Pirrie House

Housemaster - Mr. J. Peak

History

When the house system was introduced in 1926 Pirrie was one of the original four houses. It was named after the shipbuilder, businessman and entrepreneur Viscount William James Pirrie.

Born in Quebec, Canada on 31^st May 1847,Pirrie rose to the top of the shipbuilding industry. The famous Victorian writer and political activist, William Stead, described him as " the greatest shipbuilder that the world has ever known", who has "built more ships and bigger ships than any man since the days of Noah."

Pirrie was educated at RBAI between 1858 and 1862 were he left and enrolled as an apprentice at Harland and Wolff at age fifteen. His potential was immediately noticed and by age 22 he was chief draughtsman, made a partner by 27, later becoming the first chairman of the board.

Under his energetic control both the shipyard and the City of Belfast enjoyed a sustained period of boom. Viscount Pirrie was elected Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1898 (drawing up plans for the City Hall) was the first person to be named a Honorary Freeman of the City in 1898, was the first Viscount of Belfast in 1921 and elected to the Northern Ireland Senate in 1922.

In an ironic twist of fate Viscount Pirrie died at sea on 6^th June 1924 while on a business trip to South Africa.

House success

This year all the boys have performed admirably in all activities when representing the house. Special mention should go to the members of the 6^th Form rowing team and the intermediate Debating team on recording fine victories. The senior Rugby players deserve praise for a fine performance in finishing runners-up in the Pirrie Cup. The best performance of the year however goes to all the boys in forms 1, 2 and 3 who won the Sheldon Cup for Junior Cross country.

Pirrie First Form - 2007/2008

Back L to R: William McKee, Samuel Milford, Jack Moore, James Palmer, Lee Perry, Gus Portig, Samuel Sheerman, Aaron Spence, Ryan Walker

Middle L to R: Conor Hanley, Sam Heggarty, Matthew Johnston, Andrew Lambe, James Lorimer, James Magee, Mark McBride, James McCabe, Jamie McCartney  

Bottom L to R: Kurtis Alexander, Rory Bell, Rory Campbell, Scott Coates, Mrs. Howe, Adam Craig, James Crawford, Michael Culbert, Alex Elwood