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The narrow road: Harry Midgley and Catholic schools in Northern Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Michael McGrath
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Extract

The Ministry of Education was, and remains, the most important government department for the Catholic church in Northern Ireland. As Cormack, Gallagher and Osborne note,

The Department of Education in Northern Ireland occupies a distinctive place in terms of the general relationships between the government and the Catholic community. Throughout the period since the creation of Northern Ireland, the most significant social institution over which the Catholic community has exercised control, principally through the Catholic church, has been the Catholic education system.

The devolved government appeared to recognise Catholic educational interests by usually appointing as Minister of Education one of the more liberal figures within the Ulster Unionist Party such as Lord Londonderry, Lord Charlemont and Samuel Hall-Thompson. However, in the first week of 1950 Sir Basil Brooke ‘surprised everyone, and appalled Catholics’ by appointing Harry Midgley, an avowed opponent of the Catholic clergy and autonomous Catholic schools, as Northern Ireland’s sixth Minister of Education.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 119 , May 1997 , pp. 429 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1997

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References

1 Cormack, R.J., Gallagher, A.M. and Osborne, R.D., ‘Religious affiliation and educational attainment in Northern Ireland: the financing of schools in Northern Ireland’ in Sixteenth Report of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights, 1990–91, H.C. 488 (Belfast, 1991), p. 141.Google Scholar

2 Londonderry’s moderate reputation has been tarnished by his association with Nazi Germany, but he was viewed by many Unionist M.P.s in the 1920s as a cosmopolitan liberal whose ‘urban and sophisticated approach to dealing with the majority community was something of an exception among the unionist establishment as a whole’ ( Rafferty, Oliver P., Catholicism in Ulster, 1603–1983: an interpretative history (Oxford, 1994), p. 225 Google Scholar). Dr Hugh Morrison, Unionist M.P. for Queen’s University, Belfast, claimed in 1924 that Londonderry was a half-Englishman who did not understand Ulster ( Harris, Mary, The Catholic church and the foundation of the Northern Irish state (Oxford, 1993), p. 198 Google Scholar). Akenson claims that Charlemont was chosen by Craig to be Northern Ireland’s second Minister of Education because of his social and political resemblance to his predecessor (Donald Harman Akenson, Education and enmity: the control of schooling in Northern Ireland, 1920–50 (Newton Abbot, 1973), p. 95).

3 Dunn, Séamus, ‘A short history of education in Northern Ireland’ in Fifteenth Report of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights, 1989–1990, H.C. 459 (Belfast, 1990), p. 22.Google Scholar

4 Walker, Graham S. provides an excellent account of Midgley’s political career in his sympathetic biography, The politics of frustration: Harry Midgley and the failure of labour in Northern Ireland (Manchester, 1985)Google Scholar.

5 Akenson, Education & enmity, p. 191.

6 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 211.

7 Edward McAteer, Nationalist M.P. for Mid-Londonderry, claimed that the Orange Order had been implicated in the replacement of Hall-Thompson by Midgley (Hansard N.I. (Commons), xxxiii, 2369–70 (17 Jan. 1950)).

8 Shea, Patrick, Voices and the sound of drums: an Irish autobiography (Belfast, 1981), p. 162.Google Scholar Shea, as a Catholic, offers an interesting insight into the workings of the Northern Ireland civil service. Shea joined the Ministry of Education in December 1947 as principal officer and remained there, at the same grade, until 1959; after ten years in the Works Department he returned in December 1969 as secretary, the highest post in the ministry (ibid., pp 159, 180, 184). Shea’s criticism of Midgley is particularly interesting because his autobiography mentions his experiences in the 1930s. He remarks that Midgley was ‘my man... to me he represented incorruptible Socialism’. A friend of Shea’s, hearing his praise of Midgley, told him that the Labour leader ‘is not the Socialist he seems to be. He’s a Unionist and a bigot at heart.’ Shea comments: ‘It was a good many years before I could believe that my old friend’s remark was not outrageous slander’ (ibid., p. 119).

