he passage of nearly two centuries has not altogether eroded the memory of Sylvester O'Hallo- ran, surgeon, histo- rian, poet, patriot and antiquary. Though the ingratitude and indifference of'generations of our citizens have allowed the name of this great man to remain unknown to the majority of people, a few dedicated local historians and the scolarly, Dr. J.B. Lyons, have kept his memory alive down through the years in biographical memoirs and papers read from time to time at historical society meetings. ius O'Hglloran was born at , in the old parish of Kileely, in the North Liberties of , on December 31st, 1728. He was the son of Michael by Kevin Hannan O'Halloran and Mary McDonnell, a Catholic couple who must have enjoyed a fairly substantial way of life, despite the rigours of the times in which they lived. The anti-Popery laws were at their worst, and the priest-hun- ters and other informers were active in every parish: indeed, it was a time when the whole military and civil ser- vices of the country were Protestant to a man and the whole administration was bolstered up by an army of Puritan middle class planters. Young O'Halloran grew up with a fer- vent love of his country and a lively interest in its antiquities. His early edu- cation was in the good hands of his mother's cousin, the illustrious Sean Claragh McDonnell, the Gaelic poet and scholar, who instilled a thorough knowledge of Greek, Latin and lrish in his young pupil. He also attended the school in Limerick run by a Protestant clergyman of note, Rev. Robert Cashin. At an early stage in his life, he was intelligent enough to recognise the travesties of lrish history as written by foreigners. He was later to take up the pen and produce his monumental His- of Ireland. In this work he erased many of the errors and slanders on his native land which were written in bit- terness and bias. The critics of later years were struck by the brilliance of its illustration, its graphic description and the charm of its style. While yet under the age of seven- teen, his patriotism was such that it was only with difficulty that his family and friends dissuaded him from joining the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie at the fateful . More than one historian was inclined to the opinion that this fervour was nurtured by the many stories the young militant had heard from some of those who had witnessed and experienced the cruel- A portrait of Sylvester O'Halloran, 'the tall, thin doctor in his quaint French dress, with his gold-headed ties and deprivation following the 1691 cane, beautiful Parisian wig and cocked hat'. . Though intended for the priesthood, his choice of career was eventually especially touched by the large num- After completing a brilliant cour_se in influenced by the lack of medical and bers of young people afflicted by pre- London, Leyden and Paris (because of surgical services in Limerick. He was mature blindness. his Catholic religion Dublin was taboo), ,t FOUR he returned to his native city to begin that charity ... from which we had a officially appointed visiting surgeon to his great humanitarian task. nett sum of £32.12.0for the charity, the new hospital, having attended From the beginning, his life was after which it advanced apace and is gratis at the old one. crowded -treating his patients, writing noted for its strict economy, etc., the It is interesting to note that after the and visiting archaeological sites. To most respectable in the kingdom. In passing of the Medical Education Act, a cope with his many tasks he lengthen- 1763 published my 'Treatise on Gan- room in the hospital was set aside for ed the days by rising with the lark and grene', the appendix to which gave the dissection of bodies of executed remaining on his feet until the small rise to the 'Infirmary Act', the most criminals. hours. useful in its way". O'Halloran did not live to see the Though the hisIorian, John Ferrar, In view of this conflict of accounts it grand new County Infirmary, which gives the credit for our first hospital to would be only fair to suggest that both was opened in 1811, at Mu@-ave Dr. Giles Vandeleur, a number of other Vandeleur and O'Halloran were res- Street, on the site of the old Layr authorities name O'Halloran as the ponsible, one way or another, for the House. This fine institution servedkhe founder. Ferrar, whose shop was only foundation. city and county un-til the nineteen fifties about 200 yards from O'Halloran's resi- dence in 'Change Lane (Exchange Street), writes: "In Mqrch 1759 GilesVandeleur, Esq. late of the City of Limerick, Surgeon, became tenant to four small houses, in the Little Island, and at his own expense, threw them into one for the reception of the sick and maimed; but the design not having favoured with the attention of the public soon expired. On the fifth of January, 1761, a charity play was solicited by a few other gentlemen to revive the said