Midleton College is an independent

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

and day school in

Midleton Midleton (; , meaning "monastery at the weir") is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satelli ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns ar ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In past centuries it has also been called Midleton School. Although founded in 1696, the school did not open until 1717. It went through a period of inactivity early in the 19th century, and by the 1860s had low numbers, but was reinvigorated by a new principal and by the end of the 1870s was one of Ireland's leading schools. Originally for boys only, it is now co-educational. The school has a strong

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...

tradition, and its chaplain is also priest-in-charge of the neighbouring

Youghal Youghal ( ; ) is a seaside resort town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the estuary of the River Blackwater, the town is a former military and economic centre. Located on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a long and narrow layout. ...

Union of parishes.New partnership between Midleton College and the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross is inaugurated
dated 22 October 2018 at ireland.anglican.org

Origins

The college was founded in 1696 by Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess of Orkney, as a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...

for boys, but was not opened until 1717.history
at midletoncollege.ie, accessed 21 April 2019 Its origin came about when

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

was seeking to pension off his

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...

, and former mistress, Elizabeth Villiers, granting her more than 95,000 acres of land in Ireland which had been the personal estates of King James II and later of William III's late wife, Queen Mary II. In November 1695, Elizabeth Villiers married Lord George Hamilton, who a few weeks later was created

Earl of Orkney Earl of Orkney, historically Jarl of Orkney, is a title of nobility encompassing the archipelagoes of Orkney and Shetland, which comprise the Northern Isles of Scotland. Originally Scandinavian Scotland, founded by Norse invaders, the status of ...

, but before marrying she put her Irish estates into a trust controlled by her brother Lord Villiers and Thomas Brodrick of Midleton, the son and heir of Sir St John Brodrick, who in 1653 had been granted the lands of Corabbey, renamed as Midleton by a charter of 1670.Midleton College, a school from scandal
dated 27 September 2017 at midletonwith1d.wordpress.com With part of her new riches, Lady Orkney decided to found a school, offering to give land in County Cork to trustees "to build a free school and pay the master a salary of £100". In October 1696, her trustees Villiers and Brodrick conveyed some 1,882 acres in the baronies of Kinnelea and

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and West Carbery to two further trustees, Brodrick's brother Alan Brodrick of Midleton and his brother-in-law Laurence Clayton of Mallow. Unfortunately for Lady Orkney, in 1700 the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

used an Act of Resumption to take back most of her Irish estates, but not the land she had used to endow the school, a gift which was specifically confirmed by another Act of Parliament in 1702. However, Brodrick still did not get on with building a school, claiming that he did not have enough funds in the trust and that time was needed "to accumulate out of the rents and profits a sufficient sum to build a School House". In 1710, the trustees granted leases of the school's land which later proved controversial.

History

The school finally opened in 1717, in a new purpose-built limestone schoolhouse which is still in use, with the Rev. George Chinnery, a graduate of

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, appointed as the first Master in August 1717. Chinnery was followed in 1750 by his son, and between them the two men ran the school successfully until 1775. The most notable old boy of the Chinnery years was

John Philpot Curran John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge, who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He was renowned for his representation in 1780 of Father Neale, a Catholic p ...

(1750–1817), a famous orator and wit who became

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respon ...

. However, after 1775 the school's fortunes suffered. Between 1804 and 1830, all teaching came to an end, with a new Master still drawing his salary but living in Dublin. According to a committee report published in 1872 Charles Robert Barry, Vanity Fair, 1889-12-21

Charles Robert Barry, Vanity Fair, 1889-12-21

In 1829, the Commissioners of Education repaired the school's main building, and in 1830 a new Master was appointed and the College was re-opened. Among the new intake of boys were Michael Roberts (1817–1882), later a notable mathematician, and his twin brother, William. However, the renewal did not last long. In 1863, the school had only one boarder and three day boys, and a new Principal was appointed, the Rev. Thomas Moore. A man of great energy, within a year Moore had increased the numbers to forty boarders and twenty-two day boys, and in 1864 the Commissioners of Education granted the funding for a new three-storey red-brick School House, providing classrooms, a dormitory, rooms for schoolmasters, and a bathroom, which was completed in 1865.Nigel Collett, ''The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer'' (London: A. & C. Black, 2006), pp. 17–18 As an Anglican institution, the school's fortunes might have suffered from the rise of

