"Some Effort to Check the Needless Waste of Infant Life" : The early years of St Ultan's Infant Hospital

Lynn kept a detailed diary throughout her adult life, which offers an insight into the activities and inner life of a remarkable figure in Irish politics and healthcare.

Lynn's role in the Rising saw her imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol. After her release, she became a member of the Sinn Féin executive, acting as Director of Public Health. In 1918, she identified what she considered to be the looming threat of venereal disease, brought to Ireland by the British Army.

In contrast to the overcrowded tenements, St Ultan's Flats only occupied part of the site on which they were built, ensuring that there was ample space for children to play outdoors, as Lynn was a firm believer in the health benefits of fresh air.

Later, in the 1940s St. Ultan’s Utility Society began construction on new flats, designed by architect Michael Scott. Founder and long-time secretary of St Ultan's, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen died in 1944, and in recognition of her contribution to St Ultan's Utility Society, the building was named ffrench-Mullen House. Unfortunately, despite the ambitions of the project, management proved difficult, and the flats were ultimately handed over to Dublin Corporation.

The hospital provided respite for its infant patients in many ways. As many of the children had come from overcrowded slum conditions, St Ultan's provided them with fresh air and space to play. The pinnacle of this was the annual Turas to St Ultan's Well in Co Meath. This outing included a picnic, a Mass celebrated in Irish, and a football match, for which President DeValera threw in the ball in 1921.

St Ultan's sought to provide for its patients, even after they had been discharged, to ensure that progress that they made while in the care of the hospital could be sustained outside that environment. Lectures were held to teach mothers about infant health and nutrition, and the hospital ran a holiday home in Baldoyle to provide them with much-needed respite from the tenement conditions in which most of them were living.

One of the most unique aspects of St Ultan's was the extent to which it centred its infant patients at a time when paediatrics was a fledgling field of medicine. In publicity material and ephemera for the hospital, the health and success of former patients was showcased, as in the case for this champion Irish dancer.

The hospital's name affirmed the religious and political inspiration of its founders. Its patron saint, Ultan of Ardbraccan, was a Bishop who housed orphans in his monastery in the 540s to protect them from the 'Yellow Plague'. Frequently referred to as Teach Naoimh Ultúin, the hospital's use of the Irish version of its name was consistent with its founders' political affiliations.

During the period in which Lynn qualified, female doctors often struggled to find work. Despite her professional ability, when Lynn applied for a residency at the Adelaide Hospital, she was refused due to a lack of accomodation for women. St Ultan’s therefore employed a policy of positive discrimination towards female doctors, enabling them to enter a profession from which they were frequently excluded.

The hospital’s efforts to embody the ideals of 1916 were supported by a concurrent cultural nationalist movement. Prominent artists, poets and writers contributed pieces to The Book of St Ultan, which was compiled to raise much-needed funds for the hospital.

The book showcased work influenced by the Gaelic revival, featuring prominent figures such as Maud Gonne and Jack B. Yeats

A programme of events for St Ultan's Week gave medical and non-medical supporters of the hospital an opportunity to socialise, and to promote the nationalist cause in the early years of the Irish Free State.

Nativity plays were also held annually, evidently to great success. The Annual Report of 1923 advised that "no lover of art, music or children should miss the opportunity of seeing this play"

Lynn was pragmatic in her efforts to gain support for the hospital. While financial donations were important, donations of useful items were also gladly received. Chief amongst these were “woollies” and other items of clothing, but donations also included two goats, one of which was donated by Lady Carson, the wife of the unionist politician Edward Carson, and was named after its donor.

St Ultan's hospital evidently benefited from the networks of support that its founders cultivated. Its benefactors included local schools and Red Cross youth branches, members of the Irish diaspora in America, well-wishing neighbours and significant republican political figures, demonstrating the success of the hospital's fundraising and publicity efforts.

Architect Michael Scott drew up a design for the new hospital. Scott was a friend of Lynn’s and one of the most important Irish architects of the period, designing the Abbey Theatre and Busáras, as well as ffrench-Mullen House.

Despite the committee’s engagement with the Archbishop’s reservations, and Lynn’s attempts to appeal to him directly, the question of amalgamation ultimately reached an impasse. This interference by the Catholic Church in the provision of social services would be characteristic of the Irish state for decades to follow.

In the late 1930s, St Ultan's opened an eight-bed tuberculosis unit, and shortly afterwards, Dr Stopford Price received her first batch of the BCG vaccine. Dr Stopford Price had carried out extensive research into infant tuberculosis, cultivating an international network of colleagues, and publishing a book on the matter.

Dr Stopford Price founded an Anti-Tuberculosis League in Ireland in 1942, including Northern Ireland and the Republic. The group included medical professionals and interested non-medics, following the example of similar groups in other countries. As well as providing medical expertise, the group hoped to raise funds and run public health campaigns.

The League included both Catholic and Protestant members, and they communicated their aims to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, who assured them of his support. However, at their first public meeting, a letter read on behalf of the Archbishop announced his opinion that the fight against TB should be led by the Red Cross, a Catholic organisation.

The momentum of the League was lost, and the Red Cross anti-TB committee was formed in its place. This new committee was dominated by Catholic clergy at the expense of medical expertise, and it was soon introduced that members of the anti-TB committee must also be members of the Red Cross. Stopford Price, a Protestant, stood down from the committee.

Despite this setback, Stopford Price continued to be at the forefront of TB prevention. Her focus shifted to promoting the BCG vaccine, and despite disruptions caused by the Emergency, she continued to administer the vaccine at St Ultan's, with successful outcomes.

In 1949 the Department of Health agreed to build the first dedicated BCG unit in the country at St. Ultan's. It included cots, an isolation cubicle, and outpatients clinics, and was designed as a sun trap. Shortly afterwards, Minister for Health Noël Browne established a National Consultative Committee on TB, appointing Stopford Price as Chair.

The lasting impact of St Ultan's goes beyond its medical contributions. Its staff championed the health of impoverished infants, despite apathy and indeed active opposition from both Church and state authorities.

St Ultan's also provided a space for women to enter the male-dominated medical sphere. This gave them the experience which resulted in the numerous contributions to paediatrics made by staff including Stopford Price, Lynn, Dr Katherine Maguire, Dr Ella Webb and others. The developments and frustrations of St Ultan's offer a glimpse into the social and political trajectory of the Free State and beyond, and the manner in which these factors influenced the provision of healthcare, particularly for some of the state's most vulnerable.