Medicine And Charity In Ireland, 1718-1851

by Geary, Laurence M.

• ISBN13: 9781904558187
• ISBN10: 1904558186
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Univ College Dublin Pr

Summary

"In this social history of medicine and charity in Ireland over a period of almost 150 years, Laurence M. Geary focuses on the plight of the sick poor and in the process underlines the close relationship between illness and poverty." "During the eighteenth century the sick came to be regarded as one of the groups that constituted the deserving poor and society attempted to assist them in their illness and distress. From 1718, when the first voluntary hospital was established in Dublin, a network of medical charities evolved in Ireland to provide free medical aid to the sick poor. The inspiration was not always or entirely charitable: the motives for founding and funding charitable institutions embraced utilitarian as well as philanthropic considerations. Geary examines these issues, along with the contribution and role of doctors, patients and governors, the core groups involved in the medical charities. He describes the nepotism, sectarianism and divisive politics that characterised these institutions and traces the emergence of an increasingly confident Catholic opposition voice in the opening decades of the nineteenth century."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Laurence M. Geary lectures in history at University College Cork.

Table of Contents

The origins and development of Irish medical institutions
Voluntary hospitals	p. 13
County infirmaries	p. 40
Dispensaries	p. 54
Fever hospitals	p. 70
Patrons, patients and practitioners
Governors and patients	p. 95
Medical practitioners	p. 123
Politics one day, potatoes the next
The politics of sick poor relief	p. 155
Medical relief during the Great Famine	p. 181
The 1851 Medical Charities Act	p. 210
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