of Miss E M Fraser in any amalgamated school. She demanded the title "Headmistress" and the right to share in all the responsibilities of the Principal-ship. This Harper would not concede. One can, perhaps, understand the ladies' frustration. Their school was larger in numbers than the College, and they certainly had more experience of running a school.

Reading the correspondence from the time, however, leaves the impression that the High School had little financial backing, apart from fees, and thus the ladies were under pressure to reach some agreement. In 1923 and 1924 agreements were apparently reached, only to be scuppered at the last moment. Eventually, the respective Boards of Governors took a direct hand. A joint committee was set up, and an agreement thrashed out. Again, Miss E M Fraser withheld her consent until the last moment, so that it was not until 24th

August, 1925 that the pupils at the High School knew that they would start the next academic year at the College. The amalgamation coincided with the opening of the first extension of the College buildings. That, in itself, suggests that Harper too, may have been under a certain amount of duress to make sure that the new buildings were filled.

Pupil numbers increase

The impact of the amalgamation was dramatic for the College. Numbers had fallen as low as 24 during 1914, and although there had been a slight recovery - to 36 -, numbers had fallen to 20 at the start of 1918. The admission of girls, from May 1918, saw numbers rising to the mid 30s, and stablising there. Nevertheless, the High School at the same time was averaging 40 plus, admittedly over the whole range from 4-18. Harper's appointment at the College saw numbers rising slowly, so that, when amalgamation day came, 49 of the pupils had been at the College in the previous school year. At the same time 56 of the pupils came from the High School. There were, in addition, 34 new enrolments, of whom 23 were boys.

This event marked the beginning of Lurgan College as we would know it today. Within 4 years the present frontage of the school, including the Library (which was originally built as the School Hall) was complete. The present School Uniform was also introduced, and the school became established as one of the Province's network of Grammar Schools.

Addenda:

Since completing my article, two further pieces of material have come my way. First of all, I have been able to look at the Lurgan College Accounts for the year 1925, and these illustrate graphically my point about the financial inadequacy of the High School position. With all the affairs of the High School wound up, the grand total of £83:5:5 was transferred to the College Accounts - at that time the College Endowments accounted to over £10,000.

Secondly I have been given an (undated) prospectus for Lurgan Ladies School, Queen Street. This school was run by the Misses Stewart, and consisted of a Secondary Department, offering Greek, Latin, French, English, Mathematics and a range of musical and artistic subjects. In addition to the Principal, Miss F D Stewart, there were Miss M I Stewart (her sister, I assume) and Miss Huston on the teaching staff. There was also a Preparatory School for boys and girls aged 4-12. There is no date on the Prospectus, but it has been suggested that it is from 1898 or thereabouts. If this is so, then the High School, under the Misses Frazer, must have faced competition in its earlier years, before becoming established.