9 Irish News, 2 Jan. 950.

10 Midgley joined the Northern Ireland government as Minister of Public Security in May 1943 after John Andrews was ousted as Prime Minister by Sir Basil Brooke. He moved to the Ministry of Labour in June 1944, where he remained until he left the government in the summer of 1945 to lead the Commonwealth Labour Party in the Westminster and Northern Ireland elections (Walker, Politics of frustration, pp 148, 156, 166).

11 Cabinet Conclusions, 25 July 1944 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 4/594).

12 Walker states that Midgley ‘rarely wasted an opportunity to make life uncomfortable for Hall-Thompson’ (Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 192). Akenson refers to Midgley being ‘dogged in his opposition’ to the increase in funding for Catholic schools (Akenson, Education & enmity, p. 179).

13 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xxx, 2671 (14 Nov. 1946).

14 Walker claims that Midgley opposed any increase for voluntary schools because ‘he stood for a completely comprehensive publicly funded and controlled system in line with socialist thinking in Britain and elsewhere’ (Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 165). Shea also claims that Midgley was opposed to increased aid for voluntary schools because it was ‘an attitude which was in accordance with his former Socialist affiliations’ (Shea, Voices & the sound of drums, p. 162).

15 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xxx, 2677, 2674 (14 Nov. 1946).

16 Akenson, Education & enmity, p. 187.

17 Shea, Voices & the sound of drums, p. 161.

18 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 191.

19 Cabinet Conclusions, 18 Nov. 1949 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/17).

20 Akenson provides a concise sketch of the fall of Corkey in the spring of 1944 (Akenson, Education & enmity, pp 253–4).

21 Cabinet Conclusions, 28 Mar. 1946 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 4/662). Akenson provides a detailed account of the events surrounding the 1947 act (Akenson, Education & enmity, pp 162–92).

22 Belfast Telegraph, 29 Dec. 1949.

23 Walker, Politics of frustration, pp 166–7.

24 Cabinet Conclusion, 15 Dec. 1949 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 4/803).

25 The act contained 111 sections and six schedules, and replaced fourteen existing education laws (Lord Londonderry, ‘Public education in Northern Ireland: the new system’ in Nineteenth Century and After, no. 565 (Mar. 1924), p. 328).

26 The exact figure was 98, 047 of 187, 991 pupils {Report of the Ministry of Education for 1950/51, Cmd 313 [N.I.], p.35).

27 The term ‘Catholic authorities’ is employed to define the leadership of the Catholic church in Northern Ireland. The term ‘the Catholic bishops’ is slightly misleading. The bishops of the six dioceses covering Northern Ireland — Armagh, Down and Connor, Derry, Clogher, Kilmore and Dromore — would occasionally issue joint statements, but the church’s education policy appears to have been developed by the three senior bishops of Armagh, Down and Connor and Derry. In addition, senior Catholic clerics in these dioceses played a leading role in formulating the church’s strategy.

28 Wyse, secretary of the Ministry of Education, to Blackmore, assistant secretary to the cabinet, 5 Jan. 1929 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/6). In 1968 the Catholic authorities accepted a revised version of the ‘four and two’ principle, the ‘maintained’ school, and maintained schools comprise the overwhelming majority of Catholic schools in Northern Ireland today.

29 The exact figure was 8, 208 of 187, 991 pupils (Report of the Ministry of Education for 1950/51, Cmd 313 [N.I.], p. 35).

30 Akenson, Education & enmity, p. 117.

31 Down and Connor Diocesan Archives, ED 11/44. The memorandum is unsigned, but the handwriting is similar to other examples of Mageean’s work in the diocesan archives.

32 Quoted in Farren, Sean, ‘Culture and education in Ireland, 1920–1960’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Ulster, 1989), p. 8 Google Scholar.

33 Studies, no. 74 (June 1930), p. 67.

34 The 1923 act termed schools of both the second and third classes as ‘voluntary’ schools. In this text I will refer to the former as ‘four and two’ schools and the latter simply as ‘voluntary’ schools.

35 Document containing map of proposed education committee boundaries, n.d. [1922 or 1923] (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/1).

36 Akenson provides an extensive description of the Protestant clergy’s contest with the devolved government (Akenson, Education & enmity, pp 72–118).

