Introduction
For many years during the 1800s, under the Mastership of Dr Steele, an annual dinner was organised in Dublin by Portora undergraduates at Trinity College, Dublin, with a ‘High Table’ for all old boys living in the Dublin area. The first recorded external and non-Trinity dinner was held at the Bolton Hotel, Dublin in 1879 and today the School archive holds a copy of the elaborate gilt menu, printed in French, that was issued for this inaugural event.
The Old Portora Union (OPU) is formed
However, the Old Portora Union (OPU) traces its official foundation to a committee meeting, held on 9 November 1921, at St Anne’s Vicarage, Dawson Street, Dublin, when the distinguished member of the Irish Judiciary, The Right Honourable J G Gibson, PC , Chief Justice of Ireland, agreed to become the first President of the OPU.
Supporting him as committee members were: Reverend Edward G Seale, MA , Headmaster (ex-officio); The Right Honourable the Lord Dunalley of Kilboy ( Hon Henry O’Callaghan Prittie ); The Very Reverend the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral ( Reverend Dr Charles Thomas Ovenden, DD ); and Dr Louis Claude Purser, SFTCD , Vice Provost, Trinity College, Dublin University.
The Committee passed a motion to hold its inaugural OPU Dinner on 12 May 1922, at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, priced at 8s 6d (42.5p). Discussion then turned to the design for an OPU tie, scarf, tobacco pouches and various other gentlemen’s requirements, which would be stocked by Messrs Tyson Ltd, Grafton Street, Dublin.
Life membership subscriptions were set at three guineas or fifteen shillings per annum (£3.15 and £0.75 respectively), with automatic life membership granted after six successive annual subscriptions. These rates remained until 1953, when life membership became five guineas.
Shortly after formation of the OPU, W N Tetley , Second Master, was co-opted as Honorary Treasurer for the Society, a position which he held until his death in 1927, when, after a short break, his duties were assumed by A T M Murfet , the new Second Master. Murfet retained these duties until his eventual retirement from the staff in 1956.
OPU organises regional branches
Towards the end of the 1920s, there was strong pressure to hold the annual dinner on alternate years in Belfast and Dublin. In the event, there were sufficient numbers and interest to form a separate ‘Belfast Branch’ to operate in Northern Ireland, and this was very effective for Northern-based OPs, until the outbreak of World WarII. However, wartime constraints led to the closure of the Belfast Branch, and all records and unused funds were subsequently transferred back to the parent branch of the OPU at the School.
During the 1920s, the growth of OPs living deep in the South of Ireland led to an annual dinner being organised in Cork, and there are certainly reports in the Cork Examiner during 1935, listing 23 members dining at the Metropole Hotel.
One regional branch, founded in England during 1953, remains socially strong – the OPU (London branch) and carries on the tradition of a formal annual black tie dinner following its AGM. (See separate dedicated entry for details of membership and activities).
During the troubles of the 1960s and 70s, and particularly after boarding ceased at Portora in 1992, regional dinners became difficult to organise and the School took on the task of organising a central AGM and Dinner in Enniskillen. However, more recently there has been a revival of informal OPU events in Dublin, Belfast and at the School in Enniskillen; increasingly, these events have been well attended by both OPs and their wives.