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

, and it also had new competition in the shape of the Midleton Christian Brothers Secondary School, opened in 1867, but nevertheless it continued to grow, and in 1878 there were sixty boarders and fifty-one day boys. Moore was by now employing three other schoolmasters, including the young Standish James O'Grady, as well as a housemaster to accommodate extra boarders, and the school joined the top flight of Irish schools, gaining scholarships at Dublin, Oxford, and Cambridge. It was a founding member of the Irish Rugby Football Union, being listed as a member in the first year of the IRFU, 1879. In 1880, the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

appointed commissioners "to Inquire Into the Endowments, Funds, and Actual Condition" of all endowed schools in Ireland, and in a report in 1881 they commented The college became co-educational by first admitting girls in the 1970s. It remains affiliated to the

and has been called "a school of good tradition, proud of its charter of the reign of William III".Ian Duncan Colvin, Harish Jain ''The Life of General Dyer'' (2006), p. 7 Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, is the Chairman of Governors, who include Alan Brodrick, the latest Viscount Midleton.

Present-day curriculum

Children usually arrive in the school at the age of twelve, enter the First Form, and stay for six years. The first three years, called the junior cycle, are aimed at the Junior Certificate, a set of public examinations taken at the end of the third year. The subjects taught are Irish, English, Mathematics, Religious Education,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Spanish, German,

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

, Science (combining

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

, Chemistry and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

), Home Economics, Art, Business Studies,

Music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

Computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

, SPHE (Social Personal Health Education), CSPE ( Civic, Social and Political Education), and

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explora ...

. There then follows a " Transition Year", called the Fourth Form, during which all the subjects available at Leaving Certificate level are taught, so that children experience them all before needing to choose the ones they will take for their Leaving Certificate. During this year, guidance is offered on subject choices for the Leaving Certificate programme of the next two academic years and the subject combinations which can be taught at the college. The curriculum in the fifth and sixth years, called the senior cycle, is a selection of the subjects taught for the Leaving Certificate, which largely determines access to higher education. At this level, the college has a maximum class size of twenty. The subjects offered are Classical Studies, Maths and Applied Maths, Irish, English, French, Spanish, German, History, Geography, Business, Economics, Accounting, Home Economics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Agricultural Science, Art and Art Appreciation, Music, and Politics & Society.

Sports

The main school sports are

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

, soccer,

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

, athletics, and equestrianism. Rugby at the school is strong, with some ninety boys playing and eight staff members to coach them. The school's senior and junior teams have had many successes in the Mungret Shield, the Mungret Cup, and the Munster Development League. At this school, soccer is a girls' sport. In the

summer term Summer term is the summer academic term at many British schools and universities and elsewhere in the world. In the UK, 'Summer term' runs from the Easter holiday until the end of the academic year in June or July, and so corresponds to the Eas ...

, all boys and some girls play cricket. Many boys and girls play hockey, for which there are twelve coaches. Orienteering is a winter activity for all comers. The school has taken part in the Munster Schools League since 2003, with local victories and with students going on to the European and World Orienteering Championships.

People educated at the school

:''See also :People educated at Midleton College'' * Charles Robert Barry (1823–1897), politician and judge, Solicitor-General for Ireland * Isaac Butt (1813–1879), barrister and Member of Parliament at Westminster, founder of the Home Rule League * Sir James Cotter, 1st Baronet (1714–1770), member of the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fr ...

