The Pigeon House Hospital.
Trevor James
Nowadays, with a large sewage woks on one side and a waste incinerator on the
other, the Pigeon House doesn’t seem the ideal site for a hospital, but if you want an
isolated place to put people who have a deadly infectious disease and who are likely
to arrive by ship, then you can see the advantages.
Cholera was one of the feared infectious diseases in the 1800s. It first appeared in
the UK in the 1830s, probably brought from India by returning military and it swept
through Ireland in 1832. Another epidemic occurred in 1848/9 and a temporary
cholera hospital was established in Pearse Street (or Brunswick street as it was
then). In 1873 the fear of another outbreak of cholera led Dublin’s leading doctors to
recommend that anyone with symptoms of cholera arriving into the port should not
be brought to hospitals in the city but should be treated in a hospital close to the port.
A location on the south wall, about 500 metres before Pigeon House Fort was
recommended.
British Medical Journal 16 Aug 1873
This raised many objections both from the military authorities at Pigeon House Fort
and the residents of Ringsend and Irishtown, so, as an alternative, an eighteen bed
ship -the Prudence-was acquired by the South Dublin Union to be moored in Dublin
bay and act as an isolation facility for any cholera patients arriving at the port. The
cost of acquiring and fitting out the Prudence was £1700 and it was kept at anchor
off the North Wall 3 . However, by the end of the year the threat of cholera seemed to
have passed and the ship had never been used (except for housing a drunken sailor
on one occasion). By 1877 it was still unused although three caretakers were
employed to look after it . Acompany employed to inspect the ship in 1877 found
that it was filthy and had deteriorated significantly. There were proposals to sell it but
the inspectors put its value at only about £100 so it was considered a better option to
retain it, dismiss the caretakers, and keep a handyman on board to maintain it, just in
case of a new epidemic. The hospital ship remained in the port for the next 25 years,
apparently kept in good condition despite being used on only a few occasions and never
for a case of cholera. In fact, the threat of cholera had greatly diminished, and although
there had been outbreaks throughout Europe it had never reached Ireland since the 1850s.
In 1892 there were outbreaks of cholera in Liverpool and Glasgow and the port
authorities were on high alert but no cases were found here. However, there were
other highly infectious diseases that might be carried in on board ships. Outbreaks
of smallpox and scarlatina had demonstrated the need for an isolation hospital in
Dublin and a site on the Crumlin Road was recommended 6 but this was never acted
on.
In 1900, the Corporation was advised by Dr Flinn, the Local Government Board
Medical Inspector, that the hospital ship “although useful as a means of intercepting
a few seaborne cases of disease is totally unfit for an emergency of any magnitude
that might arise”. He went on to advise that, in view of the fact that cases of bubonic
plague had occurred in Glasgow, the Corporation should immediately equip the old
submarine mining station at the Pigeon House Fort as an isolation hospital. The
Corporation had purchased the Pigeon House Fort in 1897 and in September 1900,
they agreed to the proposal. However, this agreement was rescinded as the threat
of plague diminished and although alternative sites were proposed, all were objected
to and none was proceeded with.
There was a great deal of disagreement among the various interests (ie The Public
Health Committee, the Corporation, the Dublin Sanitary Association) as to the
suitability of the Pigeon House site but matters came to a head in December 1902
when a sailor was diagnosed with smallpox and the hospital ship refused to admit
him. There was also an outbreak of typhus at the time and none of the hospitals had
facilities to isolate him. Eventually he was isolated in the Hardwicke hospital but they
had to close a ward to do so. More cases occurred and this was the impetus that
was needed. The new Pigeon House isolation hospital opened on March 4 th 1903.
When the isolation hospital was opened the hospital ship became redundant and
was sold for scrap for £27.