J I W

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Lurgan High School Register 1922-1925
Reg. Num.	Surname	Christian Names	Primary School	To Lurgan College
65	Allen	Mildred	Windsor Avenue NS	Yes
1	Anderson	Sarah Martha	Windsor Avenue NS	No
82	Archer	Thomas Douglas Norman	Model	Yes
23	Baillie	Annie Douglas	Waringstown NS	Yes
86	Baillie	Mary Stockdale	Waringstown NS	Yes
87	Baillie	Arabella Mills	Waringstown NS	Yes
4	Baird	Elizabeth Johnston	Model	No
25	Baird	Margaret Christina Elizabeth Burgoyne	Miss Shillington's	No
24	Ballentine	Leslie Moore	Model	No
26	Bateman	Jane Anna	Moira NS	Yes
80	Martin	Joseph Ignatius	Soldierstown NS	Yes
22	Brown	Letitia Elizabeth	Model	No
110	Brownlee
28	Campbell	Rhoda	Waringstown NS	Yes
46	Carson	Eleanor	Model	Yes
2	Carson	Mary Norris	Model	Yes
27	Clarke	Florence Alice Wells	Model	No
5	Clarke	Gertrude Louise	Model	Yes
69	Clendinning	Joan	Nil	No
103	Corbett	Theodosia Alice	Nil	Yes
79	Cordner	Myrtle	Nil	Yes
102	Cuppage	Katherine Jane Eleanor	Nil	No
53	Dewart	Sarah	Windsor Avenue NS	No
51	Dewart	Mary Elizabeth	Windsor Avenue NS	No
3	Douglas	Edna Gertrude	Model	No
61	Ferguson	Diamond Lansdowne	Nil	Yes
62	Ferguson	Hope Huntington	Nil	Yes
70	Ferguson	Irene Joy Ferguson	Nil	Yes
81	Fitzsimmons	Mary	Model	Yes
104	Foster
94	Foster	Sarita Paton	Nil	Yes
96	Foster	Adelaide	Nil	No
104	Gaston	Margaret Christabell	Nil	No
109	Gilchrist
97	Gilchrist	John Gordon	Windsor Avenue NS	Yes
67	Gilchrist	Cicely	Miss Shillington's	Yes
6	Gillespie	Mary Frances	Waringstown NS	Yes
107	Gillespie	Miriam	John Street NS	No
74	Gillespie	George Murray	John Street NS	Yes
29	Graham	Phyllis Irene	Model	Yes
98	Gray	William	Model	No
75	Greer	Hugh Martin	Model	No
91	Hamill	Florence Elizabeth	Ardmore NS	No
31	Hammond	George	RBAI	Yes
9	Hammond	Nelson	RBAI	Yes
30	Hunter	Margaret Annie	Waringstown NS	No
48	Hunter	Marie Elizabeth	Waringstown NS	No
7	Hunter	Emily	Waringstown NS	Yes
54	Hutchinson	Harriett May	Model	No
47	Hynes	Elizabeth Eleanor	Queen's Place	No
88	Hynes	Viola Olive Mary	Queen's Place NS	Yes
8	Johnston	Kathleen Vera	Dollingstown NS	Yes
71	Johnston	Gerald	Nil	No
32	Johnston	Elizabeth Ellen	Moira NS	Yes
10	Kennedy	Mary	Highholm, Port Glasgow	No
11	Leathern	Muriel	Windsor Avenue NS	Yes
100	Lewis	Fifinella	Model	Yes
34	Livingston	William David	North Street NS	Yes
90	Livingston	Gertrude Geraldine	John Street NS	Yes
49	Livingston	Elizabeth	Moira NS	No
33	Livingston	George William	North Street NS	Yes
36	Macfarland	Margaret Emmeline Elizabeth	Moira NS	Yes
55	Magill	Edward Wilson	Model	No
35	Maguire	Mary Elizabeth	Kilmore NS	No
18	Mahon	Violet Jane Elizabeth	Waringstown NS	No
39	Mathers	Robert Ulrick	Model	No
56	Mathers	James	Model	No
40	McCarter	Robert Andrew	Nil	Yes
19	McCarter	Winifred Craig	Model	No
106	McCartney	John
37	McCaw	Vera Lily	Miss Shillington's	No
77	McClean	Evelyn	Queen Street NS	No
13	McCleary	Emily	Bleary NS	No
57	McCleary	Robert	Bleary NS	No
20	McCollum	Mary	Waringstown NS	No
105	McCready
78	McNaghton	Florence Ethel	Queen Street NS	No
63	McNeice	Florence Isabella	Queen Street NS	Yes
12	McNeice	William Sinton	Queen Street NS	Yes
92	Mercer	Iris Doreen	Model	Yes
41	Minnis	Anna Pedlow	Carleton House School	No
93	Mullin	John Francis	St Peter's NS	No
101	Myles	Desmond Thomas	Nil	No
38	Nicholson	May	Lisnasure NS	No
85	O'Neile	Gertrude	Nil	Yes
84	O'Neile	Maud Magdalene	Nil	Yes
108	O'Neill	Kathleen	John Street NS	No
50	Olver	Henry Vyvyan	Kilkenny College	No
58	Osborne	Henry	Lurgan College	No
14	Osborne	Gertrude	Model	Yes
76	Patterson	Abraham	Model	No
68	Pollock	Mary Dorothy	Model	Yes
83	Pyper	Jane Ellen	Craigmore NS	Yes
59	Reid	David Wilson	Corcreany NS	No
42	Rutherford	Emilie May Walker	Hall Street NS, Ballybay	No
66	Rutherford	Alice Moffet	Nil	Yes
99	Ryan	Geraldine	Ursuline Convent Sligo	No
52	Sloan	Angela Georgina	John Street NS	No
95	Smiley	Agnes	MCB	No
64	Soye	Annie	Model	Yes
21	Soye	Georgina	Model	No
15	Stewart	Ann Jane	Model	Yes
89	Taylor	Gertrude	Model	Yes
60	Thompson	Norman John Ferguson	Clare NS	No
73	Uprichard	Nan	Nil	No
16	Uprichard	Christina	Nil	Yes
43	Walker	Annie Helen	Corcreany NS	Yes
44	Wells	Margaret Evelyn	Windsor Avenue NS	Yes
17	Whittaker	Aileen Muriel	Thomas Street NS Portadown	No
45	Wierre	Phyllis Gertrude	Miss Poole's, Willesden	No