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Patt Larkin Graduation Portrait, 1922 Patrick (Patt) Larkin attended UCG, obtaining a BA degree in 1922. He was appointed Professor of Education in 1925 and was Bursar of the College from 1946 to 1965. He retired in 1967. He was married to Margaret (Rita) Carlos and they had nine children. He died on his 98th birthday, 29th September 1998.
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LARKIN, Patrick ('Patt')
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UCG film unit in action, 1960s People: Patt Larkin
Patt Larkin, Professor of Education, who initiated the UCG Aonad Scannáin (Film Society) in 1947, was an enthusiastic photographer and amateur film-maker.
The car's number plate indicates that it was registered in Dublin County and County Borough between May 1953 and May 1954.
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Motorists at Beggars Bridge, 5 June 1921 The elegantly dressed young man leaning against the car and his companion in the front seat are doing a creditable imitation of Prohibition-era gangsters. None of those present have been identified. The motorcar was still a relatively rare and prized possession in the early 1920s and this photo conveys how students associated it with special outings and social life.
Beggars Bridge is the bridge that crosses the Gaol River, just to the north-west of the Cathedral, on University Road.
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Ed Thornton with Brigid Lyons at UCG Pictured here, from left to right: Brigid or Brighid Lyons, and Edward ('Ed') Thornton. When they married in 1925, Brigid added Thornton to her maiden name, and was thereafter known as Brigid Lyons Thornton.
Born in 1896, Brigid Lyons was from Northyard, near Scramogue, Co. Longford. From 1915 to 1922 she studied medicine in Galway, where she helped to found a branch of Cumann na mBan. In 1916 she participated in the Easter Rising. After a brief period in the Army Medical Service she pursued a long and distinguished career in public health.
'Throughout her life Brigid Thornton fought for the underprivileged, believing strongly that women had an important contribution to make in many occupations traditionally dominated by men. Injustice and deprivation moved her, and she used her energy to fight for the rights of political prisoners, for Belgian refugees, and for the right of women to vote.' (DIB)
Captain Edward ('Ed') Thornton (b. 1899) was from Co. Mayo. The couple met in Nice where both were convalescing from tuberculosis. They returned to Ireland and married in 1925. Edward Thornton passed the Bar and worked as solicitor, wintering in Switzerland. He died suddenly in 1947 and was buried in Toomore Cemetery, near Foxford. When Brigid died in April 1987 she was buried with military honours beside her husband.
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Tennis courts, University of Galway, c. 1920s The two tennis players in the photo may be Rita Carlos, mother of Patrick Larkin, and her sister Nina Carlos.
The tennis courts in front of the Engineering Building (now Block E) were later made into a carpark.
The UCG Tennis Club was founded in the 1960s and in 2007 was re-established as a competitive intervarsity team. Instead of the long vanished courts pictured here, the University Tennis Club's members now have access to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club's facilities.