37 The exact figures were £1, 815, 363 for public elementary schools and £164, 587 for voluntary schools. The statistics are contained in the reports of Northern Ireland Ministry of Education for the years from 1932/3 to 1938/9 (H.C. 294, pp 36, 37; H.C. 315, pp 50, 52; H.C. 349, pp 44, 46; H.C. 383, pp 40, 42; H.C. 410, pp 44, 46; H.C. 440, pp 40, 42; H.C. 483, pp 46, 48).

38 At the end of 1938 37.4 per cent of Northern Ireland’s elementary school pupils were Catholics (H.C. 483, p. 43).

39 The exact figure was 81, 736 of 187, 991 pupils (Report of the Ministry of Education for 1950/51, Cmd 313 [N.I.], p. 35).

40 Walker, Politics of frustration, pp 198, 211.

41 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xxxiii, 2276 (5 Dec. 1949).

42 Shea, Voices & the sound of drums, p. 166.

43 Midgley memoranda, 22 Mar. 1950, 16 Jan. 1951 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/20, CAB 4/837).

44 The cabinet approved both measures in March 1950, but the scheme was abandoned after the attorney general ruled that allowing school committees to supervise religious instruction contravened the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (Cabinet Conclusions, 27 Mar., 2 Oct. 1950 (ibid., CAB 4/813, 825)).

45 Midgley memorandum, 16 Jan. 1951 (ibid., CAB 4/837).

«•Cabinet conclusions, 9 Feb. 1951, 26 Mar. 1952, 19 Aug. 1953 (ibid., CAB 4/837, 870, 913).The cabinet meeting of 15 December 1949 decided not to sanction a fundamental review of the 1947 act (Cabinet Conclusions, 15 Dec. 1949 (ibid., CAB 4/803)).

47 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 211.

48 The exact figures were 79 ‘unsuitable’ schools with 7, 737 pupils, and 14, 238 pupils in 196 ‘fairly suitable’ schools (Charlemont memorandum, 26 Apr. 1930 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 4/259)).

49 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1928/9, H.C. 180, p. 10.

50 The exact figures were £3, 867, 914 and £12, 084, 780 (Hansard N.I. (Commons), xxx, 1131 (6 June 1946); xli, 1351 (30 May 1957)).

51 Ibid., xliv, 733 (19 Mar. 1959).

52 Protestant voluntary grammar schools faced a financial liability for retaining their relative autonomy from the local education authorities, but this penalty was to be eased throughout the 1950s. See below, pp 441–4

53 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1947/8, H.C. 883, p. 7; Report of the Ministry of Education for 1950/51, Cmd 313 [N.I.], p. 9.

54 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1951/2, Cmd 322 [N.I.], pp 9, 14.

55 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1953/4, Cmd 338 [N.I.], p. 6.

56 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1956–7, Cmd 380 [N.I.], p. 9. (In 1954 the period of coverage of the ministry’s annual reports changed from the financial year (1953/4, extending from April to March) to the educational year (1954-5, extending from August to July).)

57 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1957–8, Cmd 392 [N.I.], p. 5.

58 This figure is extracted from the annual reports of the Ministry of Education between 1952/3 and 1958–9 (Cmd 333 [N.I.], pp 58, 59; Cmd 338 [N.I.], p. 60; Cmd 351 [N.I.], p. 58; Cmd 368 [N.I.], p. 58; Cmd 380 [N.I.], p. 68; Cmd 392 [N.I.], p. 62; Cmd 409 [N.I.], p.68).

59 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1957–8, Cmd 392, p. 5. The western counties maintained their tradition of neglecting the problems of Catholic schools. In 1958 there were no voluntary secondary intermediate schools in either County Londonderry or Fermanagh (Hansard N.I. (Commons), xlii, 412 (30 Apr. 1958)).

60 The exact figures were 28, 546 for county schools and 10, 735 for voluntary schools. These figures are extracted from the reports of the Ministry of Education for the years 1952/3 to 1958–9 (Cmd 333 [N.I.], pp 58, 59; Cmd 338 [N.I.], p. 60; Cmd 351 [N.I.], p. 58; Cmd 368 [N.I.], p. 58; Cmd 380 [N.I.], p. 68; Cmd 392 [N.I.], p. 62; Cmd 409 [N.I.], p.68).

