ED1/96 No. 7 – Curtlestown Roll #1119 Co. Wicklow, District 40 & 38
QUERIES TO BE ANSWERED ON APPLICATION TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF EDUCATION FOR AID TOWARDS THE SALARY OF A WORK MISTRESS, In Curtlestown National School in the Parish of _______________ County of Wicklow
Application from Thomas O’Dwyer for Margaret Dowling, aged 35 to be paid as a workmistress. She commenced work on 26th March 1855. References are based in Bray. Can teach dressmaking and shirtmaking. Can teach all days 10 to 3 and Saturdays 10 – 1. Needlework will be taught in a separate apartment to the ordinary school room. The school on this date had an average daily attendance of 21 males and 22 females over the previous 6 months. 57 female children were to receive instruction, and this number was likely to increase.
A note on the back indicated an £8 salary for the workmistress.
The accompanying report states that the other teacher in the school on this date (28 June 1855) was John Byrne. There were 70 males and 60 females on the roll, and that the presence of a work school in the locality would be of great good, as the large female population of the locality are at present without any opportunity of learning needlework. Note adds that Dowling had previous work experience in Little Bray National School for more than two years. Adds that “the average female attendance will be small during the winter months owing to the rugged mountainous nature of the country and the great distance many of the pupils are obliged to travel daily to the school from their respective homes. A respectable attendance may be counted upon during the summer half year. On the whole I think the case is deserving of a favourable consideration.”