Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T11:37:23.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dr Ada English: patriot and psychiatrist in early 20th century Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Mary Davoren ,
Eugene G Breen  and
Brendan D Kelly
Mary Davoren
Affiliation:
Mater Misericordiae University Hospitaland Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at UCD, Dublin, Ireland
Eugene G Breen
Affiliation:
Mater Misericordiae University Hospitaland Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at UCD, Dublin, Ireland
Brendan D Kelly*
Affiliation:
Mater Misericordiae University Hospitaland Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at UCD, Dublin, Ireland
*
*Correspondence E-mail [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Dr Adeline (Ada) English (1875-1944) was a pioneering Irish psychiatrist. She qualified in medicine in 1903 and spent four decades working at Ballinasloe District Lunatic Asylum, during which time there were significant therapeutic innovations (eg. occupational therapy, convulsive treatment). Dr English was deeply involved in Irish politics. She participated in the Easter Rising (1916); spent six months in Galway jail for possessing nationalistic literature (1921); was elected as a Teachta Dála (member of Parliament; 1921); and participated in the Civil War (1922). She made significant contributions to Irish political life and development of psychiatric services during an exceptionally challenging period of history. Additional research would help contextualise her contributions further.

Keywords

History20th centuryMental health servicesOccupational therapyConvulsive therapy
Type
Historical
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 91 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Ó hÓgartaigh, K.Kathleen Lynn: Irishwoman, Patriot, Doctor. Irish Academic Press 2006, Dublin and Portland, OR.Google Scholar
2.MacLellan, A.Dr Dorothey Price and the eradication of TB in Ireland. Ir Med News 2008; 25:28.Google Scholar
3.Kelly, D.Between the Lines of History: People of Ballinasloe, 2000 Vol 1, Declan Kelly, Ballinasloe.Google Scholar
4.Illingworth, R.Mullingar: History and Guide, 2007. Nonsuch, Dublin.Google Scholar
5.Fleetwood, JF.The History of Medicine in Ireland (Second Edition). The Skellig Press, 1983 Dublin.Google Scholar
6.Meenan, FOC.Cecilia Street: The Catholic University School of Medicine, 1855–1931. Gill and Macmillan 1987, Dublin.Google Scholar
7.Macken, MM.Women in the University and the College: a struggle within a struggle. In: Tierney, M (ed) Struggle with Fortune: A Miscellany for the Centenary of the Catholic University of Ireland, 1854-1954. Browne and Nolan, Dublin, 1954 pp 142–165.Google Scholar
8.Ferriter, D.The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000. Profile Books, London.Google Scholar
9.McCarthy, C.Cumann na mBan and the Irish Revolution. Collins Press, Cork, 2007.Google Scholar
10.McCoole, S.No Ordinary Women: Irish Female Activists in the Revolutionary Years, 1900-1923. O'Brien Press, Dublin, 2003.Google Scholar
11.McNamara, M, Mooney, P.Women in Parliament: 1918-2000. Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 2000.Google Scholar
12.Finnane, P.Insanity and the Insane in post-famine Ireland. Croon Helm, London, 1981.Google Scholar
13.Kelly, BD.Mental illness in 19th-century Ireland: a qualitative study of workhouse records. Ir J Med Sci 2004; 173: 53–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Williamson, A.The Beginnings of State Care for the Mentally Ill in Ireland. Econ Soc Rev (Irel) 1970; 10: 280–291.Google Scholar
15.Walsh, O.Gender and insanity in 19th-century Ireland. Clio Medica 2004; 73: 69–93.Google ScholarPubMed
16.Kelly, BD.Mental health law in Ireland, 1821 to 1902: building the asylums. Med Leg J 2008; 76:19–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Reuber, M.The architecture of moral management: the Irish asylums (1801-1922). Psychol Med 1996; 26: 1179–1189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Inspectors of Lunatics, 1893. The 42nd Report (with appendices) of the Inspector of Lunatics (Ireland). Thom & Co. for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Dublin.Google Scholar
19.Walsh, D.The ups and downs of schizophrenia in Ireland. Ir J Psychiatry 1992; 13:12–16.Google Scholar
20.Walsh, D, Daly, A.Mental Illness in Ireland, 1750-2002: Reflections on the Rise and Fall of Institutional Care. Health Research Board, Dublin, 2004.Google Scholar
21.Kelly, BD.Mental health law in Ireland, 1821 to 1902: dealing with the ‘increase of insanity in Ireland’. Med Leg J 2008; 76:26–33.Google Scholar
22.Healy, D.Irish psychiatry in the 20th century. In: Freeman, H, Berrios, GE (eds) 150 Years of British Psychiatry. Volume II: The Aftermath. Athlone Press, London, 1996 pp 268–191.Google Scholar
23.Kelly, D.Ballinasloe: From Garbally Park to the Fairgreen. Nonsuch, Dublin, 2007.Google Scholar
24.Kelly, D.Meadow of the Miracles: A History of the Diocese of Clonfert, 2007. Editions du Signe, Strasbourg.Google Scholar
25.McCrae, N.‘A violent thunderstorm’: Cardiazol treatment in British mental hospitals. Hist Psychiatry 2006; 17:67–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26.Meduna, LJ von. Versuche über die biologische Beeinflussung des Aflaubes der Schizophrenie. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie 1935; 152: 235–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Barrington, R.Health, Medicine and Politics in Ireland, 1900-1970. Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, 1987.Google Scholar
28.Torrey, EF, Miller, J.The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey and London, 2001.Google Scholar
29.O'Neill, AM.Irish Mental Health Law. First Law Ltd, Dublin, 2005.Google Scholar
30.Boyd Barrett, E.Modern psychotherapy and out asylums. Studies 1924; 8:29–43.Google Scholar
31.Fogarty, W.Dr Eamonn O'Sullivan: a man before his time. Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 2007.Google Scholar
32.O'Sullivan, ENM.Textbook of occupational therapy: with chief reference to psychological medicine. Philosophical Library, Inc, Oxford, 1955.Google Scholar
33.Psychiatrist. Insanity in Ireland. The Bell 1944; 7: 303–310.Google Scholar
34.Kelly, BD.The Mental Treatment Act 1945 in Ireland: an historical enquiry. Hist Psychiatry 2008; 19: 47–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed