The School
Books of Mary Armstrong, Pupil of Miss Dunne’s School in Portarlington
Slator’s National
Commercial Directory of Ireland, dated 1846, lists the
names of some of the private boarding schools in Portarlington in that year.
Included is the ladies’ boarding and day school run by Miss Jane Dunne. A
number of school copybooks belonging to one of the pupils at this school, Mary
Armstrong, have survived and are now held in the National Library of Ireland.
From these, we catch a glimpse of the subjects taught at Miss Dunne’s school
and of the artistic skills of young Mary.
Her copybooks, dated to 1854
and 1859, cover French composition and natural history along with the
more unusual subjects of astronomy and geometry. A decorative certificate
awarded to Mary for her “very distinguished manner in writing” has also
survived. |
Her natural history
copybook contains a fabulous array of ornithological studies, including
beautiful drawings of a horned owl and ‘butcher bird’. Her books for astronomy and geometry contain scientific drawings of the solar system, along with intricate diagrams illustrating ellipses, spheres and convexity. They are a remarkable record of the subjects taught at this Portarlington school. |