Jervis Street Hospital. Wolfe Tone.

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CHAPTER V.** **

Jervis Street Hospital - Birth-place of Theobald Wolfe Tone - The Fate of Luttrell - St. Michan’s Roman Catholic Chapel - The Jesuits in St. Michan’s Parish - George’s Hill Convent. **

As we are leaving Mary Street ambit we see the magnificent building now in Jervis Street, which is the culmination of the work of the Charitable Infirmary founded in 1718,** when six Dublin surgeons associated themselves together and took a house in Cook Street. This after a little time was too small for them to carry on their benevolent work, and, with the aid of outside help, they removed in 1728 **to larger premises on Inns’ Quay.

Their new premises were situated about four doors from “Mass Lane,” now Chancery Place, and next door to the Infirmary lived Sir Patrick Dun, the founder of the hospital which still bears his name. In 1786, when the new Four Courts were about being erected, a bargain was made with the Earl of Charlemont, who, having erected a new mansion at Rutland Square, vacated his old mansion, 14** **Jervis Street, and the institution was removed thither in October, 1796. Some time after wards alterations were made in the house to suit it for hospital purposes.

The good work under the old system was carried on till 1854,** **when the nursing and internal management were placed under the control of the Sisters of Mercy. In 1877, the old Charitable Infirmary becoming decayed and inadequate to meet the increasing demand upon it, the Management Committee decided upon rebuilding and enlarging the hospital so as to adapt it to all the requirements of modern sanitary science and legislation.

Of it may it be truly said, “The ancient is ever new.” This is evidenced by an extract from the hospital report for the year 1906:- “Since its foundation in 1718 the hospital has continued to fulfil its beneficent mission in the city, and during the past year has received into its wards a larger number of patients than in any previous year, and it may be said that the numbers seeking admission are annually increasing. In addition to the 1,414** patients treated in the wards, 25,370 **suffering poor have been attended at the dispensary, and supplied with medicine and other necessary medical and surgical aids. These large numbers need cause no surprise when we remember that the hospital occupies a central place in the most populous part of the city, and being close to the markets, railway termini, and goods stores, as also the shipping, must always be ready for accidents and urgent medical cases of every kind. The very necessity of its position, which imposes upon it the duty of giving immediate relief in thousands of cases, gives it also a greater claim upon the charitable consideration of the citizens. This ever-increasing work has crippled the resources of the hospital, especially as during the past few years the subscriptions and bequests have considerably fallen off, and as a consequence the committee were obliged to draw on the capital, which is now completely exhausted. They claim that the work done for the city poor gives them a special claim on the citizens, and they earnestly invite all well-wishers to allow their names to be recorded as subscribers.”

It is remarkable that within the curtilage of these streets two events of supreme importance in the national life of Ireland took place. On 20th** **June, 1763, in 44 Stafford Street, was born Theobald Wolfe Tone, and on 4th June, 1798, died in Newgate Jail Lord Edward Fitzgerald. It is also worth noting that both were born in the same year and both died within the same year, ‘98.

Stafford Street is historic for many reasons. Here “Stella” lived ; here was assassinated Luttrell, who sold the pass at Aughrim.

The fate of Luttrell, the traitor, is thus recorded in O’Callaghan’s “History of the Irish Brigades”:- “After King William’s decease Henry Luttrell retired to Luttrellstown, and mostly resided there till November 2nd, 1717,** **when, being waylaid between 10 and 11 o’clock at night in Dublin, as he was proceeding from Lucas’s Coffee House, situated where the City Hall now stands, to his town house in Stafford Street, he was fired at and mortally wounded in his sedan chair. He lingered until next day, and then died, in the 63rd year of his age.

Two days after, a proclamation was issued by the Duke of Bedford, Lord Lieutenant, stating that on Tuesday, etc., ‘between the hours of 10 and 11 o’clock at night, a tall man, with long, lank hair, in a short, light-coloured coat, did, in Stafford Street, in the City of Dublin, in a most barbarous and inhuman manner, murther and assassinate Colonel Henry Luttrell as he was going in a hackney chair from a coffee house on Cork Hill to his own house in Stafford Street aforesaid, by firing a pistol or gun loden with ball into the said chair, and thereby so dangerously wounding the said Henry Luttrell that he has since died of his said wounds; and that the said assassin found means of escape, and the authors and contrivers of such an horrid murther were still undiscovered … and we hereby give the necessary orders for the payment of the sum of £300** **to such person or persons as shall discover,: take, or apprehend the person who fired the said pistol.’

