Clare Past Forum

My grandfather John Fergus Kerrigan, born in Kilkeedy in 1875, reported on the 1940 US census that he had 8 years of education. He came from a poor farm family, and I wonder how common that amount of education was in the 1880s. Do others have insights into what level of education was common in this period? Paddy's told me about Hugh Brady in Ruan, but no schools rolls, unfortunately.

Diane

Diane,
there's quite a bit of information on the history of education in Clare on the Clare library website at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... cation.htm.
Mike

dianeculhane wrote:.....I wonder how common that amount of education was in the 1880s. Do others have insights into what level of education was common in this period?Diane

Diane,

I suspect that in a rural community things might have been quite flexible. A cousin in Tubber was taken out of school at the age of 13 to help care for her mother who had become crippled with what sounds like severe rheumatoid arthritis. She cared for her in a house with no running water, an outside privy, no washing machine, no tumble dryer, and none of the disposable materials that simplify nursing/caring. In those days there were no council-employed carers zipping around in little cars to help such people* so the family and neighbours simply pitched in. So a person who nowadays would have gone through university just had 7 years schooling.

Paddy

* nor will there be in the not-too-distant future with the way funding and facilities for caring are being ruthlessly neglected/pruned here in the new devil-take-the-hindmost Europe.

I've checked Clare Library, which has information on Kilkeedy in 1824, was hoping for something more recent. I'm surprised John got 8 years because his sister got only 3 and two other grandparents, from Mayo and Galway, got 4 and 3.

Diane