Template cover sheet which must be included at the front of all projects

Title of project: Dr. Ada English: Innovator and Revolutionary

Category for which you wish to be entered (i.e. Revolution in Ireland, Ireland and World War 1, Women’s history or a Local/Regional category Women’s history in Ireland during the Revolutionary Period

Name(s) of class / group of students / individual student submitting the project Maitiú Breathnach

School roll number (this should be provided if possible) 60540V

School type (primary or post-primary)

Post-primary

School name and address (this must be provided even for projects submitted by a group of pupils or an individual pupil): Catholic University School, 89 Leeson Street Lower, 2.

Class teacher’s name (this must be provided both for projects submitted by a group of pupils or an individual pupil): Stephen Tonge

Teacher’s contact phone number: 087-268 5576

Teacher’s contact email address [email protected]

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Photo of Staff 1917(Dr Ada English in centre of first row) 1 It’s always a pleasure to encounter an individual who for the most part has been ignored or forgotten about on a wider, national scale. I discovered such a reality within the exemplary Dr Ada English of Cahersiveen in who conscientiously and rather selflessly dedicated nearly four decades of her life to the paramount care of Ireland’s mentally afflicted. Dr Ada English is unique in many regards, being involved in the cohort of the earliest female doctors in Ireland as well as becoming one of the original female psychiatrists in Ireland. What is particularly remarkable about Ada English was her tenacity to overcome the abundant challenges presented to her and her inherent integrity in all matters. This was particularly apparent from her stances in the

Second Dáil (16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922) to the wide scale development of recreational activities including gardening and sports under her direction for

1 Image courtesy of Helen Butler

Page|2 patients receiving psychiatric care at District Asylum during the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s. Her steadfast advocacy for the reform of mental health legislation further consolidates this. Ada’s revolutionary footprint is also significant in terms of the multiple roles she played in this defining period of Irish history. This was demonstrated within her position as medical officer to throughout the insurgency in during the , her reported presidency of the Cumann na mBan branch in Ballinasloe (Béal Átha na Sluaighe) on the 3rd of March 1918 , the assistance she provided to the IRA during the War of Independence, her subsequent arrest in 1921, her election to the second Dáil as one of the first female TDs, her staunch opposition to the Treaty and Anti-Treaty orientation during the civil war. She also cultivated a profound interest and fluency in the and cultural nationalism having been a student of Pádraig Pearse. In all it is exasperating to think of how until quite recently she was a quite distant, neglected and nearly forgotten figure.

Early Life

Ada was exposed to adverse scenes of mental anguish and despair at quite a young age as her grandfather was the master of the Oldcastle Workhouse in County Meath. Seeing what the impoverished people had to endure in terms of living in the circumstances of overcrowded, unsanitary conditions and their respective mental turmoil was likely an underlying factor in her future choice of career. Ada was a studious youth who was quite fortunate to go to secondary school at the Loreto Convent in in 1881 considering very few individuals at this stage went to secondary school at all. Girls themselves were only granted access to second level education following the 1878 Intermediate Education Act. She had moved to the town when she was just

Page|3 over a year old on account of her father’s job as a pharmacist. Thankfully she performed quite well in her exams and was able to study medicine, graduating from the Royal University in Dublin in 1903. What was notable in particular about Ada was her strength in navigating her way around the paternalistic and chauvinistic attitudes present around her. Admission to medical school for women had only been the case since the Medical Qualifications act of 1876, which removed legal restrictions for women wishing to study medicine. In 1885 The R.C.S.I became the first medical establishment to permit women to attend lectures in both Great Britain and Ireland

The mentalities of those opposed to such moves were contained within Dr Rivington’s pamphlet of 1879, “The Medical Profession” in which he referred to the “profane attempt”2 of women to enter what he considered to be “the sacred precincts of the medical profession”3. It appeared to be “sacred” in his mind given the noticeable absence of women in medicine until this point, a status quo which he believed should be maintained. He also went on to claim that “the professional mind appears to be unable to contemplate with calmness the near prospect of actually existing female doctors”.4 As if such outbursts themselves aren’t demeaning and virulent enough he also includes the inherently misogynistic statement as to how “women’s disabilities are too many to allow more than a few to adopt the medical profession as a livelihood”.5 Thankfully Dr English was an individual who had the capacity to withstand such prevailing attitudes which existed around her during the time of her training and proceeding medical career.