charity, and from a charity sermon which was preached at the following Assizes, and by a subscription which was opened at the same time, four beds were erected, and the poor were attended gratis by the several Physicians and Surgeons of the city". Dr. Kidd, an early nineteenth century doctor and historian, apportions the favour ofthe foundation to O'Halloran: "Among his other remarkable achievements, O'Halloran we may say was the founder of the Infirmary. An old lady still alive recollects distinctly his renting three or four houses, which he threw into one, for the reception of the sick and maimed ... Becoming an estab- The foundation stone of the County of Limerick Hospital. lished and necessary institution it was later adopted as County Infir- mary and, following the appearance of the Whiteboys, it soon became a sort of sine qua non quite as In a short time a number of persons when the Regional Hospital, at necesssary as the gaol, of which at of weight and consequence were so Dooradoyle, was completed. It now present it seems but the outer impressed with the hospital and its serves as the School of Commerce. The porch". dedicated workers that a fund was foundation stone of the old hospital, Sir William Wilde also attributes the opened for the purpose of improving which was unearthed some years ago, foundation to O'Halloran, but adds: "In its services. Again Ferrar informs us: was, through the energies of the late the founding of the County Limerick "On the nineteenth of March, 1765, Surgeon John Devane, set into the wall Infirmary he (O'Halloran) was Edmond Sekton Pery, Esq., con- of the entrance hall, where it can be associated with another surgeon veyed to Charles Smyth, Esq., and to seen to this day. It bears the following named Vandeleur". the Rev. Deane Hoare, as trustees of inscription: O'HaIloran himself refers to thefoun- the said charity, in perpetuity, at a The County of Limerick Hospital dation in his diary: peppercorn a year, a piece of ground erected by private subscriptions "In January 1759, after soliciting in in St. Francis's Abbey outside the both of the Co. and City of Limerick vain gentlemen to form a small fund town wall, with the shell of the build- on this ground given in perpetuity at a for a hospital in this City, Giles Van- ing thereon; (formerly a workhouse) peppercorn a year deleur took from an Alderman three which was immediately rebuilt ... by Edrnond Sexton Pery Esq. small houses in the Little Island at capable of receiving upwards of forty As a matter of interest the bodies of f l60 a year, which we threw into one beds. An Act had been made while it many criminals were dissected at the and opened four beds; supported was in hand, in favour of Co. Hospi- Mulgrave Street hospital, all except them with difficulty for about 16 tals ... and it was converted into and that of John Scanlan, the murderer of months, when Mr. Vandeleur dying, I stiled a County Hospital to qualify for Ellen Hanley (the Colleen Bawn). The engaged the Rev. Deane Hoare and the benefits arising from the said culprit's family were spared this further the deceased Dr. Clampet to unite Act ..." indignity through their social status with me in a benefit .plav . to advance Ferrar also tells us that O'Halloran was and the influence of their well-con- $'b FIVE nected friends. The body was given to outside the walls of the Infirmary, his mainly responsible for the establish- his relatives who had it interred in the entire time nearly given up to litera- ment of this institution, in which they old graveyard at Crecora. ture and the discovery of antiquities. both gave their services free. This hos- O'Halloran laboured in and out of the His house ... the resort of all the pital was afterwards moved from the Co. Hospital for forty years, and during foreigners and literateurs that hap- English Town to Nelson (Parnell) Street that time he excelled his contem- pened to visit this part of the country and again to Henry Street. poraries in the science and practice of at the time. The tall thin doctor in his As a litterateur, surgeon and histo- opthalmology, and in the treatment of quaint French dress, with his gold rian, O'Halloran was a national figure at head injuries, while his 'new method of headed cane, beautiful Parisian wig an early age and his name was known amputation' was a most valuable con- and cocked hat, turning out every day in every parish in the country. He was tribution to the practice of surgery in responsibly to visit his patients". honoured in a poem which ap'peared in his time, though the profession gener- What a picturesque figure to imagine the prestigious Medical Re,@w, in ally was slow to accept it. O'Halloran, walking down eighteenth century 1775: the first four lines of whihh proc- however, convinced of the efficacy of Nicholas Street! laim: his discovery, and solicitous for the He had a passion for research, and "In Limerick O'Halloran resides, welfare of