Royal University of Ireland

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Royal University of Ireland

Ollscoil Ríoga na hÉireann
Former names	Catholic University of Ireland Queen's University of Ireland
Type	Public
Active	1879–1909
Location	Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Galway, Maynooth , Ireland

The Royal University of Ireland was a university in Ireland that existed from 1879 to 1909. It was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879^[1] as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A royal charter was issued on 27 April 1880 and examinations were open to candidates irrespective of attendance at college lectures. The first chancellor was the Irish chemist Robert Kane.

The Royal University had premises in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Derry.

It was dissolved in 1909 after a series of reforms and its functions and premises were then inherited by the National University of Ireland and Queen's University Belfast.

The Royal University became the first university in Ireland that could grant degrees to women on a par with those granted to men. The first nine women students graduated in 1884. It granted its first degree to a woman on 22 October 1884 to Charlotte M. Taylor (Bachelor of Music). In 1888 Letitia Alice Walkington became the first woman in Great Britain or Ireland to receive a degree of Bachelor of Laws. Among the honorary degree recipients of the university was Douglas Hyde, founder of the Gaelic League and later President of Ireland, who was awarded a DLitt in 1906.