Kilkishen National School: Group photograph c.1945

[JPC]

This is a photo of the children attending Kilkishen National School, taken in about 1945.

They include my father, Patrick Cahill (third row from the front, first left) and his younger brother, John (front row, seventh from the left).

The gentleman standing ominously just behind my father is Mr Pat O’Connor, the School's headmaster.

Dad has a number of stories about Mr O'Connor. He says he was a generous man: if one of the pupils was too poor to buy shoes he would buy them a pair. But he was pretty hard with the strap, which prompted an unflattering poem about him:

“Kilkishen school is a fine old school
It’s made from bricks and plaster.
The only one we do not like
Is O’Connor, the grey-haired master.”

I remember when Dad received a letter from Home in the early 1980s saying that O'Connor had passed away. Although he'd been on the receiving end of O'Connor wrath occasionally, he was sad to hear the man that taught him to read and write had passed.

Generally, I would not post photographs of people who are still living (the youngest person shown would be in their late 60s by now).

But, in my experience, photos from this time and place have generally not survived and so I thought it best to circulate it now as there must be many Kilkishen people who'd find it interesting. I'll leave it to the site's Administrators to determine.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who can identify the other people in the photo and am happy to send anyone who wants it a higher resolution copy.

Regards, JPC

[LinHog]

Hi
Would be delighted to get a better resolution picture please - would think some of my aunts and uncles (McMahon family, Clonbrick) would be in the picture.

Many thanks

[M. McNamara]

I would like very much to get a high res copy. I am presently involved in fundraising to convert the derelict 200 year old Church of Ireland church in Kilkishen (official title is Clonlea Parish church) to a community/heritage centre. The fund-raising effort has recently started and will continue for 18 months. Several events/projects are planned, one of which will be a book about Kilkishen. A chapter in the book will be about education in the parish and the photo would make a great addition. If you send me a copy, may I have your permission to publish it? My email address is jamaica@iol.ie.

[JPC]

Hi LinHog,

Yes, I'd be happy to e-mail you a copy if you leave an e-mail address I can send it to.

Kind regards, JC

[M. McNamara]

Many thanks to JPC for the hi-res copy. I have handed out copies to older people in the parish and so far just 1 man admits to being in the photo.

I have received emails from what I will term the Kilkishen diaspora looking for info on the Church of Ireland refurbishment project. We very much want to involve people living outside Kilkishen and we will do this by means of a project website and Facebook. I will start a new thread on this forum on that subject when the project web-site is up & running. Our facebook page is at Kilkishen Church of Ireland Restoration Project. In the meantime, thanks to the people who wrote to me and I will reply off-forum to their emails.

[LinHog]

Hi JPC - my email address to receive hi-res copy of school photo is lindahoganruan@eircom.net

Many thanks

[M. McNamara]

Here's another group photo from Kilkishen N.S. The date is unknown, but possibly pre-independence as the board held by the boys is in English. The alphanumerics under the NS read A84 (or L) and N2.
The boys are dressed in a quasi-military type uniform with boots, puttees, heavy duty trousers and jacket, buttoned up to a large protruding white collar. The boys are serious, almost at attention.

Has anybody got a suggestion as to what is represented here.