1 Some of the material relating to the promotion of scientific knowledge in mid- nineteenth-century Ireland was surveyed in the essay by D’Arcy, Frank, ‘Mandarins and mechanics: the Irish provincial science lecture system, 1836–1866’ in Schofield, R. (ed.), Proceedings of a symposium on the history of technology, science, and society, 1750–1914 (University of Ulster, Coleraine, 1989), pp 1–24Google Scholar. The present article, while acknowledging the importance of D’Arcy’s pioneering study, none the less differs substantially from it in both scope and argument.

2 See Coolahan, John, ‘Primary education as a political issue in O’Connell’s time’ in O’Connell, Maurice (ed.), O’Connell: education, church, and state (Dublin, 1992), pp 87–101Google Scholar; Bennett, James, ‘Science and social policy in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century’ in Bowler, Peter J. and Whyte, Nicholas (eds), Science and society in Ireland: the social context of science and technology in Ireland, 1800–1950 (Belfast, 1997), pp 37–49Google Scholar.

3 Wyse, Thomas, Discourse at the closing of the first session of the Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution (Waterford, 1833), p. 34Google Scholar.

4 Foote, G.A., ‘Science and its function in early nineteenth-century England’ in Osiris, no. 11 (1954), pp 438–54Google Scholar; W. H. Brock, ‘Liebig and Hofmann’s impact on British scientific culture’ in idem, Science for all: studies in the history of Victorian science and education (Aldershot, 1996), pp 77–88; Yeo, Richard, ‘Scientific method and the rhetoric of science in Britain, 1830–1917’ in Schuster, J. A. and Yeo, R. R. (eds), The politics and rhetoric of scientific method: historical studies (Dordrecht & Boston, 1986), pp 259-89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 The Museum of Irish Industry evolved into the Royal College of Science in 1867, the first state-funded college of higher education in the sciences in the United Kingdom.

6 See Sidney, Frederick’s testimony in the Report front the select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of the scientific institutions of Dublin which are assisted by government aid ... (henceforth Report ... on Dublin scientific institutions), p. 106, H.C. 1864(495), xiii, 163Google Scholar.

7 T. E. Cliffe-Leslie observed that ‘Mechanics’ institutes, athenaeums, and literary societies are, for the most part, names for associations of the same character, composition, and objects’ (Cliffe-Leslie, T.E., An inquiry into the progress and conditions of mechanics’ and literary institutions: a paper read before the Dublin Statistical Society (Dublin, 1852), p. 4)Google Scholar. Note that some of these institutions (e.g. mechanics’ institutes in Galway and Dublin) were explicitly linked with Father Mathew’s crusade for temperance and self- improvement: see ‘Education of the People’ in Irish Penny Magazine, 19 Mar. 1842Google Scholar. For further information on mechanics’ institutes in Ireland see Byrne, Kieran, ‘Mechanics’ institutes in Ireland: 1825–1850’ in Proceedings of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland Conference (Galway, 1979), pp 32–47Google Scholar and Duffy, Séamus, ‘Treasures open to the wise: the mechanics’ institutes of north-east Ulster’ in MacMillan, Norman (ed.), Prometheus’s fire (Carlow, 1999), pp 322-37Google Scholar.

8 The motive forces behind these institutions were usually local merchants and politicians, e.g. Peter Paul MacSwiney in Clonmel; Thomas Wyse, John Davis and Joseph Fisher in Waterford; William Smith O’Brien, William Lane Joynt and William Monsell in Limerick; and Robert Cane in Kilkenny. These men epitomised Lord Brougham’s definition of a ‘public-spirited man’ as one who promoted a popular lecture or established a reading club. See Rev.Hoare, Edward, A lecture on popular education and the diffusion of useful knowledge (Waterford, 1853), p. 5Google Scholar.

9 Joynt, William Lane, Suggestions for the establishment of a Limerick Athenaeum (Limerick, 1853), p. 7Google Scholar.

10 Thackeray, W.M., Irish sketchbook (London, 1843), p. 81Google Scholar.

11 Wyse, Thomas, Discourse at the closing of the first session of the Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution (Waterford, 1833)Google Scholar.

