WWI AND ST PATRICK’S CONVENT SCHOOL

The First St Patrick’s Convent School was opened in 1856 and it served the educational requirements of the parish extremely well.  However, after more than sixty years, it was evident that a new building was necessary to meet the needs of the increasing number of pupils.  Therefore, plans were put into motion for the erection of a new school.  The new school was to be built on Deanery Avenue and as St Patrick’s Parish, like every other Parish in Newfoundland, had lost many young men and boys to the carnage of World War I, it was decided that the new St Patrick’s Convent School would be built as a Memorial to these young soldiers.  On 4^th December 1921 the cornerstone of the memorial School was laid by Archbishop E P Roche, assisted by the Parish Priest, Msgr William Kitchen and priests of the Parish. 

 

This interesting advertisement appeared in a local St John's newspaper on 15 July 1921.  It invited the populace to a “Grand Concert and Comic Sketches”.  This Grand Concert, to be held at St Patrick’s Parish Hall, was in aid of the Memorial School.  The admission price was just 50¢.







The Newspaper ad for the fund raising concert in aid of
the 'memorial' St Patrick's Convent School

This is the St Patrick’s Convent School, built as a Memorial to the young men of the Parish who died in WWI.  There was, on the right hand side of the main door, a plaque indicating that the school was indeed such a memorial. Many generations of west end girls and boys received their education here but in due course this building also outlived its usefulness as a school and, sadly, closed its doors.  It was not the end though - at least not yet! 



St Patrick's Convent School, Deanery Avenue ,
A Memorial to men of the Parish who fell in WWI

 

The plaque which was attached to the right hand
side of the Deanery Avenue School entrance

 

In 1978, the Sisters of Mercy reopened the School as a Residential Detoxification Centre.  It was renamed Talbot House, in memory of Venerable Matt Talbot.  In time, Talbot House also closed and eventually the building was demolished. 

 

We have been given several names of parishioners who died in WWI.  If you know of any other parishioners who died in that war, please send their names to mcallistersmith@gmail.com if you would like them added to the list below. 

 

Carew,  Pte John Joseph, Regimental Number 651, Son of David and Carrie Carew, 2 Brien St, St John’s

Constantine, Pte Peter, Regimental Number 563, Son of Peter and Hannah Constantine, 20 McFarlane St, St John’s

Galgay, Pte Francis Joseph, Regimental Number 892, Son of Francis and the late Mary Galgay, 235 Water St West, St John’s

Holden, Pte Patrick, Regimental Number 555, Son of Joseph and Mary Alice Holden, Southside, St John’s

Kennedy, Pte Michael Francis, Regimental Number 255, Son of Nicholas and Margaret Kennedy, 187 Lemarchant Road, St John’s

Pynn, Pte Jack, Regimental Number 4036, Son of Daniel and Margaret Pynn, 329 Water St West, St John’s

Woodford, Pte Francis Patrick, Regimental Number 364, Son of John Joseph and Sarah Jane Woodford, 7 Convent Square, St John’s

 

Padre Thomas Nangle

We also remember Fr Thomas Nangle, a priest of St Patrick’s Parish from 1914 to 1916.  After the bloodbath of Beaumont Hamel in 1916, Fr Nangle enlisted and became the  Newfoundland Regiment's Catholic Chaplain.  We know that in war,  Chaplains don’t carry arms but Padre Nangle was beside his men tending the wounded, burying the dead and encouraging the battle weary.

 

We Newfoundlanders owe a great debt to Padre Thomas Nangle. During the War he brought comfort to the soldiers and their families.  After the War Padre Nangle was involved with the identification and re-interment of the Newfoundlanders who had died in battle.  He was also the driving force behind the creation of the beautiful Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel in France. This exceptional  Newfoundlander, Padre Thomas Nangle, died in Rhodesia on 4^th January 1972.

Today, St Patrick’s Convent School, Deanery Avenue, built as a memorial to our heroic dead of WWI, is just a memory.  Sadly, nothing remains but an empty space.  No trace of this Memorial can be seen.  It exists only in the mind’s eye of the diminishing number of westenders who spent their formative years as pupils there.  So, on this Memorial Day, 1st July 2015, we remember those who have died in all Wars and Conflicts but we remember especially our own heritage.  We remember the parishioners who came before us; those who gave their lives in war and the families who grieved for them. We remember the people who dreamed a St Patrick’s Convent Memorial School to honour our fallen parishioners and we remember the good people who worked so hard to make that dream a reality.  Yes, the School is gone but the memories remain.  Let us honour the memories!

This grassy bank is where St Patrick's Convent School, a Memorial to parishioners who died in WWI, once stood