Within days of its opening the new hospital was full and work was started on new
wards. A letter in the Irish Times from the President of the Royal College of
Surgeons, Sir Lambert Ormsby, describes it as an ideal hospital of its kind, both as
regards situation and equipment. By the 28 th March there were 43 cases being
treated and by the time the outbreak terminated in July 1903, 255 persons had been
treated for smallpox and 33 had died. After this, the hospital thoroughly disinfected
and kept ready in case of a new outbreak. But there were no further outbreaks
except for a short period in 1907 when there were fears of an epidemic of cerebro-
spinal meningitis. and the hospital lay more or less idle until about 1909
It remained virtually unused until about 1909 when it became an agent in the fight
against tuberculosis (TB) which was the big killer in Dublin in the early part of the 20th
century. At that time over 15% of all deaths in Ireland were from tuberculosis (or
consumption as it was also called). In 1907 Lady Aberdeen, wife of the Lord
Lieutenant, had begun a crusade against TB. She established the Women’s National
Health Association of Ireland with the aim of reducing infant mortality and eliminating
TB. In 1909, she persuaded Allan A. Ryan, the son of Thomas Fortune Ryan, one of
America’s richest men, to fund a hospital for the more advanced, though not
hopeless cases of TB. He guaranteed £1,000 annually for five years, so the WNHA
approached Dublin Corporation with a view to obtaining the Pigeon House Road
Hospital. Although at first dubious, the Corporation finally agreed to lease part of the
premises to the Association, at a nominal weekly rent of one shilling a week, but with
the proviso that, if there were a new outbreak of cholera or smallpox, the
tuberculosis patients would be immediately removed.
The new Allan A. Ryan Hospital for Consumption officially opened on 23 August
1910. It consisted of a two-storey red brick building, with accommodation for twenty-
five patients, set in two acres of ground. The patients were to be those who were not
too far advanced and had reasonable prospects of recovery. The male patients
occupied two wards on the ground floor, and the female patients were on the first
floor wards accessed by an external stairs. There was also accommodation for the
nursing staff. There was no effective treatment for TB at that time: the best that
could be done was to create a healthy environment – fresh air and nourishing food.
Since many poor families could not afford nourishing food, this in itself could be a life
saver The average stay of the patients in the hospital was thirteen weeks, and in that
time they achieved an average weight gain of 19lbs.
Allan A Ryan Hospital 1910
Over the next few years the hospital expanded but there remained a pressing need
for places. Legislation on the prevention of tuberculosis was enacted and Dublin
Corporation were required to make provision for treating TB so they agreed to take
over the hospital and use it for their own patients. The Corporation approached
several orders of nuns to request them to provide staff for the running of the hospital.
Having nuns administer hospitals was pretty standard practice at the time and it was
usually the cheaper option or as the Corporation noted it would ‘show a financial
economy in the cost of the nursing staff’. The Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de
Paul responded to the request and agreed to provide four nuns for the Pigeon House
Road Hospital including one sister superior, who would manager the hospital. The
nuns took up duty on 24 October 1918.
Although closed for a short time in 1920 because of lack of funds, the hospital,
renamed as St Catherine’s, continued operating until the mid 1950s. Larry Kelly in
his book The Pigeon House gives a personal account of life (and death) there. By
the 1950s better living conditions and effective treatments had dramatically reduced
the incidence of TB and made the Pigeon House Hospital redundant. It closed its
doors for the last time in August 1955.
Arrangements were made with Cork Street Hospital to provide medical, nursing and
ancillary personnel to staff the new facility.106 The provision was timely as a fresh
outbreak of smallpox occurred infecting sixty-five cases in the first quarter of
1903. The first eleven-cases of this fresh outbreak were treated in the Hardwicke
hospital.
Sources
Irish Independent 5 Sep 1892
Irish Times 5 Nov 1874
Freemans Journal 25 Jul 1874
Dublin Evening Mail 10 May 1877
Dublin Evening Mail 9 Sep 1877
Freeman’s Journal 12 Aug 1896
Freeman’s Journal 4 Sep 1900
Irish Times 7 Sep 1900 page 6
Irish Independent 9 Oct 1903
Irish Times 17 March 1903.
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