12 Davis, Richard, Revolutionary imperialist: William Smith|O’Brien, 1803–1864 (Dublin, 1998), p. 81Google Scholar.

13 Thompson, William to O’Brien, William Smith, 1 Sept. 1835Google Scholar (N.L.I., William Smith O’Brien papers, MS 428, letter 322).

14 Wyse, Winifrede (ed.), Notes on education reform in Ireland, compiled from speeches, letters, etc. contained in the unpublished memoirs of Sir Thomas Wyse (Waterford, 1901), p. 94Google Scholar.

15 Details can be found in Appendix 2 of the Report of the select committee appointed to inquire into the administration of the Royal Dublin Society ... (henceforth Report ...on R.D.S.), p. 373, H.C. 1836 (445), xii, pt 2, p. 373.

16 Russell, Charles William, ‘The Dublin Society’ in Dublin Review, ii (Dec. 1836), p. 236Google Scholar.

17 See Doyle, Bishop James Warren’s Letter to Daniel O’Connell on the formation of a National Literary Institute for the extension of science to all classes of Irish youth (Dublin, 1829)Google Scholar.

18 Tuathaigh, M.A.G.Ó, Thomas Drummond and the government of Ireland, 1835–41 (Dublin, 1977)Google Scholar; McDowell, R.B., Public opinion and government policy in Ireland, 1801–1846 (London, 1952), pp 177–203Google Scholar.

19 Hansard 3, xxxii, 538 (23 Mar. 1836).

20 Dublin Evening Mail, 24 Feb. 1836.

21 The Lancet, 19 Mar. 1836.

22 Hansard 3, xxxii, 541 (23 Mar. 1836).

23 The provincial lecture scheme was proposed by Isaac Weld and Richard Griffith. (Report... on R.D.S., pp 54, 201). Joseph Beete Jukes later mentioned that Edmund Davy also supported the scheme: see his testimony in the Report ...on Dublin, p. 129/185.

24 William Lane Joynt at the Limerick Literary and Scientific Society, quoted in the Limerick Reporter, 16 Nov. 1852.

25 The R.D.S. also began holding evening public lectures at their headquarters in Dublin on zoology, botany and natural philosophy. One observer remarked that these lectures constituted ‘a necessary and almost essential groundwork to an elegant and enlightened education’ (Freeman’s Journal, 24 Feb. 1838).

26 A petition to increase the grant was organised by the members of the Clonmel Mechanics’ Institute when they were unable to procure the services of Lover, William (Third report of the committee of the Clonmel Mechanics’Institute (Clonmel, 1845), p. 8Google Scholar).

27 The success of the Galway Mechanics’ Institute in securing the services of Kane, Owgan and Cahill was contrasted with the apathy of the more well-heeled membership of the Royal Galway Institution (Galway Vindicator, 27 Oct. 1847). Anthony Meyler’s course of lectures at the Royal Cork Institution in 1846 was regarded as ‘the only good act’ of ‘a hitherto most useless Institution’ (Cork Examiner, 19 Dec. 1846). Meyler’s lectures at Enniskillen acted as the catalyst for the formation of a Literary and Scientific Society, while Barker’s lectures at Kilrush caused the host society to change its name from the Kilrush Debating Society to the Kilrush Literary and Scientific Society (Enniskillen and Erne Packet, 28 Dec. 1843; Clare Freeman, 7 Oct. 1857).

28 Third report of the committee of the Clonmel Mechanics’ Institute (Clonmel, 1845), p. 8Google Scholar; Second report of the Literary and Scientific Institution of Kilkenny (Kilkenny, 1853), p. 3Google Scholar; Tyrawley Herald, 29 Sept. 1864.

29 The Enniskillen Lectures Committee publicised forthcoming lectures on ‘Respiration’ by Anthony Meyler as follows: ‘These lectures [are] not to be regarded as a mere dry and mechanical detail, but they embrace a variety of entertaining scientific matter to be illustrated by models, drawings, and experiments’ (Enniskillen and Erne Packet, 30 Nov. 1843).

