George Edward Skerry was a mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

 and publisher of commercial arithmetic texts. In 1878 Skerry's College, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, was founded. Mainly preparing candidates for Civil Service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 Examinations, they also ran preliminary classes for university exams, and were also involved in distance learning as a correspondence college. Skerry also founded other colleges in Britain; in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 and Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

.

In 1884 he founded Skerry's College

Skerry's College Cork

Skerry's College was a series of colleges which primarily prepared candidates for Civil Service examinations.-1878-1885:Skerry’s College was inaugurated as a small training centre in Edinburgh in 1878 by George Skerry, a civil servant in Edinburgh who saw the need to prepare candidates for the new...

, in Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, and also founded other colleges in St Stephen's Green, Dublin, and in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

. The Cork college was the longest-surviving, and celebrated its centenary in 1984. In 2005 it merged with Griffith College Dublin

Griffith College Dublin

Griffith College Dublin is a private third level college in the Republic of Ireland. It is based in and named after the former Griffith Barracks on the South Circular Road in Dublin. It offers courses accredited by a number of institutions and bodies in Ireland and Britain...

, forming Griffith College Cork

Griffith College Cork

Griffith College Cork is an independent education institution based in the former Skerry’s College Cork which it merged with Griffith College in 2005, where it runs courses in Business, Law, Secretarial, Media & Journalism, Design as well as evening courses in Psychology, Office Skills, Computing...

.

Publications

Books by George Skerry include:

• Practical Papers in Book-keeping.
• Practical Papers in Book-keeping, Adapted to the Requirements of Candidates for all Public Examinations and Commercial Life. (1899)
• Practical Indexing and Precis Writing. (1902)
• Skerry's advanced indexing and precis writing. (1910) G.E. Skerry & Co. (London)
• Graduated Exercises in Dictation.
• Skerry's Model Solutions in Advanced Arithmetic, Adapted to the Requirements of Canditates for All Public Examinations. G. E. Skerry & Co. (London)