2 B.D. Kelly, Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2014), 8. 3 ibid 4 ibid 5 ibid

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Consolidating females’ position in Medicine and Ada’s arrival at Ballinasloe

Having already trained briefly in Richmond Asylum, The Mater Misericodiae and Temple Street Hospital, Dr English arrived as the second assistant medical officer in Ballinasloe District Asylum in 1904. Chronic overcrowding of the 1,293 patients (519 female, 774 male) greeted her there. As a result of this situation the spread of diseases such as TB in particular and typhoid often reached endemic levels, a reality once characteristic of asylums such as Grangegorman and Richmond. The conditions at the time nationwide in asylums were so abysmal that it was the case that tuberculosis(TB) alone accounted for 25% of deaths in Irish asylums in 1901.7

6 http://www.geograph.ie/photo/4620810

7 See B.D. Kelly, Hearing Voices: The History of Psychiatry in Ireland (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2016), 77.

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Ada was significantly aware of the effect of adverse unsanitary conditions on her new patients and recognised the underlying need to address these issues to improve both the therapeutic environment of the asylum and the general physical health of her patients.

Such desires alongside her determination to expand the role in which women played in medicine can be viewed within her membership of the Medico- Psychological Association (later the Royal College of Psychiatrists) from 1911- 1921. As part of the M.P.A she helped to both encourage and pursue communication between doctors working in the asylum environment with the ambition of improving the quality of care for patients. Dr English was particularly progressive in this sense, considering the first female member of the association, Dr Eleonora Fleury had only been admitted in 1894. This aspect of her advancement of women in academic eyes in medicine was also apparent within her position as statutory lecturer in “Mental Diseases”8 in University College Galway from 1914 until 1943. In doing so not only did she further alter perceptions towards women and their suitability for professional roles but also increased her knowledge of psychiatric illnesses, an element she would be able to utilise in the future. She also further displayed her resolve for the empowerment of women within medicine when she participated as the honorary secretary of the Women’s National Health Association in 1908 in Ballinasloe town, “the first branch to be established in Galway”.9

As noted before Dr English understood the negative effects resulting from overcrowding in terms of the spread of diseases. To combat this, she applied for the post of “Tuberculosis Officer of Roscommon”10 in 1913 which would

8 Ibid, 149. 9 B.D. Kelly, Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist, 63. 10Ibid, 61

Page|6 enable her to observe multiple cases of the disease and therefore come to a hypothesis of how to best prevent its spread. Unluckily she failed to obtain it and due to scarcity of funds and space a separate TB designated ward within the hospital was not established until February 1940 with Dr English as acting Resident Medical Superintendent. Consistent overcrowding plagued Ada throughout her time in Ballinasloe for example in 1922 1,482 patients were present within the asylum.11

Societal attitudes towards the “Asylum” system in the 1910s and 1920s

The esteem in which Ada held her patients was remarkably different from society at the time. Such a sombre and bleak reality can be viewed within the Dangerous Lunatics Act, which was passed in 1838. This law which initially applied to Ireland alone and allowed individuals to be involuntarily detained in Asylums an account of testimonies of relatives or other familiar people relating to alleged present mental disorders. Inciting evidence often could be as basic as a “mere peculiarity of behaviour or expression”.12

This system itself was often exploited and asylums essentially became proverbial dumping grounds for those who were ostracised or dismissed by society. Due to the overcrowded nature of the local gaols and work houses at the time many were transferred to asylums such as Ballinasloe. In doing so patients who had severe and genuine psychiatric diseases and disorders where overwhelmed in terms of space by those who often didn’t require psychiatric treatment. It was such laws that enabled stigmatising attitudes to flourish. Even the phrase “Dangerous Lunatic” had a particular negative connotation

11 See for instance: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/misery-in-ireland-s-massive-mausoleums-of- madness-1.1253918 12 See: http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/tales-from-the-big-house-the-connacht- district-lunatic-asylum-in-the-late-nineteenth-century/

Page|7 and only served to inspire dread and loathing. Large admission numbers to Ballinasloe also didn’t represent the incidence of psychiatric illness in the area but more the availability of beds and Asylums general convenient nature in removing troublesome relatives from sight.

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Recreational therapy and its wondrous benefits

Ada English was instrumental during the 1910s and 1920s in her development of sports as a form of recreational therapy in Ballinasloe. Such enterprises

13 Image courtesy of Dr Damian Mac Con Uladh

Page|8 were generally well received by patients and staff members alike. The camogie team (which Ada was personally responsible for introducing in 1915), in particular went on to be very successful in external competitions, winning silver medals at the Second Tailteann Games in 1928. A cinder track for cycling competitions was laid down in 1921. There were also hurling, hockey and tug of war teams.

Something of significance which Ada English recognised was the potential of sports to enable cordial relationships between patients and staff (who were often involved in sports as well) to blossom. It also offered an opportunity for patients to be diverted away from from the mundane nature of the hospital briefly while they were engaged at competitions and/or events. Such occasions also presented a short-lived chance to interact with the outside world, which was a rare event in its own right regrettably given the nature of confinement at the time. She also understood the potential for such activities to generate some form of psychological treatment.