30 Galway Vindicator, 11 Nov. 1845. John England also cancelled lectures at Cork in 1846 when his apparatus failed him (Cork Examiner, 20 June 1846). See also Elliott, John’s report to the Waterford Literary and Scientific Society that ‘a lack of philosophical apparatus renders lectures unintelligible’ (Address to the Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution, 30 April 1845 (Waterford, 1845), p. 30Google Scholar).

31 He ‘concluded as interesting a lecture on the subject as we have ever had the pleasure of hearing, by giving all of his auditors who wished it, a slight shock by joining hand in hand round the room’ (Meath Herald, 3 May 1851).

32 For Lover’s poem ‘On electricity’ see Drogheda Conservative, 17 Mar. 1855.

33 An observer noted: ‘He never slurs over a subject, or quits decanting on it till he is convinced that it is thoroughly understood. It is this useful peculiarity which makes his lectures particularly sensible to young persons, or to those in advanced years who have not familiarised themselves with some knowledge of the sciences with which he treats. It is a frequent fault with scientific lecturers to assume that what they have once shortly said is understood by their audiences, but Dr Lover does not assume but ascertains the fact’ (King’s County Chronicle, 7 July 1858).

34 Galway Vindicator, 5 Apr. 1850.

35 R.D.S., Reports of the proceedings of the meetings held for the discussion of subjects connected with science and art, 1848–55 (Dublin, 1855), pp 14–15Google Scholar; Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator, 14 Jan. 1851. Lover’s improved method of illustrating physiological lectures by means of designs portrayed on glass and exhibited by the camera obscura received the approbation of medical practitioners in Newry {The Irishman, 3 Mar. 1849).

36 Some of these experiments highlighted the shortcomings of the lecture halls in which they took place. For example, when Thomas Antisell produced phosphoric acid and chlorine in a poorly ventilated hall in Kilkenny, members of the audience were forced to leave as the noxious fumes permeated the building (Kilkenny Journal, 20 Sept. 1845, 24 Sept. 1846).

37 Lecturing on science could be a hazardous business. During a lecture on combustion at Liverpool in 1838 Robert Kane badly scalded his right arm and the lectures were cancelled (Liverpool Mercury, 12 Oct. 1838). Shortly afterwards Kane lectured at the Royal Cork Institution with ‘his right arm in a sling’ while William Barker acted as his assistant (Cork Examiner, 9 Sept. 1838).

38 Kilkenny Journal, 13 Sept. 1845; Cork Examiner, 10 July 1846. ³⁵Kilkenny Journal, 13 Sept. 1845.

40 Cork Examiner, 10 July 1846.

41 Cork Southern Reporter, 13 June 1848.

42 Dublin Literary Journal and Select Family Advertiser, 1 Fifth Month 1843.

43 Sir Humphry Davy was one of the first to introduce the arguments of natural theology into chemistry: see Golinski, Jan, Science as public culture: chemistry and enlightenment in Britain, 1760–1820 (Cambridge, 1992), pp 196–8Google Scholar.

44 Newspaper reports indicate that both Catholic and Protestant clergymen were ‘pleasingly blended’ at lectures in Cork (1843), Bailieborough (1860) and Ballina (1864) (Cork Examiner, 9 Sept. 1842; Cavan Observer, 11 July 1860; Tyrawley Herald, 8 Sept. 1864).

45 For testimonies to the unparalleled popularity of Cahill as a science lecturer see especially Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator, 15 Aug. 1843, Galway Vindicator, 13 Oct. 1846, and Clonmel Advertiser and Literary Gazette, 2 Sept. 1843. ‘DrCahillisa man of noble appearance. Handsome, tall, largely built, with an abundance of flowing black hair, and the voice of the most musical power, he has all the natural advantages which a powerful orator, to be thoroughly effective, should possess. As a lecturer, his success is incomparable. He far surpasses such men as Lover, Sir Robert Kane, and many others of equal note.’ (Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator, 10 June 1856)

46 Cahill, D.W., Lectures, sermons, addresses, and letters, ed. Curtin, J.C. (New York, 1885)Google Scholar.

47 See Shaw, George’s testimony in Report from the Royal Commission on the Science and Art Department in Ireland ..., ii: Minutes of evidence ..., p. 534, H.C. 1868–9 (4103-1), xxiv, 578Google Scholar.