those who had to endure the much of his time was spent in probing And o'er the County Hospital pres- horrors of amputation, used all the the imponderables and seeking better ides; power of eloquence and every other ways of dealing with the many afflic- Excells in surgery an healing arts, method of persuasion to promote the tions with which he came face to face With flowing pen displays uncom- acceptance of his new method. His every day of his life. In this field he was mon parts". endeavours were rewarded in a big eminently successful. Though the pub- Despite his outstanding achievements way: soon his method was in use in lication of his New method of Amputa- in medicine, surgery and literature his England and on the continent. The tion was not well received at first - like most enduring success is the College of Limerick Chronicle of Nov. 18th, 1771, all new advances in the medical world- Surgeons. Though this noble institu- published the following: but afterwards it was read in every tion was not founded directly by O'Hal- "On Tuesday last Ellen Byrne had her medical school and practised univer- loran, his Proposals for the Advance- leg amputated in the new manner sally. ment of Surgery in Ireland paved the and is in a fair way of recovering. It Likewise, he was ah.ead of his time in way for the establishment of the col- must give pleasure to every lover of the treatment of head injuries. He was lege. The historian, Dr. J.B. Lyons, his country to hear that so useful a greatly assisted in this work by the referring to this work in the lrish Jour- method, brought to perfection in this large numbers of broken skulls con- nal of Medical Science, W rites: city, andpublished in 1765, should be stantly supplied by the faction fighters "Mapother and, more recently, Wid- now the almost universal practice in of the time. O'Halloran's fame had, at dess, historian of the Schools of the English hospitals and coming an early stage, spread far beyond the Surgery, have seen in O'Halloran's into repute in France". city, and many a fallen cudgel-weilder suggestions the germ of the idea The publication of: A New Treatise on was brought, in a donkey cart, to his inspiring the foundation of the Royal The Glaucoma, or Cataract, followed house in 'Change Lane in the hope of a College of Surgeons in Ireland. When by A Critical Analysis of the nwOper- cure for a hopeless case of depressed the Dublin Society of Surgeons was ation for Cataract, spread his fame all fracture of the skull, and when his hos- formed (1780), he was made an hon- over Europe. A feature of the work of pital was opened, the numbers orary member. The College of Sur- O'Halloran was his ability as a writer: increased to unmanageable propor- geons obtained its charter in 1784; thus every advance he made in the tions. two years later an honorary member- treatment of disease $nd injury was O'Halloran's comments on the unbri- ship (equivalent to the modern Fel- written down and published for the dled savagery of his day - almost as lowship) was bestowed on Sylvester benefit of his fellow members of the bad as our own day - are worth notic- O'Halloran. Another honour was the medical profession and their patients ing again: Membership of the Royal lrish at home and abroad. "I have had no less than four frac- Academy". NO doubt some of his writing on his tured skulls to trepan on a May morn- The publication of A General History great achievements in the advance- ing. There is no part of the habitable of lreland (1774) and A History of Ire- ment of surgery may have been globe, that for a century past land (1803) did not find favour with the prompted by human vanity. Indeed, afforded such an ample field for Anglo-Irish Ascendency classes who the great man was not above conceit, observation on injuries to the head, ruled the roost in his time. Perhaps his as can be gleaned from the following as Ireland in general: this province of honesty and impartiality exposed too snippet from the Limerick Chronicle - Munster in particular, for our people, many unsavoury truths. though it must be remembered that invincibly brave, not withstanding If the veracity of his patriotism doctors and surgeons advertised as the cruel oppressions they have suf- needed illustration, surely his attitude widely as the media of the day permit- fered for a century past, and highly to the implementation of the Act of ted: irritable, goon catch fire: a slight Union cleared the air. He spoke out "I could produce an instance in this offence is frequently followed by with great vehemence against this Town of a Woman who had a serious consequences; sticks and legislation. In January 1800, he became cataractous eye ... which Taylor' stones, and every other species of chairman of a select committee which (another surgeon) had declared offence next to hand, are dealt out passed a resolution expressing disap- incurable, which I nevertheless with great librality". . probation