Hamblin was known as a teacher preparing students for university entrance exams,[citation needed] and he also taught at the Cork Mechanics Institute.
The premises consisted of a school-room, 2 classrooms, library, 2 dormitories, a dressing room and a playground.
A report card for a pupil grades him in Greek Testament, Lucian, Homer, Xenophon, Latin, Terence, Juvenal, Livy, Virgil, Horace, Exercise, Euclid (Geometry), Algebra, History and Writing.
[2] Notable pupils include, physician Robert Spencer Dyer Lyons, Home Rule MP Joseph Philip Ronayne, balladeer, writer and nationalist Denny Lane,[2] mathematician, theologian and Trinity provost George Salmon DD, FRS,[3] and surgeon and professor Edward Hallaran Bennett MD.
Victoria Cross winner James Adams, archbishop of Ontario John Lewis,[4] and clergymen Adam Newman Beamish and Richard Parkes Bennett are among the Church of Ireland clergy who attended the school.