Henry Sinnerton – hugely influential Belfast-born teacher and writer

Before the term “mentor” became part of our regular discourse, Henry Sinnerton, born on August 8th, 1941, was a mentor. The Belfast-born teacher and writer, who died on June 1st after a battle with cancer, had been a hugely influential figure in the lives of very many young pupils lucky enough to have him as their teacher. He taught French, English, civics, sport and – in truth – a view of life that was always upbeat, unflappable, selfless and driven by an intelligent yet passionate belief in democratic liberal Protestantism.

I encountered Henry and his brother, the film-maker Moore, in Orangefield Boys School in east Belfast in the early 1960s. It was a school hard to categorise and almost impossible to reproduce in today’s educational environment. Under the leadership of John Malone, the Cambridge-educated and progressive headmaster, Orangefield – after 60 years now closed as a result of demographic change – brought together an exciting, diverse and multi-talented generation of teachers from those who had fought in the second World War to others barely out of university.

The social and enlightened policies which Malone instituted defied the educational establishment of the time and its complacency. Grammar schools, the 11-plus and religious segregation were the order of the day. Orangefield challenged these prejudices through the intelligence of its staff and the manner of its own pedagogical and vocational guidance. The sectarianism of Belfast meant that pupils attending the school were inevitably from Protestant areas of the city, though this was never a defining element for the pupils during my time.

Henry was part of a bright and open-minded cohort of teachers, dynamic and interested in passing on his knowledge and animated by the exciting mood of the Sixties. After graduating from Queen’s University, Henry went on to produce a master’s thesis in educational language policy at QUB and over many decades was part of the Royal Irish Academy.

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When I was writing a short cultural portrait of Belfast in the 1980s, Henry sent me material, including a prescient report which John Malone had presented to the city’s Educational and Library Board back in the early 1950s, warning of what could well happen if the engrained sectarianism was not adequately addressed with new educational policies.

After 30 years at Orangefield, Henry, along with many others of his generation of teachers, moved on to other schools and third-level institutions in the North and further afield, bringing their experience with them. Henry produced fiction and other writing while retaining his long-held beliefs in the necessity of decency and responsibility for a non-violent way of overcoming the inequalities of Irish society. There was a strong sense of witness to Henry’s voice so, looking back, it is hardly surprising that he lent that voice to those within the loyalist community seeking a way to redress the Northern conflict by founding a better civic understanding of its roots in society.

In his 2007 biography of his ex-Orangefield pupil, the late David Ervine, Sinnerton tells the “inside story of the personal and political path taken by one of the most courageous architects of conflict resolution in Northern Ireland”. In my copy of the book, Henry has written: “The essential of Orangefield was that it was in the people business. Alas, its course was cut short, but long enough to show the investment that outlook repaid to individuals & the community, or, to coin a phrase, the pupil is educator of the teacher – no more so than the subject of this book”. To which David Ervine added, “I concur with Henry!”

Henry was in “the people business”. His family, his friends, and all those who benefited by his example, lament the passing of a wonderfully inspiring, gifted and caring individual. He is survived by his wife Audrey, daughter Claire and son Peter, son-in-law Colm, grandchildren Patrick and Lucie, and brother Moore and Margaret, his sister.