towards a measure "fraught restored her the use of. The twentieth ' Here the doctor shows his great with ruin and degradation to a country of March 1749". tolerance and forebearance, and is which since the glorious epoch of 1782 In the course of a biographical memoir, almost poetic in advancing gpme jus- has been rapidly improving in com- written about the middle of the last cen- tification for the savage behaviour of merce, manufactures, industry and tury, by Dr. Kidd, we are given the I the faction fighters. population". clearest picture of what O'Halloran In 1773, in response to many During the last years of his life he really looked like: requests from the women of Limerick, resided at Merchants' Quay, where his "He (O'Halloran) is yet remembered a lying-in hospital-forthetreatment of bedroom windows overlooked the old by all the old people of Limerick, as a married women - was opened in the harbour. The only members of hisfam- man of wonderful ability, with at this city for the first time. Both Dr. O'Hallo- ily left to comfort him in his last years period of his career, but little gractice 'ran and Dr. Patrick Unthank were were a number of grandsons-children of his son, Joseph -who resided with (O'Casey), who died in 1782. His son, ried army officers. him. Michael, died in the same year as a After many narrow escapes in He died on the llth August 1807, full result of a fall from a horse. He was battlefields, mainly in India, he died on of honours, and in the complete fulfil- married to a niece of Lord Clare's (the the 3rd of November, 1843, in London, ment of his several avocations in his architect of the Act of Union). He left no as a result of slipping on an orange long life. He was laid to rest in the fam- issue. peel! He was aged eighty years. ily vault in the old churchyard of Kil- Michael was the black sheep of the The vault of the O'Hallorans was leely, beside his wife and daughter and family. Though his wife's uncle was the completely hidden for many years in a two sons. The'following death notice virtual ruler of the country, his 'catch' rich profusion of briars and nettles, appeared in The Dublin Evening Post at brought no joy to his parents. After his until it was uncovered, in the early the time: untimely death at the age of 28, his seventies, by a committee of lbcal "On Tuesday last, at Limerick ... the father wrote of him in his diary: people who cleaned up the place akthat venerable and highly respected Syl- "Born with great talents, but greatly time. ,' vester O'Halloran, Esq. an eminent perverted; he has been a constant In 1976, St. Senan's Historical so&ety Surgeon and Manmidwife, as well as source of distress to his amiable undertook the task of refurbishing the a celebrated historian, M.R.I.A. and mother and to me 'til his death, which tomb. They inscribed the following of most of the Literary and Honorable was sudden and unexpected". legend on a plain slab set into the front Societies in the United Kingdom: he O'Halloran's only daughter, of the vault, beside the old inscription studied physic in Paris and London, Catherine, died in infancy. His son, which did not include Dr. O'Halloran's and made a rapid progress in his Thomas, died of smallpox at the age of name: studies, as he published the first of four. Of him Sylvester wrote: Sylvester O'Halloran his works before he was 21 years of "A lovely stout and manly boy". 1728-1807 age: he afterwards wrote different Another son, John, became secret- Historian Surgeon treatises medical and political; a ary to the Governor of the Bahamas Antiquary Patriot General History of Ireland down to and his only son, Sylvester, died with- His country's honour and good the close of the 12th. century; and in out issue. name ever found in him a ready 1803, he published a second edition His youngest son, Joseph, became a and unflinching champion. thereof, greatly improved; he was Major General in the British army. He It was a belated honour, but at least his- highly learned in the Irish language was knighted by William IV, and after- torians of the future cannot inveigh and Ancient Laws, and was remarka- wards honoured by Queen Victoria against the absence of the great man's ble for his loyalty and attachment to with the Grand Crossoftheorder ofthe name in Killeely. the house of Brunswick, a steady Bath. He received the freedom of Now the citizens can take further supporter of its constitution, and a Limerick, his native city, on February pride in the dedication of the splendid warm advocate of the honour and 25th. 1838. He had 8 sons all of whom new footbridge over the Abbey River to interests of his native country". became army officers. His 5 daughters the memory of this long neglected He was predeceased by his wife, Mary who managed to survive infancy mar- Limerick genius.

Inscription on the tomb of Sylvester O'Halloran at Killeely Graveyard.

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