61 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xl, 2097 (20 June 1956).

62 90, 617 of Northern Ireland’s 205, 827 pupils were Catholics (Report of the Ministry of Education for 1956–7, Cmd 380 [N.I.], p. 39).

63 These figures are extracted from the annual reports of the Ministry of Education between 1958–9 and 1963- (Cmd 409 [N.I.], p. 68; Cmd 423 [N.I.], p. 65; Cmd 435 [N.I.], p. 63; Cmd 450 [N.I.], p. 68; Cmd 463 [N.I.], p. 58; Cmd 476 [N.I.], p. 70).

64 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1960–61, Cmd 435 [N.I.], p. 63.

65 Minutes of meeting between Londonderry Education Committee and Dr Farren, bishop of Derry, 27 Oct. 1948 (P.R.O.N.I., ED 13/1/2463); minutes of meetings of Armagh Education Committee, 14 Jan., 10 June 1949 (ibid., ED 13/1/2466, 2468).

66 Minutes of Londonderry Education Committee, 12 Nov. 1948 (ibid., ED 13/1/2463).

67 The classification of schools simply by their title is an inexact science, but there are clear cultural and religious values explicit in the titles of schools such as the Royal School, Victoria College, the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and the Christian Brothers’ School. Therefore an analysis of the names of the 65 voluntary grammar schools in Northern Ireland in 1950 allows for a reasonably clear distinction between Protestant and Catholic voluntary grammar schools. The 35 Protestant schools were educating 15, 956 pupils, while the 30 Catholic schools contained only 7, 720 pupils — less than a third of those attending voluntary grammar schools at a time when Catholics comprised more than two-fifths of elementary school pupils (Report of the Ministry of Education for 1951/2, Cmd 322 [N.I.], pp 37, 50–52).

68 Hall-Thompson memorandum, 14 June 1944 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/12).

69 Educational Reconstruction in Northern Ireland, Cmd 226 [N.I.] (Belfast, 1944), p. 21.Google Scholar

70 Akenson, Education & enmity, p. 191.

71 In 1952 32 schools opted for ‘Group A’ status in contrast to 33 schools in ‘Group B’. By 1964 49 schools were accepting the ministry’s conditions, while only 10 schools retained their autonomy (Report of the Ministry of Education for 1951/2, Cmd 322 [N.I.], p. 10; Report of the Ministry of Education for 1963–4, Cmd 476 [N.I.], p. 16).

72 Report of the Ministry of Education for 1951/2, Cmd 322 [N.I.], p. 48; Report of the Ministry of Education for 1959–60, Cmd 423 [N.I.], p. 47. One of the most distinguished of Northern Ireland’s voluntary grammar schools, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, only increased its pupil numbers from 1, 131 pupils in 1950 to 1, 372 pupils in 1962 (Report of the Ministry of Education for 1951/2, Cmd 322 [N.I.], p. 50; Report of the Ministry of Education for 1963–4, Cmd 476 [N.I.], p. 56). Clearly the financial cost of autonomy was marginal during these years.

