Royal Hospital, Donnybrook


The Royal Hospital, Donnybrook is a hospital in Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1743. It was originally set up as a "hospital for incurables" to provide sufferers with food, shelter and relief from their distressing conditions.

History

In Georgian Dublin there were a number of charitable music societies that raised money to alleviate the suffering of the poor and ill. There was no system of public welfare, nor, until much later, any general policy on the part of the government to alleviate the problem of poverty, which pervaded the city at that time. One of these societies was the Dublin Charitable Musical Society of Crow Street, the leading light of which was Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington, a politician and amateur violinist who took part in charity concerts. The society decided in 1743 to donate their funds to set up and support a hospital for incurables. A house for this purpose was rented in Fleet Street, fitted up, and opened, with a nurse, a staff of doctors and surgeons, and 23 patients as the "Hospital for Incurables, Dublin" on 23 May 1744.
In the early years of the hospital the doctors included Francis Le Hunte.
The hospital moved to Townsend Street in 1753. In 1793 the hospital exchanged location with the Lock Hospital, which suited both hospitals, and moved to Donnybrook, a suburb of the city. It received a Royal Charter and became the "Royal Hospital for Incurables, Dublin" in 1887. In the 1980s it started to specialise in rehabilitation for the elderly and services for young disabled adults and, at that time, was renamed the "Royal Hospital, Donnybrook".