Medical services in the 19th century British Empire could not have functioned without the input of  Irish-trained doctors, according to historians from the University of Ulster and UCD speaking at the launch of a new Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland.

The new Centre – funded by the Wellcome Trust -  will chart the history of  two centuries of medical practice in Ireland including the role of the Irish family doctor at home and abroad, childhood health, disease among farm workers, maternal health and the medicalisation of Irish society.

As well as examining the contribution of Irish medicine, including that of practitioners whose pioneering work gained them international stature, researchers will delve into largely unexplored areas of its social impact, including the politics and processes which influenced attitudes to issues such as contraception.

Professor Greta Jones of the School of History and International Affairs at University of Ulster says that in the 1800s Britain would have been unable to operate its medical services in India and other colonies but for the huge role played by Irish-trained doctors. Ireland was famous as a centre for producing doctors of distinction, some of whom devised medical procedures which are still used internationally.

“In the early 19th century, Irish medicine was undergoing a golden period which made it a beacon for medicine as practiced throughout the British Isles,” she said.

The Wellcome Trust has awarded Professor Jones and her UCD colleagues. Professor Mary Daly and Dr Catherine Cox, a prestigious Strategic Enhancement Award which will provide five-year funding of £299,000 for the dual campus project. Cross-border academic expertise will shine new light on the role of Irish medicine and its social history dimensions, including “medical migration” and  the community and cultural standing of expatriate Irish medical professionals in England.

History of medicine is a very new academic discipline and the researchers at the Jordanstown and Belfield Dublin, campuses will begin poring over antiquarian medical books and rare manuscripts at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in Dublin and other institutes and libraries as well as modern data, culled from official and state records.

Professor Jones said: “ Much of what is regarded as a historical outline of Irish medicine has been mainly written by doctors, in memoirs and reminiscences. Most Irish universities up to the 1960s relied upon their medical schools to generate income and some wouldn’t have survived without their medical school. Until the ‘60s, doctors were the largest professional group in Ireland yet the history of Irish medicine is a very undeveloped part of Irish history.”

Professor Jones said that in the early 18th century, Ireland’s medical world had the benefit of French influence which spawned “a distinctive Dublin school of medicine”.

Traditionally, around half of Ireland’s newly qualified doctors emigrated to England, underlining the importance to the growth of Britain’s health services. However, she said, the past half century has seen a decline in the importance of Irish medicine to Britain and the emergence in Ireland of a range of social and political medicine issues.

The Centre will involve close collaboration between UU academics and researchers in the Department of History and colleagues in the School of History and Archives, University College Dublin. The launch takes place in UCD today at 5pm.

For further information, please contact:

David Young
Telephone: 028 90366074
Email: David Young