This reward not succeeding, as a further inducement the then Irish House of Commons authorised a further reward of £1,000 for the capture of the person who shot Luttrell. Some arrests on suspicion took place, but nothing of more consequence was the result of the efforts of the authorities. The memory of Colonel Henry Luttrell was held up after his death to national hatred in the following epigram, cited by Hardiman, and unsurpassed for comprehensive bitterness

“‘If HEAV’N be pleased when mortals cease to sin,

And HELL be pleased when villains enter in,

If EARTH be pleas’d when it entombs a knave,

ALL must be pleased - now Luttrell’s in his grave.’

“Towards the end of the 17th century it is said that Henry Luttrell’s tomb, near Luttrellstown, was broken open at night by some of the peasantry of the neighbourhood, and his skull taken out and smashed with a pickaxe by a labourer named Carty, who was afterwards hanged for being concerned in the plan to cut off Lord Carhampton in 1797,** **on his way to Luttrellstown, as a character not less detested living than his grandfather dead.”

In the early days of the 18th century this locality was the centre of fashion, the home of lords and earls. Their names are forgotten. Only one of its inhabitants is still fondly remembered by the Irish people, and will be till time is no more. Need I again mention the name of Tone. This is not the place to trace the career of that great hero, whose death, (like the Man in the Iron Mask), is still a mystery.

Some believe (and I confess I am one) that Tone was asssassinated and did not commit suicide. However, time may reveal the secret. In the meantime let us keep alive his principles and his memory.

The first Roman Catholic chapel in St. Michan’ s Parish was the chapel within the Convent grounds, now portion of the Richmond Hospital. The next chapel, or “Mass House,” was erected by Father Neary about 1730. It was on the south side of Mary’s Lane, north-west corner of Bull Lane. This lane has ceased to exist; but the site of Mary’s Lane Chapel is still in existence, and is now occupied by a dairy.

After the death of Father Neary at his lodgings in Bull Lane in 1738,** **the chapel was served principally by members of the Jesuit Order, who, when their Order was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV., became secular priests and assisted in all parochial duties.

When, in 1814,** Pope Pius VII. restored the Order, they went once more into community. Their first house in Dublin after the restoration was the old chapel in Hardwicke Street attached to the Convent of Poor Clares, who removed from this place in 1804 to their present home at Harold’s Cross. From Hardwicke Street the Jesuits removed, about 1834, **to their present magnificent church in Gardiner Street, the foundation stone of which was laid in the year of Catholic Emancipation, 1829.

Passing into Anne Street, we meet the Parish Church of St. Michan. The last pastor of Mary’s Lane Chapel, Father Wall, seeing it was fast becoming a congested area, called in the assistance of his parishioners to assist him in procuring a site for a new church and presbytery. Amongst those most prominent in their efforts to assist Father Wall was Captain Bryan, of Jenkinstown, who gave £300** and £200 **yearly for himself and son until the church would be completed. As a favour to him his family arms were emblazoned in the porch at the entrance of the church, where they still remain.

Before passing away let us glance for a moment or two at the pile of buildings now known as George’s Hill Convent. This was the first Roman Catholic school permitted legally to be opened in Dublin, such “Papist” institutions being forbidden by the Foreign Education Bill. This provision was repealed in the reign of George III.

The convent was founded by a Mrs. Mullally, the daughter of a humble provision dealer at the corner of Beresford Street, in Mary’s Lane. She commenced at first in a small outhouse opposite the old chapel in Mary’s Lane, where on Sundays and holy days she taught such of the children of the poor as she could collect around her.

God blessed her work, assistance coming to her from unexpected quarters. She went to Cork to consult with Miss Nano Nagle, who had just founded the Presentation Order in that city. On her return, with the zealous help of Father Mulhall, funds were collected, and the ground on George’s Hill purchased. In 1787 several houses were erected for schools, and in seven years after, 1794,** **the convent and chapel were formally opened.

Amongst the many members of the Jesuit Order attached to St. Michan’s in its early days was Father Mulhall. He divided his time between the service of the altar and the education of youth. By his exertions the small and inadequate schools were enlarged, so that close upon 800 were daily educated therein. He was attached to St. Michan’s Parish for a period of close upon 40 years. He died at his residence in George’s Hill, next to the convent (of which he was the first chaplain) in December, 1801. His remains lie beneath the Convent Chapel, and, at his own request, without any inscription.

For the past 120** **years the good Sisters of this convent, “far from the madding crowd” of the busy city, brought solace and comfort to the poor in this district; let us in our individual capacity help them to carry on their good work.

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