Royal Belfast Academical Institution
[3] In the 1790s, Drennan and his Society of United Irishmen had called for complete and immediate Catholic Emancipation and for a radical and democratic reform of the Irish Parliament.[4] For Drennan, the new institution was an expression his resolve, in the wake of the 1798 rebellion, to "be content to get the substance of reform more slowly" and with "proper preparation of manners or principles".They seconded Drennan as he persuaded a town meeting in 1807 "to facilitate and render less expensive the means of acquiring education; to give access to the works of literature to the middle and lower classes of society; to make provision for the instruction of both sexes... "[7] The scheme was ambitious, comprising a school department for boys and a collegiate department in which both young men and women could receive lectures and instruction in the natural sciences, classics, modern languages, English literature and medicine.[10] William Bruce and his friends mocked the proposed system of governance, comparing it to revolutionary French constitutions that had excited debate in Belfast in the 1790s.[11] William Stuart, Anglican primate archbishop of Ireland, enrolled as a first class subscriber, and George Chichester, 2nd Marquess of Donegall, the town's landlord, leased the land to the institution and, on 3 July 1810, laid its foundation stone.A total of £25,000 was raised: £5,000 in India under the patronage of the Governor-General, Earl of Moira, Francis Rawdon-Hastings,[12] the balance largely from Belfast merchants and businessmen able to nominate in return one boy to receive free education.In his address at the opening of the grammar school on 1 February 1814, Drennan promised that "the mysterious veil that makes one knowledge for the learned and another for the vulgar... would be torn down".As recounted by Drennan, in his Donegall Street school in 1760s Manson had banished "drudgery and fear" by teaching children on "the principle of amusement".At a St. Patrick's Day dinner in 1816, chaired by Robert Tennent, board members did not disguise their broader political sympathies.Despite the resignation of all the board members present, the government seized upon the incident to attach conditions the annual £1,500 it had granted, reluctantly, for the college's seminary.[19] Tory critics of the institution might also have been noted that in 1815 a list of books prepared for the literary department included works by the English radicals John Horne Tooke, William Godwin, Joseph Priestley and Thomas Belsham.[20] But, perhaps convinced that in the face of the "Catholic democracy" conjured by the great "Emancipator" Daniel O'Connell the republican spirit of Ulster Presbyterianism was sufficiently cooled, by 1831 government had not only restored the grant; King William IV bestowed upon the Institution the title "Royal".Conservative Presbyterian clergy, led by Henry Cooke, believed the teaching staff combined theological laxity—their refusal to subscribe to Westminster Confession of Faith with its reference to the Pope as the "Antichrist", and affirmation of the Holy Trinity—with political error.[22] On 1 November 1855, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Carlisle, unveiled a statue in front of the institution on College Square East of the popular Frederick Richard, Earl of Belfast, son of the Marquis of Donegall, patron of, among other causes in Belfast, the Working Class Association for the Promotion of General Improvement.When it was found that the new college had made no provision for anatomical and dissecting rooms, RBAI continued to provide the necessary accommodation in its old medical department until 1862.[27] The Collegiate Department was to leave the town an important enlightenment legacy in the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.In mid century, General Certificates from the Collegiate Department were common to several Presbyterian ministers who, in the wake of the Great Famine, became passionately involved in the tenants rights movement.His worst fears were realised in David Bell who, forced to resign his ministry and despairing of constitutional methods, was sworn into Irish Republican Brotherhood by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa.When the Dublin Castle administration sought to provide Ireland, "in advance of anything available at that time in England", a system of grant-aided non-denominational National Schools.