'My family circumstances, as I said earlier, were better than most of my contemporaries so I was not obliged to join the workforce '

'My family circumstances, as I said earlier, were better than most of my contemporaries so I was not obliged to join the workforce '

Harry Browne describes leaving primary school and starting secondary education.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1955

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Harry Browne

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

North Strand, Dublin

1950's

Leaving primary school age was twelve and a half or thirteen years, some went on to secondary school, others went straight into the work force. Economic necessity in many families in the middle 1950s dictated that all who could, contributed to the family support and thus thirteen year olds quite literally had to go to work. Many of my classmates went to work in Unidare which was a major employer in the north side of the city. My family circumstances, as I said earlier, were better than most of my contemporaries so I was not obliged to join the workforce. Instead I went to North Strand Technical School, where in addition to Irish English and Maths we also studied woodwork, metalwork and physical training.I was moderately good at the book learning and quite comfortable with woodwork but metalwork and physical training were a real pain in the ass for me. In first year we had an unfortunate teacher who suffered from a serious lisp. His pronunciation of the number three was therefore twee. He was the subject of unending teasing by the boys and known as Twee Twee by all and sundry. In second year we had a teacher who wore a scholar's gown. We inner city kids had never seen a scholars gown outside the picture hall and thought this a very strange garb for a teacher to wear. I assume that he had a teaching degree and most of the other teachers were tradesmen of one sort or another. Presumably he felt it necessary to display his superiority over the others in this manner. However to us he was a figure of ridicule and we christened him 'Batman'.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)