48 The Pilot, 31 Jan. 1848; Kilkenny Journal, 9 Dec. 1846; Clonmel Advertiser and Literary Gazette, 2 Sept. 1843.

49 Kilkenny Journal, 18 Nov. 1846.

50 Ibid., 9 Dec. 1846.

51 See Byrne, Kieran, ‘The Royal Dublin Society and the advancement of popular science in Ireland, 1731–1860’ in History of Education, xv (1986), pp 86-7Google Scholar.

52 For example, Owgan, Henry lectured on ‘Ancient and medieval literature’ at the Parsonstown Mechanics’ Institute in 1846Google Scholar (King’s County Chronicle, 14 Oct. 1846).

53 The Nation, 21 June 1851.

54 Waterford Mail, 2 Aug. 1854.

55 16th D.S.A. annual report (1868), p. 67.

56 See Butterworth, Harry, ‘South Kensington and Whitehall: a conflict of educational purpose’ in Journal of Educational Administration and History, iv, no. 1 (Dec. 1971), pp 9–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 See Jarrell, Richard, ‘The Department of Science and Art and the control of Irish science, 1853–1905’ in I.H.S., xxiii, no. 92 (Nov. 1982), pp 330-7Google Scholar.

58 Cole, Henry, ‘Memorandum on the promotion of science and art in Ireland’ in Report ...on Dublin scientific institutions, p. 364/422Google Scholar.

59 Daily Chronicle, 16 Nov. 1867.

60 ‘Conciliation Hall is now, mutato nomine, in the Museum of Irish Industry’ (quoted in ‘The British Association’ in Dublin University Magazine, lv, no. 297 (Sept. 1857), p. 271). ‘The government were delighted to have industry set up against agitation in Ireland, to see the interest and sympathy of the Roman Catholic people pass from O’Connell to Kane’ (Dublin Daily Express, 11 Apr. 1863).

61 SirKane, Robert at the Museum of Irish Industry, 20 Oct. 1859 (quoted in Earl of Carlisle, Viceregal speeches and addresses, lectures, and poems, ed. Gaskin, J.J. (Dublin, 1865), p. 40)Google Scholar.

62 Committee of Lectures minute, 21 Nov. 1856 (U.C.D.A., MII/1).

63 See letter from the R.D.S. to the D.S.A., 4 May 1854, repr. in Minute of Committee of Council for Trade in reference to estimates for the Royal Dublin Society, and report of Council of Society, pp 6–8, H.C. 1854 (330), lviii, 541–3. Playfair accepted a compromise and allowed the R.D.S. a say in the management of the provincial lectures. See also McEvoy, John, Reasons for the establishment of a free library and an industrial college on the foundation of some of the so-called scientific institutions of Dublin (Dublin, 1864), p. 28Google Scholar.

64 See The Irishman, 25 Apr. 1863; Bradshaw, George B., Condemned for their country, or ‘No Irish need apply’! (Dublin, 1868), p. 190Google Scholar.

65 Waterford Mail, 15 July 1854.

66 Of the 30 lecturers who delivered lectures under the D.S.A., 14 were professors of the Queen’s Colleges.

67 Sullivan was a member of the Young Ireland movement and a shareholder in the suppressed Irish Tribune newspaper. He was one of the fiercest critics of the R.D.S. See in particular his polemical article On societies for the promotion and encouragement of industrial arts’ in Monthly Journal of Progress, no. 6 (June 1854), pp 168–9.

68 Samuel Haughton to the Committee of Lectures, 25 Oct. 1854 (U.C.D.A., minute books of the Committee of Lectures, MII/1).