[33] The concept of educating Catholics and Protestants together, while it had been endorsed by Crolly as bishop and archbishop, was dealt a further blow when in the 1840s his colleagues in the Catholic hierarchy objected to the "Godless" Queen's Colleges, loudly seconded—despite the pleas of Duffy's fellow Young Irelander, Thomas Davis that "the reasons for separate education are reasons for separate life"—by Daniel O'Connell.A study sample of 96 members of the Belfast's mid-nineteenth-century civic elite—leading figures in trade, industry and the professions—found a plurality, a third, had attended RBAI.[37] Having applied to the Indian Civil Service at the end of this era in 1940, Noel Larmour (1934) had the task, and beginning with Burma, of helping wind up the Empire in several of its territories.The academic and administrative direction of the school had remained in the hands of a group of senior teachers (the headmasters) who sat on the board of masters.In the 1920s, in the period of Geoffrey Garrod's principalship, the house system was founded, and a school uniform, including the ubiquitous yellow and black quartered cap, was worn for the first time.Subjects studied at AS/A2 level in the sixth form include English, modern history, geography, economics, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Latin, physical education, business studies, technology, mathematics, further mathematics, physics, politics, chemistry, biology, music and art.The society meets regularly at both junior and senior level and aims to develop initiative, confidence, and an appreciation of the culture of both debate and civilised argument.In 2009, the Inst team won the NI European Youth Parliament Competition and went on to represent Northern Ireland in the UK finals held in Durham.Inchmarlo House was the former home of Sir William Crawford, a director of the York Street Flax Spinning Mill - it was called "Mount Randal".It employs 11 full-time staff and caters for boys aged between 4 and 11 whose standard uniform consists of traditional school-caps, shorts, knee-high socks, school-blazers and leather satchels.
BelfastNorthern IrelandUnited KingdomCoordinatesWilliam Drennangrammar schoolQueen's UniversityHeadmasters' and Headmistresses' ConferenceNews LetterBelfast AcademyWilliam Drennan'sSociety of United IrishmenCatholic EmancipationIrish Parliament1798 rebellionRobert SimmsNorthern StarWilliamRobertJohn TempletonGlasgowLord CastlereaghArthur WellesleyParliament of the United KingdomLong titleCitation50 Geo. 3Royal assentWilliam StuartAnglicanprimate archbishopGeorge Chichester, 2nd Marquess of DonegallJohn SoaneBank of EnglandGovernor-GeneralEarl of Moira, Francis Rawdon-HastingsFr. William CrollyArchbishop of ArmaghNational SchoolsDavid MansonTrinity College DublinRobert TennentFrenchSouth American RevolutionsJohn Horne TookeWilliam GodwinJoseph PriestleyThomas BelshamDaniel O'ConnellKing William IVHenry CookesubscribeWestminster Confession of FaithAntichristChurch of Irelandanti-trinitarianSocinianAssembly CollegePresbyterian SynodQueens UniversityLord Lieutenant of IrelandEarl of CarlisleDr. James MacDonnellUlstertyphusBelfast Natural History and Philosophical SocietyBotanical GardensUlster MuseumJohn Stuart MillJames EmersonGreek War of IndependenceGreat FamineDublinIrish Republican BrotherhoodJeremiah O'Donovan RossaNorthern WhigCharles Gavan DuffyYoung IrelandThe NationThomas O'HaganLord Chancellor of IrelandDublin Castle administrationCrollyYoung IrelanderThomas DavisThe Royal School, ArmaghPortora Royal SchoolQuakersFriends' School, LisburnWesleyansMethodist College BelfastF. Frankfort MooreSt Malachy'sdiocesanHarland and WolffWilliam PirrieAlexander CarlisleThomas AndrewsOlympicTitanicIndian Civil ServiceBritish EmpireNoel LarmourWorld War IRoyal School, DungannonEuropathe TroublesKelvinLarmorPirrierugby unionUlster Schools CupOsborne ParkMcCullough CupBurney Cupcompetitive rowingHenley Royal RegattaWater poloFootballCounty TyroneKanderstegNorthern Ireland Schools Debating ChampionshipThornhill CollegeBangor Grammar SchoolStormontEleven-plus