The college annuals of University
College Galway are an indispensable record of student life and activity on
campus. With updates on study and academic courses, sporting life, achievements
of students and academics, contributions to social and cultural life and
general news of interest for and by students it is an insight into what being
student in Galway was like over 100 years ago.
In an issue for 1914 the Dramatic
Society documents the activities of the first year in existence of the UCG
Dramatic Society. According to the notes:
"The
first year of this society has been very successful, notwithstanding some
"excursions and alarums". There was first of all the question whether
we were a college society at all, which was pursued by some so far that one
night of rehearsal we found ourselves faced with an order by a college official
that we are not to be allowed into the Aula Maxima".
UCG Drama Society, 1914
Thankfully things did improve for
the society as it is noted how "Twelfth Night" was to be the first production:
"Rehearsals
were frequent, but though they take up much time, they were essential and often
good fun as well. The actors were all enthusiastic and painstaking, and from
the beginning each did his or her best to make the play a success, and a
success it was."
A tribute to the success of the
play was noted as being the attendance of the President of UCG on the night of
the play (December 16th):
"This tribute of loyalty and respect, not to say affection, acted
as a message of encouragement and a stimulus to the actors and made manifest
that this was truly "a college night", and such a one as it is hoped
will be frequent in the future."
To view the 1914, and other
editions of the historic College annuals visit the Archives and Special
Collections Reading Room.
Spotted on the online film archive of British Pathè recently is this gem of a film regarding the return of the historic mace and sword of Galway City. The sword and mace, both beautifully crafted by local silversmiths in the early 17th Century and early 18th Century respectively, with the great mace being presented to the town of Galway by Edward Eyre, Mayor of Galway, in 1712.
When Galway Corporation was dissolved in 1841, and as the Pathè film recounts, the then Mayor of Galway was owed considerable salary in arrears and he was given the two insignia." The items were later sold to an art dealer by the daughter of the Mayor and the mace and sword were eventually bought by American newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hurst. The mother of Hurst, Phoebe Elizabeth Hurst, neè Anderson, was of Irish lineage with her family having connection to Galway.
Prior to this transaction of sale of the mace and sword, it was noted in the Galway Observer, January 28, 1933, that: "It is learned that the Galway Urban Council has been in communication with a Government Department and has represented to the latter the necessity for purchasing the Sword and Mace of the Old Galway Corporation and housing these in the National Museum. The Government reply, while non committal is couched in sympathetic terms.
Through the recent reports in the public Press in reference to the discovery of the Sword and Mace of Galway Corporation and their presentation probably when recovered to the National Museum, the epithet "Blakes of Galway" has come again into popular prominence says the "Tuam Herald" the student of history may remember these historic emblems occupied at one time their allotted positions in the local Council Chamber, until 1841, when through the passing of the Municipal Corporation Act the Corporations of Galway was dissolved. At the time financial stringency was so acute that the salary £8,000 due to the Mayor, Mr. Edmund Blake was liquidated before the Corporation went out of office by the handling over of the Sword and Mace to the Mayor. When Mr. Edmund Blake died in 1905 the sword and mace came into possession of his daughter, Miss Anne Blake, who decided to dispose of them a few years after. The Civic Emblems were then sold to Mr. Louis Wine, art dealer, of Grafton Street, Dublin, who now possesses them."
The mace and sword were purchased in 1938 by Hurst and did end up going to America to reside in Hurst Castle, San Simeon, California and there they remained until 1961 when they were returned to Galway by the Hurst Corporation, following the death of William Randolph Hurst in 1951, as a gesture to the city and people of Galway. The ceremony to mark this event was attended by a large crowd and took place at the Aula Maxima here on campus of then University College Galway. The ceremony was attended by Taoiseach Sean Lemass and Mayor James Redington of Galway.
A wonderful and in-depth article on the history of the Galway civic mace and sword, written by past Professor of History here at NUI Galway (then U.C.G.) Prof. G. A. Hayes-McCoy, "The Galway Sword and Mace" and is published in the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 29, No. 1/2 (1960), pp. 15-36. (For those of you with Jstor subscriptions it is available to read here)
Today and since their return, the Galway Civic Sword and Mace reside here in Galway and are in the Galway City Museum. Great to have them here at home!
Following on from the great interest in our recent news and updates on the great J.R.R. Tolkien being an external examiner in English here at (then) University College Galway, here is a slideshow of exam papers in English from 1949 - 1959 of which the master of Middle-Earth was visiting the West of Ireland and reading and correcting the work of our students.
How would you fare in having Tolkien correct your answer's to these questions?!
For more press coverage of this news click here and here
While trawling through some of the past and historic
University calendars of NUI Galway and its past title as University College
Galway, one could not help but notice this rather striking and stand out name
as an external examiner.
In the summer exams of 1949 here at (then) University
College Galway, the students of First Arts, Commerce and Science had the rather
daunting task of having none other than J.R.R. Tolkien as the examiner in their
English literature exam.
Tolkien had, since the 1920s, established himself as a leading
academic. Around this time, just a few years prior to the image featured below,
in 1945, he moved to Merton College, Oxford becoming the Merton Professor of
English Language and Literature, in which post he remained until his retirement
in 1959.In 1954, Tolkien received an
honorary degree from the National University of Ireland (of which U.C.G. was a
constituent college). It was in the following decade, into the 1950s, that
Tolkein completed his Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
If presenting your work to the master of fantasy and fiction
writing wasn't enough, let's hope the students had brushed up on their
Shakespeare, the novels of Walter Scott, "poetic justice and the hard
facts of life" and a good grasp of the preternatural in Literature.
Of course this find is all the more timely as Tolkien's
classic The Hobbit is hitting cinema
screens around the world this weekend!
For more editions of the Historic Calendars of Queen's
College Galway and University College Galway, you can view the digital editions
here:
The staff of the Special Collections and Archives service in the James Hardiman Library have created a photographic display to celebrate the University’s hosting of this year's Sigerson Cup Gaelic Football competition on the weekend of 24/25 February. The University, then known as University College Galway (UCG), first won the competition in 1912. In all they have been winners on 22 occasions, including fifty years ago in 1962. A banquet celebrating that Golden Jubilee team is to be held in the Radisson Hotel on Friday 24 February where the photographic exhibition will be on display. Copiesof the photos , together with press cuttings relating to the various wins, will also be on show in the Sports Pavilion in Dangan that afternoon while the semi-final matches are on.
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