Reprint of the original, first published in 1862.

This book provides the first complete account of Patrick Pearse's educational work at St. Enda's and St. Ita's schools (Dublin). Extensive use of first-hand accounts reveals Pearse as a humane, energetic teacher and a forward-looking and innovative educational thinker. Between 1903 and 1916 Pearse developed a new concept of schooling as an agency of radical pedagogical and social reform, later echoed by school founders such as Bertrand Russell. This placed him firmly within the tradition of radical educational thought as articulated by Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux. The book examines the tension between Pearse's work and his increasingly public profile as an advocate of physical force separatism and, by employing previously unknown accounts, questions the perception that he influenced his students to become active supporters of militant separatism. The book describes the later history of St. Enda's, revealing the ambivalence of post-independence administrations, and shows how Pearse's work, which has long been neglected by historians, has had a direct influence on a later generation of school founders up to the present.

This book explores the religious, political and social fortunes of Waterford’s minority Church of Ireland community during a turbulent period in Irish history. In the decades under consideration, an emerging and strident Catholic democracy eroded the power and social position of a once powerful ruling class. Waterford’s fearful and confused Anglicans took refuge and found consolation in a community which defined itself increasingly in denominational terms. This denominationalism came to be characterised by its Protestant evangelicalism and loyalty to the union with Britain. A unique insight is given into provincial Anglicanism, with a detailed examination of the character of its religious life and practice. There is a particular focus on one of the most controversial figures in the nineteenth century Anglican Church, Robert Daly, Bishop of Waterford, 1843-1872. Described by a contemporary as ‘a Protestant Pope’, this cleric inspired admiration and loathing, as he strove to resist the advances of an increasingly confident and vibrant Catholic Church. Studies of bishops of the nineteenth century Protestant Church have been largely conspicuous by their absence, but this book makes a valuable and original contribution to a glaring hole in this area of historiography. This study of Waterford’s Anglicans adds significantly to our understanding of the nature of Irish Protestantism at a time of crisis and decline.