The 'Adelaide Institution & Protestant Hospital' opened as a voluntary hospital on 11 March 1839, at 43 (later renumbered 39) Bride Street, Dublin. Staff members had to be Protestant (initially only Anglican), and while the hospital was intended initially to meet the needs of the Protestant poor in the slum area around St Patrick's Cathedral, Catholic outpatients were also treated. Primarily founded by the Walsh family, Dundrum Castle, in particular Dr Albert Walsh; it was named after Adelaide, Queen Dowager. Money difficulties and cramped conditions in Bride Street led to closure in 1847; the Adelaide reopened at 24 and 25 Peter Street on 18 October 1858 after a financial appeal to the Protestant gentry.
The Adelaide was a teaching hospital from 1858, and had links to the nearby Ledwich School of Medicine until 1889. Female students were admitted from 1887, but were refused residency until 1913. The School of Nursing opened in 1859, with students trained by the Matron; from 2002, this became part of the School of Nursing & Midwifery at Trinity College, Dublin, where a nursing degree was introduced. The hospital received a Royal Charter in 1920; this enshrined the Adelaide Hospital Society, which in 1994 became a charitable body sharing in the governance of the new hospital at Tallaght.
The Adelaide remained a voluntary hospital until 1960, when it accepted state funding. After a federation process that began in 1957, the Adelaide joined two other former voluntary hospitals in 1996 to form the Adelaide & Meath Hospital, Dublin incorporating the National Children's Hospital, and moved to Tallaght in 1998.
Archival History ↴
Maintained by Adelaide Hospital and stored by it, its designated departments (Adelaide Museum, Adelaide Hospital Archives, Adelaide Hospital Special Projects, Adelaide Hospital) and the Adelaide Hospital Society. Three volumes relating to Dr Wallace Beatty were accessioned from William J. McCormack, librarian-in-charge, Edward Worth Library, 25 January 2007.
The collection includes minute books and related volumes of the Board of Governors/Managing Committee/Board of Management (1838-1855, 1857-1863, 1894-1916, 1951-1955, 1963-1997), House and Finance Committees (1888-1915, 1923-1930, 1935, 1964-1971, 1976-1998), Nurses’ Committee (1902-1933, 1946-1947, 1955-1959, 1983-1998), Medical Board (1969-1997), Medical Advisory Committee (1980-1988), Catering Committee (1980-1984, 1989-1990), and Drugs & Therapeutics Committee (1989-1990); material relating to medical training and School of Nursing (1866-1891, 1913, 1943-1976, 1997-1998); ledgers (1882-1972); legacy/bequest registers (1889-1968, 1977-1979); student registers (1891-1995); doctors’ and surgeons’ case files (1897-1929, 1932-1948, 1959-1965); admission registers (1927-1928, 1931-1940, 1943-1959, 1992-2000); death registers (1938-1979); Visiting governors’ report books (1939-1959, 1963-1970); Fetherstonhaugh Convalescent Home papers (1940-1968); Almoner’s Office papers (1945-1949); salaries & wages books (1945-1973); Linen Guild papers (1947-2002); stock-taking book (1948-1964); material relating to fund-raising activities (1956-1991); plans and surveys (1977-1987); Adelaide Hospital Research Foundation papers (1980-1986); material relating to transfer to Tallaght Hospital (1984-2003); Association of Old Adelaide Students papers (1988-1996); and artefacts, audio-visual material, books & pamphlets, photographs, and scrapbooks.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
The archive has been divided into following headings, within which it is listed chronologically :
1. Foundation.
2. Executive.
3. Administration/Financial.
4. Plans & surveys.
5. Medical.
6. Education.
7. Social.
8. Artefacts/Museum.
9. Audio-visual material.
10. Photographs.
11. Published items.
12. Scrapbooks/newspaper clippings.
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions
Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie in advance of your visit
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie for guidance
Creation Dates
1838-2002
Extent Medium
143 boxes & 17 oversize volumes
Material Language Script
English
Characteristics Tech Req
Besides paper documents & files, the collection includes plans, artefacts, audio cassettes and photographs. A handful of documents printed on fax paper becoming illegible.
Adelaide Hospital Campaign. (1951). 'Adelaide Hospital centenary book'. Dublin : Parkside.
Fealy, G.M. (2009). 'The Adelaide Hospital School of Nursing, 1859-2009 : a commemorative history'. Blackrock : Columba.
Mitchell, D. (1989). 'A "peculiar" place : the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, its times, places and personalities, 1839 to 1989'. Dublin : Blackwater.
O'Ferrall, F. (2008). 'The Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, 1839-2008'. Dublin : Adelaide Hospital Society.
Descriptive Control Area
Archivist Note
Adapted by Natalie Milne
Rules/Conventions
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997