Ada also developed the drama society alongside Dr Kirwan for those who had no interest in sports and/or had a major interest in the world of drama, thus catering for multiple individuals’ hobbies and passions alike. This is important to highlight in the regard in which she had concern and compassion for all her patients. The Asylum farm also gained substantial recognition at the summer convening of the Irish division of the Medico-Psychological Association at Ballinasloe in June 1917 and the “many improvements recently made in the Asylum” were highlighted to a great effect.14Ada also wholeheartedly believed in the power of cinema and later noted in 1940 that “it would be a great boon

14 See: http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/63/263/620.1

Page|9 to the patients if the old cinema could be adjusted to take talkies (films with sound)”15

Ada thought such activities to be of paramount importance in both according physical exercise to patients and to keep such individuals’ minds occupied and away from monotony.

Gaelic League Convention, Galway 1913 16

Embracing Cultural Nationalism Ada English maintained a profound interest in Irish culture and heritage throughout her life. Such a stance was influenced by her father’s attitude to nationalism and Dr Kirwan’s involvement in the Gaelic League who was the R.M.S (Resident Medical Superintendent) at the time of Ada’s arrival in Ballinasloe. This is not to say however that their shared outlook was the sole reason for Ada’s motivations in this field. To fulfil her orientation towards such ideals Ada had received lessons from Pádraig Pearse in the Irish language

15 B.D. Kelly, Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist, 58. 16 Image courtesy of Helen Butler (please note Dr English is in the second row from the front and isn’t wearing a hat)

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(which she achieved fluency in), Irish poetry and mythology in 1899. She also purchased £5 worth of shares in Scoil Éanna in Rathfarnham on the 22nd of January, 1912 to help lay the foundations for Pearse’s aspiration of self- sufficient schools teaching primarily through the medium of Irish (somewhat similar to modern gaelscoileanna) and instructing students in Ireland’s abundant past.

Ada’s first role within subversive activities as seen by the British authorities was her and Dr Kirwan’s replacement of Queen Victoria with the Galway coat of arms on the buttons worn by staff members in 1905 as well as her erection of notices in Irish in proceeding years. She also was an early proponent of import substitution in the sense she insisted on purchasing Irish manufactured goods only where available.

The Easter Rising

From April 24th to 29th 1916 during the insurrection commanded by Liam Mellows in Galway as coordinated with the primary uprising in Dublin, Ada was involved with the force of 700 volunteers (including 15-20 members of Cumann na mBan) assembled as the medical officer to the wounded. The few skirmishes during the period of fighting were quite brief with minimal casualties at Clarinbridge and Oranmore. Following the arrival of the HMS Gloucester in Galway Bay the majority of the rebels separated and dispersed, noting the overwhelming prowess of the crown forces in the region as compared to their nearly obsolete and insufficient weaponry.

The fallout from the Rising had a major effect on Ada English who lost past close friends and treasured instructors such as Pádarig Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh. The shared vision of an independent, profoundly Gaelic Ireland and its failure to be established during the Rising only served to consolidate

Page|11 this. Ada was a major adherent of the slogan “Ní tír gan teanga” and agreed uncompromisingly with such ideals. These events however served as an incitement for her more active role within subversive activities as past distressing episodes served to compel her to achieve the nationalistic objectives which had been fought for in the 1916 rising. Her focus was now enhanced and strengthened for the turbulent years ahead. Direct experience in the skirmishing and a first-hand witnessing of what guerrilla warfare entailed would prove highly beneficial in the near future.

The Aftermath

A new era began in her life in which she contributed in every means possible to overcome foreign rule in Ireland. The beginnings of such a resolution on her behalf can be viewed within the intense scrutiny Ada came under from British security forces. It was observed that she was “present at a Sinn Féin meeting in Galway Town” on the 1st of January 191817and that on the 9th of June 1918 she “took a prominent part in the women’s anti-conscription campaign in Ballinasloe…and was chief organiser”.18 Even beyond 1918 her various movements and actions were closely watched. In the same Dublin Castle File No. 4168, with the title of “Activities Since the Truce” it was illuminated how “after making a “blood and thunder” oration at Ballinasloe town she proceeded openly to enlist members of Cumann na mBan”.19

A combination of progressiveness in medical advances and republican ideation on Ada’s behalf was indefinitely sustained by the nationalistic outlook within the asylum as evident within the Management (Dr Kirwan etc.). As recorded in the East Galway Democrat the Committee of Managers of Ballinasloe Asylum

17 Dublin Castle File No. 4168(National Archives, Kent, Surrey), 1. 18 ibid 19 ibid

Page|12 issued a “protest against the exclusion of any portion of Ulster from the scheme of national government now about to be established in this country”20

The War of Independence

On the 21’st of January 1919 the War of Independence (Cogadh na Saoirse) began following the fatal ambush of two policemen by Dan Breen and others at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary. Ironically the ambush took place on the same date as the first Dáil convened in the Mansion House. This incident took place having had no prior authorisation from the members of Dáil and only served to show the dismal state of communications existing between Contingents of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in Ireland.

