| Description | The Charitable Infirmary was the first voluntary hospital in Ireland and Great Britain. In 1718 six Dublin surgeons decided to open a voluntary hospital located on Cook Street, after witnessing the destitution, disease and extreme poverty of Dublin’s poor. The founding surgeons were Francis and George Duany, Patrick Kelly, Nathaniel Handson, John Dowdall and Peter Brenann. Due to the demands on the Cook Street hospital its surgeons sought the help of charitable persons to help with the financing of the hospital and expansion of premises to accommodate more patients. The surgeons rented a house in Anderson’s Court in about 1724 which provided an additional 8 or 9 beds but which were soon filled and a larger premises on Inns Quay was acquired in 1798. The founding of the Charitable Infirmary marked what has been coined as the age of the voluntary hospital with the establishment of Dr. Steevens’ Hospital in 1733; Mercer’s Hospital in 1734; the Rotunda Lying-In Hospital in 1745; the Meath Hospital and St. Patrick’s Hospital in 1753 and Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital in 1792. All of these hospitals were funded by public subscription and money raised through charities and events such as bazaars, balls, musical events, lotteries, sedan chair-rentals and garden fêtes however, one event stands out among the many, George Frideric Handel performed his Messiah for the first time, on April 13th 1742, in the Musick Hall, Fishamble Street. Seven hundred people attended with £400 collected for equal division among the Society for Relieving Prisoners, The Charitable Infirmary and Mercer’s Hospital. The surgeons and physicians gave their time free of charge and the ethos of the hospitals were always to provide care no matter the circumstances of the patient. When the plans for the Four Courts were announced in 1786 it became necessary for the Charitable Infirmary to move to a new location. The Earl of Charlemont, having just completed a mansion on Rutland (now Parnell) Square, vacated his old family mansion at No. 14 Jervis Street, which was purchased by the trustees of the hospital. The Governors of the hospital soon found that the building became dilapidated and after opening a subscription list which saw generous support from the city’s merchants the newly refurbished hospital building was opened in 1804. In 1852 the committee of management made the decision to invite the Sisters of Mercy to supervise nursing in the hospital. This decision was motivated by a desire to improve the standard of nursing in the hospital, and whereas it was recognised that the Sisters were not trained nurses, it was appreciated that they had ‘acquired an experience which renders them very efficient’. There was concern, however, that the Sisters might seek to influence religious practice in the hospital. At that time the rules provided free access for patients of every denomination ‘and empowered every patient to send at once, and without question for any clergyman whom the patient might desire to see’. These misgivings were set aside, however, in favour of the overall benefits that might derive from the organisation of nursing in the hospital. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the demands on the hospital were increasing such that the management committee had to direct their thoughts towards building yet another hospital. The large and extensive premises of the Dublin Carriage Company were acquired together with five houses in Jervis Street. Finally, in 1983 the new hospital at Beaumont was completed and this was opened in 1987 incorporating the Charitable Infirmary and St. Laurences’s (The Richmond) Hospital. The Charitable Infirmary Charitable Trust has since 1989 provided annual bursaries to support medical research at Beaumont Hospital/Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, provided funding to assist the poor and those in need in Dublin City through approved charities and provided significant capital contributions to causes which align with the original founding and motto of the organization which is to help those in need.
Sources used in compiling this contextual history: “History - The Charitable Infirmary Charitable Trust.” The Charitable Infirmary Charitable Trust. November 17, 2024. History – Charitable Infirmary Charitable Trust & O’Brien, Eoin. The Charitable Infirmary Jervis Street 1718-1987. Dublin: The Anniversary Press, 1987.
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