69 Lyon Playfair to the Committee of Lectures, 6 Dec, 1856, (ibid., letter-books of the Committee of Lectures, MII/3).

70 See the testimonies of the Carrickfergus Literary Society, Carlow Mechanics’ Institute and Drogheda Mechanics’ Institute in the Report ...on Dublin scientific institutions, pp 374–8/432-6.

71 Quoted in Waterford Mail, 17 Jan. 1855.

72 However, fees could be as expensive as 10s. (course) for William Lover’s lectures on electricity and magnetism at Parsonstown Mechanics’ Institute in 1858 (King’s County Chronicle, 16 June 1858).

73 Quoted in Fisher, Lydia, Memoir of William Henry Harvey (London, 1864), p. 226Google Scholar.

74 Committee of Lectures to Robert Harkness, 22 Sept. 1857 (U.C.D.A., letter-books of the Committee of Lectures, MII/3); Committee of Lectures to George Johnstone Stoney, 20 May 1855 (ibid.).

75 Committee of Lectures to Alexander Melville, 11 Oct. 1854 (ibid.)•

76 Waterford Mail, 10 Jan. 1855. Separate visiting hours and restricted access to the scientific instruments were organised for a deputation of workmen from the Mills, Ballincollig Gunpowder: see Report of the Cork Cuvierian Society for the session 1854–5 with an account of the conversazione held at the Athenaeum on the 29th and 31st of May (Cork, 1855)Google Scholar.

77 Quoted in Report of Cork Cuvierian Society for 1854–5 ..., p. 16.

78 Waterford Mail, 17 Jan. 1855.

79 Galway Vindicator, 5 May 1855; Enniscorthy News, 28 May 1863; Bray Gazette, 10 June 1865; Tyrawley Herald, 29 Sept. 1864.

80 Committee of Lectures minute, 28 May 1862 (U.C.D.A., MII/1).

81 Galway Vindicator, 21 June 1862.

82 Cork Examiner, 6, 13 Oct. 1858.

83 Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1864, p. 167.

84 Belfast News-Letter, 15 Apr. 1861.

85 Committee of Lectures minute, 24 Dec. 1859 (U.C.D.A., MII/1). Note also the poor attendances at Dungannon (45) and Lurgan (65).

86 Henry Owgan’s lectures in Parsonstown were postponed because of bad weather, while storms affected attendances at William Kirby Sullivan’s lectures in Clonmel (King’s County Chronicle, 21 Oct. 1846; Clonmel Chronicle, 28 Jan. 1851).

87 King’s County Chronicle, 31 Mar. 1858. A sizeable proportion of artisans were also noted at Melville’s lectures in Waterford (1856) and E. W. Davy’s lectures in Sligo (1859) (Waterford Mail, 30 Oct. 1856; Tyrawley Herald, 21 May 1859).

88 Cork Southern Reporter, 22 Feb. 1848; Cork Examiner, 29 Sept. 1858; Clare Freeman, 7 Oct. 1857; Enniscorthy News, 20 June 1863. In 1857 the examinees after courses of lectures in Carlingford, Carlow and Dungannon were all women (see Committee of Lectures minute, 12 Dec. 1857 (U.C.D.A., MII/1)).

89 Report from the Royal Commission on the Science and Art Department in Ireland ..., ii: Minutes of evidence ..., p. 532, H.C. 1868–9 (4103-1), xxiv, 576.

90 Report... on Dublin scientific institutions, pp 53–4, 80/109-10, 137.

91 This is the unidentified ‘pilot scheme’ mentioned by Lyon Playfair in the 5th D.S.A. annual report (1857-8), p. 20.

92 The introduction of examinations arose after a conversation between Playfair and Jukes: see Committee of Lectures minute, 17 May 1856 (U.C.D.A., MII/1). The government failed to recognise that examinations had occurred infrequently under the management of the R.D.S.

