Saint Ultan's Children's Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Leanaí Naomh Ultan) was a paediatric hospital in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It was named after

Ultan of Ardbraccan St. Ultan of Ardbraccan, also known as Ultan the scribe was an Irish saint and Abbot-Bishop of Ardbraccan during the 7th century. He died c. 657David Hugh Farmer ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' (5th rev. ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2011U ...

, patron saint of paediatricians.

History

The hospital was founded by Dr

Kathleen Lynn Kathleen Florence Lynn (28 January 1874 – 14 September 1955) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician, activist and medical doctor. Lynn was so greatly affected by the poverty and disease among the poor in the west of Ireland that, at 16, she decid ...

and

Madeleine ffrench-Mullen Madeleine ffrench-Mullen (30 December 1880 – 26 May 1944) was an Irish revolutionary and labour activist who took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. Ffrench-Mullen was a member of the radical nationalist women's organisation . In 1 ...

with the help of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

activists in 1919 and was housed in an old Georgian house constructed around the year 1770. The committee opened the hospital with a fund of just £70 and 2 sleeping cots. The building was in a state of disrepair and was reputed to have once been a shooting hall used by

Lord Charlemont Viscount Charlemont is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1665 for William Caulfeild, 5th Baron Charlemont. The Caulfeild family descends from Sir Toby Caulfeild, originally of Oxfordshire, England. He was a noted soldier and ...

. It was the first hospital for infants in Ireland and hospital physicians in the early years included

Ella Webb Isabella ("Ella") Gertrude Amy Webb (16 October 1877 – 24 August 1946) was a pioneering Irish paediatrician and founder of the Children's Sunshine Home for Convalescents (now LauraLynn Ireland Children's Hospice) a convalescence home for chi ...

and

Dorothy Price Dorothy Stopford Price (9 September 1890 – 30 January 1954) was an Irish physician who was key to the elimination of childhood tuberculosis in Ireland by introducing the BCG vaccine. Early life Eleanor Dorothy Stopford was born on 9 Septemb ...

. Earlier in her career, Lynn had experienced discrimination in applying for hospital positions due to her gender, and Saint Ultan's was the only hospital in Ireland entirely managed by women. It was the first hospital in Ireland to provide the BCG vaccination and from 1937 became the centre for BCG in Ireland. Dr Barbara Stokes, specialist in children with disabilities, also worked at the hospital. In 1936, a new hospital was designed for the site by the architectural practice Scott and Good, a partnership between Norman Douglas Good and Michael Scott, but this was never built. After services transferred to the

National Children's Hospital The National Children's Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Náisiúnta na Leanaí) was a children's teaching hospital in Dublin, Ireland. It was absorbed into the Tallaght Hospital in June 1998. History The hospital was founded by Sir Philip Crampton, S ...

in Harcourt Street, Saint Ultan's Children's Hospital closed in 1984. The site became part of the

Charlemont Clinic The Charlemont Clinic was a private medical clinic in Dublin, Ireland. History The clinic was established in 1989 on the site of the former Saint Ultan's Children's Hospital. Closure and sale Due to decreasing revenue, the 0.38 hectare city cen ...

, a private medical clinic which operated until 2014, when it was sold to the

Dalata Hotel Group Dalata Hotel Group PLC is a hotel company which owns and operates hotels across Ireland and the UK. It is the largest hotel operator in Ireland with 7,101 rooms available across owned, leased and managed hotels. As of February 2020, the company ...

for redevelopment as the Clayton Hotel Charlemont, which opened in 2018.

References

{{reflist Children's hospitals in the Republic of Ireland Hospitals in Dublin (city) Hospital buildings completed in 1919 Hospitals established in 1919 Defunct hospitals in the Republic of Ireland 1984 disestablishments in Ireland Hospitals disestablished in 1984