Thomas Pleasants (1729-1818) was a notable merchant, property developer and philanthropist in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
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 ...
, after whom Pleasants Street in Dublin 8 is named.
Life
Pleasants was born in County Carlow in 1729, son of William Pleasants and his wife Grace Edwards. His grandfather was Thomas Pleasants, alderman of Dublin.Thomas Pleasants /ref>
His grandfather had leased a large piece of land near Capel St. from Dublin Corporation, which Pleasants inherited some time after his grandfather's death in 1729. His initial income derived from this property, though he also had dealings with his cousins the Pasleys, who were wine merchants at 9 Abbey St.
He married in 1787 Mildred Daunt, second daughter of George Daunt, surgeon in
Mercer's Hospital
Mercer's Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Mercer) was a hospital in Dublin, Ireland. It was converted into a clinical centre and medical library for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1991.St. Bride's Church.St. Bride's Cemetery /ref>
Donations
Among his donations were over £12,000 in 1814 for the erection of a large stove-house near Cork St. for poor weavers in the
Liberties
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society f ...
, £8,000 for the building of the
Meath Hospital
The Meath Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal na Mí) was a general hospital in the Earl of Meath's Liberty in Dublin, Ireland. It was absorbed into the Tallaght Hospital in June 1998.
History
The hospital was opened to serve the sick and poor in the crowd ...
, and his own house (67 Camden St.) for the provision of a girls' school and orphanage, along with £1,200 per annum to run it and extra money provided for dowries for the girls (only applied to Protestants, though), to do this Pleasant's Asylum for Female Orphans on Camden st. was founded in 1818 it closed in 1949. He donated his large library and a large sum of money to the Royal Dublin Society.