Belfast Royal Academy
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Belfast Royal Academy is a co-educational, non-denominational grammar school situated in north Belfast. It currently has approximately 1400 pupils.
The School was founded in 1785 by Dr. Crombie in Academy Street and is the oldest school in Belfast. It moved to its current location on the Cliftonville Road in 1880. In 1885 it received its royal charter and its current name. The current Headmaster is W.S.F Young.
The school's preparatory department, Ben Madigan, is located on the Antrim Road in the the shadow of Cave Hill. Originally opened in 1829, it moved to its current site in 1965. A pre-prep was opened in 1998.
Notable alumni
- William Hamilton Drummond (1778–1865), Presbyterian minister and poet
- Alexander Mitchell (1780–1868), blind civil engineer and inventor of the screw-pile lighthouse
- James Lawson Drummond (1783–1853), Professor of Anatomy and Medical Physiology, Belfast Academical Institution, 1819–1849
- Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pottinger (1789–1856), Envoy and Plenipotentiary to China, 1840–1843, first Governor of Hong Kong, 1843–1844, and Governor of Madras, 1847–1854
- William Bruce (1790–1868), Presbyterian minister
- Thomas Romney Robinson (1793–1882), Director, Armagh Observatory, 1823–1882
- George Benn (1801–1882), historian of Belfast, and distiller
- Robert Patterson (1802–1872), naturalist
- Thomas Andrews (1813–1885), Professor of Chemistry, Queen's College, Belfast, 1845–1879, and physician
- Sir William Ewart (1817–1889), linen manufacturer
- Hugh Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns (1819–1885), Lord Chancellor, 1868, 1874–1880
- John Mulholland, 1st Baron Dunleath (1819–1895), textile manufacturer
- James Witherow (1824–1890), Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, 1878–1890, and writer
- Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909), founder and owner, Castle Line, 1862–1900, and Union Castle Line, 1900–1909, and politician
- Joseph Gillis Biggar (1828–1890), Irish Home Rule MP for County Cavan, 1874–1890
- Charles Williams (1838–1904), first Editor, Evening Standard, 1860–1863, first Editor, Evening News, 1881–1884, and war correspondent
- James Johnston Shaw (1845–1910), Whately Professor of Political Economy, Trinity College, Dublin, 1876–1891, judge, and Presbyterian minister
- Robert Charles (1855–1931), clergyman and biblical scholar
- Frederick Donnan (1870–1956), Professor of Physical Chemistry, and Director, Muspratt Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, University of Liverpool, 1904–1913, and Professor of General Chemistry, University College London, 1913–1937
- John Ward Armstrong (1915–1987), Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 1958–1968, Bishop of Cashel, Emly, Waterford and Lismore, 1968–1977, Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, 1977–1980, and Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, 1980–1986
- Douglas Gageby (1918-2004)
- Sir Donald Murray (born 1923), Lord Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland
- Jack Kyle (born 1925), Ireland rugby union player
- John Cole (born 1928), Political Editor, BBC, ?-1992
- Denis Weaire, Erasmus Smith Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Trinity College, Dublin, and physicist
- James Stirling, Professor in Mathematical Sciences and Physics, University of Durham
- Kate Hoey (born 1946), Minister for Sport, 1998–2001
External link
- Official school website (http://www.belfastroyalacademy.com)