Medicine And Charity In Ireland, 1718-1851

"In this social history of medicine and charity in Ireland over a period of almost 150 years, Laurence M. Geary focuses on the plight of the sick poor and in the process underlines the close relationship between illness and poverty." "During the eighteenth century the sick came to be regarded as one of the groups that constituted the deserving poor and society attempted to assist them in their illness and distress. From 1718, when the first voluntary hospital was established in Dublin, a network of medical charities evolved in Ireland to provide free medical aid to the sick poor. The inspiration was not always or entirely charitable: the motives for founding and funding charitable institutions embraced utilitarian as well as philanthropic considerations. Geary examines these issues, along with the contribution and role of doctors, patients and governors, the core groups involved in the medical charities. He describes the nepotism, sectarianism and divisive politics that characterised these institutions and traces the emergence of an increasingly confident Catholic opposition voice in the opening decades of the nineteenth century."--BOOK JACKET.

Laurence M. Geary lectures in history at University College Cork.