93 ‘These exams will be the means of creating an interest in the future courses of lectures delivered in our Institute, and we expect to find that the rising generation of the Urbs Intacta will prove to possess talent equal, if not superior, to that of the other towns in this kingdom’ (Waterford Mail, 8 Nov. 1856).

94 Committee of Lectures minute, 26 Aug.1858 (U.C.D.A., MII/1).

95 The Committee of Lectures found it impossible to carry out the rule limiting the award of prizes to candidates achieving a result of more than 50 per cent owing to the great difference in point of difficulty of the questions set by different examiners (Committee of Lectures minute, 12 Dec. 1857 (ibid.))•

96 Quoted in the Report... on Dublin scientific institutions, p. 87/143.

97 Committee of Lectures to George Shaw, 12 July 1856 (U.C.D.A., minute books of the Committee of Lectures, MII/3).

98 Londonderry Journal, 20 Oct. 1858.

99 Of the 19 students who won prizes at an examination conducted by E. W. Davy in Limerick, 14 were pupils of the Limerick model school and a further 4 were pupils at the Mungret model farm (Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator, 6 Dec. 1859).

100 See Cardwell, D.S.L., Organisation of science in England (London, 1972), pp 89–90Google Scholar.

101 The difficulty in obtaining science teachers was due a central flaw in the D.S.A.’s system. Until 1863 all candidates had to travel to South Kensington to sit the examinations at the D.S.A.’s headquarters. Travel expenses were paid on condition that the candidate was successful, and few Irishmen were willing to take the risk of failing. In 1863 examination centres were set up in Ireland.

102 Alderman, A.R., ‘Tate, Ralph (1840-1901), geologist and botanist’ in Douglas Pike et al. (eds), Australian dictionary of biography (17 vols, Melbourne, 1966-2003), vi, 243-1Google Scholar.

103 Playfair, Lyon, On scientific institutions in connexion with the Department of Science and Art (London, 1857), p. 16Google Scholar.

104 Committee of Lectures minute, 18 Feb. 1861 (U.C.D.A., MII/1).

105 28th D.S.A. annual report (1871), p. 76.

106 Committee of Lectures minute, 18 Feb. 1861, (U.C.D.A., MII/1).

107 Report from the Royal Commission on the Science and Art Department in Ireland..., i: Report, p. 32, H.C. 1868–9 (4103-1), xxiv, 76.

108 Report ... on Dublin scientific institutions, pp 194, 211/250, 267. Sullivan’s criticisms must be read in the context of the government’s refusal to grant a charter to the Catholic University of Ireland, where he was professor of chemistry. Sullivan (when president of Queen’s College Cork) later called on the government to revive the scheme, in his report to the Samuelson Commission in 1884. See Sullivan, William Kirby, ‘Scheme of technical education for Ireland’ in Second report of the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction, iii: Evidence, etc., relating to Ireland, p. cxvii [C 3981–11], 1884, xxxi, 117Google Scholar.

109 Report... on Dublin scientific institutions, p. 88/144.

110 Butterworth, ‘South Kensington & Whitehall’, pp 9–16.

111 ‘Scientific notices — afternoon scientific lectures’ in I.E.R., 3rd ser., ii (1881), pp 284–93.

112 See in particular Webb, Alfred’s and Davitt, Michael’s evidence to the Second report of the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction, iv: Evidence, etc., relating to Ireland, pp 12, 61 [C 3981-III], xxxi, 59, 108Google Scholar. William O’Brien’s United Ireland newspaper vigorously promoted the 1882 Industrial Exhibition as the inauguration of a national industrial movement: see in particular the issue for 3 June 1882.

113 Graves, Arnold, ‘Technical education’ in Dublin University Review (Nov. 1886), pp 879-89Google Scholar; Henry Hennessy, ‘On technical education in Ireland’, ibid. (July 1886), pp 573–86.

114 ‘Scheme of pioneer lectures’ in Journal of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, i (1900-01), pp 488–592.

115 Annual reports of the directors of the Liverpool Mechanics’ Institution, 1834—59 (Liverpool Record Office, MS 373 INS 9/1,9/2, 9/3).