Cork Street Fever Hospital, Dublin
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The Cork Street Fever Hospital (), also known as the House of Recovery, was a hospital located in
Cork Street Cork Street is a street in Mayfair in the West End of London, England, with many contemporary art galleries, and was previously associated with the tailoring industry. Location The street runs approximately north-west from the junction of Burl ...
in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
.


History

The original hospital, which was located in a poor densely populated part of the
Liberties Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...
but with large grounds, was designed by Samuel Johnston and built by Henry, Mullins & McMahon. It consisted of two parallel brick buildings, , three stories high, connected by a colonnade of . The eastern range was used for fever, the western for convalescent patients, in order to keep the patients separated. It opened on 14 May 1804. The objectives of the hospital were to care for the diseased in the neighbourhood and prevent the spread of infection in the homes of the poor.Bennett, p. 74 An additional building, much larger than any of the former, was added in 1814, by which the hospital was rendered capable of containing 240 beds. The hospital initially accepted fever patients from five parishes in the Liberties. A year after its foundation the catchment area was extended to the district south of the
River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish language, Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major Tributary, tributaries include t ...
as far as the South Circular Road. By 1810 this was extended to the whole of the city of Dublin, and to all classes of applicants, which increased the financial pressure on the hospital. In the year 1812 over 2,200 patients were admitted. The hospital did succeed in checking the spread of disease, but the worsening unemployment in the Liberties following the Act of Union and occasional epidemics, such as
Scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...
, pushed up the mortality rate for the first few years of its existence. However, by 1815 the mortality rate in the hospital had declined to 1 in 20 (from 1 in 11 in 1804). Dublin had six
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
epidemics in the 18th century – it was not at the time known that typhus was caused by a louse-born organism, which flourished in unhygienic conditions. The hospital was extended between 1817 and 1819 to help cope with a national epidemic. Three thousand cases were admitted to the hospital in one month in 1818.Typhus in Ireland
Another typhus epidemic hit Dublin in 1826. In the hospital, 10,000 people were treated for the infection. It was so overcrowded that tents were erected in the grounds (fortunately, over acres in extent), and these provided 400 extra beds. In 1832 Dublin was ravaged by a
cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
epidemic. Despite the best efforts of all concerned, thousands of victims died and were hastily buried in nearby Bully's Acre. Typhus came again at the time of the
Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact ...
in the late 1840s. During 1847 nearly 12,000 cases applied during a period of about ten months, although "amongst the poor at their own houses, .. vast numbers remained there, who either could not be accommodated in hospital, or who never thought of applying". Typhus returned in the 1880s, when
Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...
died of the disease in Dublin. In 1903 the James Weir Home for Nurses was erected on the opposite side of the street to provide accommodation for up to 50 fever nurses working at the Fever Hospital. After services were transferred to the Cherry Orchard Hospital in
Ballyfermot Ballyfermot () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park. It is bordered by Chapelizod on the north, by Bluebell, Dublin, Bluebell on the south, by Inchicore on the east, ...
, the old Cork Street Fever Hospital closed in November 1953. The old hospital was renamed Brú Chaoimhín and converted into a nursing home.


Notable physicians

Notable physicians included: * Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave, an eminent physician from
County Longford County Longford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the Local government in the Republic ...
. *Patrick Harkan, of Raheen, County Roscommon, a physician who arrived from the
Meath Hospital The Meath Hospital () 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 crowded area of the Li ...
around 1820 and remained in Cork Street for 40 years. * Christopher J McSweeney, Medical Superintendent from 1934 to 1953


Notable patients

James Whitelaw, the historian and statistician, who was also rector of St. Catherine's, contracted a fever while ministering to the poor in the hospital and died there in February 1813.


Archives

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland holds the archive of Cork Street Fever Hospital. Records in this collection range in date from 1801 to 2005, spanning the entire existence of Cork Street Fever Hospital (1801-1953) and over five decades of its successor institution, the Cherry Orchard Hospital.


References


Sources

* * * *


Further reading

* * {{Authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1804 Hospitals in Dublin (city) History of Dublin (city) 1814 establishments in Ireland Defunct hospitals in the Republic of Ireland 1953 disestablishments in Ireland Hospitals disestablished in 1953 Fever hospitals Georgian architecture in Dublin (city)