Trevor West, Midleton College, 1696–1996: A Tercentenary History (Midleton, County Cork: Midleton College, 1996) *

(1750–1817), an orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge,

William Henry Curran, R. Shelton MacKenzie (ed.), ''The Life of the Right Honorable John Philpot Curran, Late Master of the Rolls in Ireland'' (Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1881), p. 4 *

Reginald Dyer Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, CB (9 October 1864 – 23 July 1927) was an officer of the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. His military career began serving briefly in the regular British Army before tran ...

(1864–1927), Indian Army officer * William Fitzgerald (1814–1883), Church of Ireland bishop of Killaloe * Edward Hincks (1792–1866), clergyman and Assyriologist * George Green Loane (1865–1945), classical scholar and schoolmaster * Michael McCarthy (1864–1928), lawyer and author * Ben Mitchell (born 1994), rugby footballer * William O'Brien (1832–1899), judge *

Dave O'Callaghan Dave O'Callaghan (born 12 January 1990) is an Irish rugby union player for French Rugby Pro D2 side Biarritz. He plays as a flanker, usually blindside, but can also play as a lock. O'Callaghan has a Commerce degree from University College Cork ...

(born 1990), rugby footballer"It's definitely not a route I'd recommend. It's quite tough"
dated 10 September 2016 at the42.ie, accessed 21 April 2019 * John O'Mahony (1815–1877), Gaelic scholar and founding member of the

Fenian Brotherhood The Fenian Brotherhood () was an Irish republican organisation founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). M ...

* Louis Claude Purser (1854–1932), classical scholar * Michael Roberts (1817–1882), mathematician and academic of Trinity College, DublinWilliam Fellows Sedgwick "ROBERTS, MICHAEL (1817–1882), mathematician" in ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Volume 48 *

Clive Ross Clive Ross (born 14 June 1989) is a former Irish rugby union player who was educated at Midleton College and played for Ulster as a flanker until 2020. Ulster Ross joined Ulster in Summer 2014 after playing for two seasons at Lansdowne Lansdo ...

(born 1989), rugby footballer *

William Armstrong Russell William Armstrong Russell (1821–1879) was an Irish Protestant Christian missionary to China, and served as the Anglican Bishop of North China. Russell, son of Marcus Carew Russell, by Fanny Potts, was born at Ballydavid House, Littleton, C ...

(1821–1879), Anglican Bishop of North China * Sir Francis Spring (1849–1933), civil engineer and member of the Imperial Legislative Council of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

* Sir Edward Sullivan, 1st Baronet (1822–1885), lawyer and Member of Parliament, Solicitor General for Ireland, Attorney General for Ireland, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland * George Tyrrell (1861–1909), Jesuit priest * Trevor West (1938–2012), academic and member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; " Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its ...

for

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

Alan R. White Alan Richard White (9 October 1922 – 23 February 1992) was an Analytic philosophy, analytic philosopher who worked mainly in epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and, latterly, legal philosophy. Peter Hacker notes that he was "the most ski ...

(1922–1992), philosopher * Barry Yelverton, 1st Viscount Avonmore (1736–1805), politician and judge''Black's Guide to Ireland'' (Adam and Charles Black, 1912) p. 43

Motto

The

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mo ...

of the college, ''Spartam nactus es, hanc exorna'', is shared with Loretto School, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, and means literally "Thou hast found Sparta, adorn it". The

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

is a mistranslation by

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

of a line from a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

play, '' Telephus'' by

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...

. The words have been interpreted as meaning "You were born with talents, develop them",Do You Know What Your School Motto Means?
at independentschoolparent.com, accessed 21 April 2019 but could just as well mean "You have come into a great nation, be worthy of it". In the late 18th century, the words were quoted by the Anglo-Irish statesman

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January New Style">NS/nowiki> 1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish people">Anglo-Irish Politician">statesman, economist, and philosopher. Born in Dublin, Burke served as a member of Parliament (MP) between 1766 and 1794 ...

in his pamphlet, '' Reflections on the Revolution in France''. Burke uses the words in this context:Edmund Burke, "Reflections on the Revolution in France" in ''The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke'' Vol. V (London: C. & J. Rivington, 1826)
pp. 284–285
/ref>