73 Midgley memorandum, 22 Mar. 1950 (P.R.O.N.I., ED 32/B/1/2/5).

74 Midgley memorandum, 15 Feb. 1950 (ibid., CAB 4/809).

75 Midgley memorandum, 7 Mar. 1950 (ibid., CAB 4/813).

76 Cabinet Conclusions, 27 Mar. 1950 (ibid., CAB 4/813).

77 Minutes of meeting of 19 June 1950 (ibid., ED 32/B/1/9/13).

78 Cabinet Conclusions, 15 Feb. 1951 (ibid., CAB 4/838).

79 Cabinet Conclusions, 29 Oct. 1952 (ibid., CAB 4/886).

80 Harris, The Catholic church & the foundation of the Northern Irish state, p. 219.

81 Hall-Thompson memorandum, 30 Mar. 1945 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 4/621).

82 Midgley memorandum, 19 Mar. 1952 (ibid., CAB 4/870).

84 Minutes of meeting, 20 May 1953 (ibid., ED 32/B/1/9/24).

85 Cabinet Conclusions, 26 Mar. 1952 (ibid., CAB 4/870).

85 The five bishops were Cardinal D’Alton of Armagh, and Bishops Mageean of Down and Connor, Farren of Derry, O’Callaghan of Clogher and O’Doherty of Dromore; the only absentee was Bishop Quinn of Kilmore (ibid., ED 32/B/1/9/24). The Education Bill of 1930 and the white paper of 1944 brought only two bishops, and no archbishop, to see Charlemont and Hall-Thompson (Hall-Thompson memorandum, 15 Oct. 1945 (ibid., CAB 4/637; ibid., ED 32/A/1/81)).

86 Minutes of meeting of 20 May 1953 (ibid., ED 32/B/1/9/24).

87 Cabinet Conclusions, 24 July 1953, 19 Aug. 1953 (ibid., CAB 4/912; CAB 4/925).

88 Brownell memorandum, 8 Dec. 1953 (ibid., ED 32/B/1/9/24).

89 D’Alton to Brookeborough, 7 Sept. 1953 (ibid.).

90 Minutes of meeting, 20 May 1953 (ibid.).

91 Midgley memorandum, 8 Jan. 1954 (ibid., CAB 4/925).

92 Brooke to Mageean, 15 Jan. 1954 (ibid., ED 32/B/l/9/24).The episode reached an unsatisfactory conclusion for the church authorities in September 1955, when Mageean proposed Trench House as the site for the men’s college and confirmed the 65 per cent grant from the Ministry of Education (Midgley memorandum, 5 Aug. 1955 (ibid., CAB 4/980)).

93 Charlemont memorandum, 26 Apr. 1930 (ibid., CAB 4/259); Robb memorandum, 4 May 1939 (ibid., CAB 4/417); Hall-Thompson memorandum, 5 Oct. 1945 (ibid., CAB 9D/1/13).

94 Blanshard, Paul, The Irish and Catholic power (London, 1954), pp 233-4Google Scholar, quoted in Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 208.

95 Midgley to Dr Mcllroy, 15 Apr. 1953 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/20).

96 Midgley memorandum, 4 Aug. 1954 (ibid., CAB 4/944).

97 Midgley memorandum, 24 Oct. 1952 (ibid., CAB 9D/59/2).

98 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xl, 542 (7 Mar. 1956).

99 Dunn, Séamus, ‘A historical context to education and church-state relations in Northern Ireland’ in Osborne, R.D., Cormack, R.J. and Gallagher, A.M. (eds), After the reforms: education and policy in Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1993), p. 22.Google Scholar

100 Shea, Voices & the sound of drums, p. 172.

101 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 212.

102 Shea, Voices & the sound of drums, p. 165.

103 Ibid., p. 160.

104 Hansard NI. (Commons), xl, 544 (7 Mar. 1956).

105 Ibid., 530–31 (7 Mar. 1956).

106 Brookeborough and Midgley both sought refuge by claiming that Midgley was only quoting from Blanshard’s The Irish and Catholic power and that his remarks were misquoted by a newspaper reporter who was considered ‘suspect’ by Portadown Unionists {Hansard N.I. (Commons), xli, 484–506 (28 Feb. 1957)).

107 Ibid., xxxiii, 2280 (15 Dec. 1949).

108 Ibid., 2323 (20 Dec. 1949).

109 Ibid., xlii, 399 (30 Apr. 1958); xliv, 8 (10 Feb. 1959).

110 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 219.

111 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xli, 861 (30 Apr. 1957).

112 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 205.

113 Belfast Telegraph, 22 Jan. 1945.The association was not hostile to all distinctions. The meeting opposed the Catholic authorities’ calls for improved funding for voluntary schools and criticised Hall-Thompson for failing to reach an accommodation on the ‘conscience clause’ with the Protestant churches.

114 Hall-Thompson memorandum, 23 Dec. 1949 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9D/1/20).

115 Walker, Politics of frustration, p. 53.

116 Hansard N.I. (Commons), xxx, 2761 (14 Nov. 1946).