Ada assisted in this conflict through low key, non-conventional methods in relation to dealing with British security forces. The Asylum at Ballinasloe also provided the perfect environment for Ada to conceal prominent individuals such as Eamonn De Valera and Liam Mellows on some occasions from detection. Republican policy endorsed the shunning of the RIC, the principal police force at the outset of the conflict in all regards. This was an aspect, exploited by Ada in the sense she offered jobs to members of the RIC, slightly in part on whether they were capable of playing hurling within the Asylum provided they resigned from the force. In relation to this however it is difficult to determine what happened to such individuals following the ceasing of military operations from Laurence Garvey’s testimony on the Bureau of Military History website.21 Ada English continued to be a highly eminent figure within Cumann na mBan circles, being recorded as an executive member of the movement in Connacht as of their annual convention in October 1920.22 It was

20 See: East Galway Democrat June 12th 1916 21 See: http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS1062.pdf#page=13 22 See: http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0568.pdf#page=56

Page|13 indefinitely for such reasons that her arrest came on the 19th of January 1921 at “8 o’clock in the morning” as noted by the Irish Times, for having papers relating to Cumann na mBan amongst other items. On the 24th of February 1921, she was sentenced to “nine months’ imprisonment without hard labour” for “having a document relating to an unlawful organisation”23 in Galway before the “Field General Court Martial”. As a testimony to her vibrant nationalistic prowess she “objected to the court on the grounds that its members were in the pay of the enemy”.24

While in Galway Jail Ada suffered from food poisoning and as a result her sentence was commuted on the 15th of May 1921. Ada herself had also been elected to the second Dáil while in prison as the Sinn Féin candidate for the NUI constituency. This was a major achievement in her own right considering only six women were elected to the second Dáil.

Ada as a TD and reaction to the Treaty

The truce which ended the fighting of the War of Independence came into play on the 11th of July 1921. From 1919 De Valera had been “President of the Dáil” however since the truce a new post called the “President of the ” was introduced. Ada herself was a strong proponent of De Valera’s appointment to this position. On the 26th of August, she highlighted that “for the past forty years the enemy has refused Home Rule and now are offering most cheerfully what they call “Dominion Status”, shows what has been done by him”.25 De Valera’s bid proved successful and Michael Collins whose tactical genius had supported the nationwide organisation of guerrilla warfare during

23 B.D. Kelly, Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist, 29. 24 Ibid, 30 25See: Dr Ada English (Dáil debate 26th August 1921) http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1921082600004 ?opendocument

Page|14 the War of Independence retained his position of Minister for Finance. Collins himself later had the major role of leading the Irish delegates in the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations in London. Following the ultimatum of an imminent renewal of conflict by Lord George should the delegates not sign the treaty, the delegates signed, for the most part reluctantly.

English was a prominent adversary of the treaty in many senses. To her, it was the antithesis of what many valiant men and women had strived for in the tormenting and chaotic years of near-eternal conflict and retaliatory raids from 1919-1921. Ada principally found major fault with the statutory oath to the King of England as head of state, and in doing so being asked to “accept the status of British citizens-British subjects”.26

The true nature of chauvinism once again revealed its ugly face at this critical juncture. With Ada being quite outspoken within the Dáil on behalf of the anti- treaty faction she faced immense criticism which was often linked to her gender and supposed related inefficiencies. Ada remained resolute and steadfast in her position however and calmly refuted individuals such as Alexander McCabe, the deputy from . Many of Ada’s female colleagues in the Dáil had suffered the loss of a loved one, which understandably had a profound influence on their stances on the treaty. Fortunately for Ada she had not lost any close family members in the War of Independence, something she consistently conveyed to overcome flourishing stereotypes that all the female TD’s stances originated solely from emotional loss or “hysteria”. “I have no dead men to throw in my teeth as a reason for holding the opinions I hold”27 was her statement to this effect. Not only did she address this during a speech

26See: Dr Ada English (Dáil debate 4 January 1922) http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1922010400003 ?opendocument 27 ibid

Page|15 of hers in the Dáil but she also reflected on the distinct insensitivity and lack of regard displayed by such deputies in their references to personal bereavement as suffered by Miss MacSwiney. Ada viewed the treaty as “a complete spiritual surrender”28 and when the vote for the third Dáil came in June 1922 she lost her seat.

The Civil War

When the Civil war arrived on the 28th June 1922 Ada reportedly joined , veteran of the Easter Rising and Minister of the first Dáil in Hamman Hotel on O’Connell street with a bastion of anti-treaty forces. Regrettably for Ada, Cathal Brugha was shot down after exiting the hotel with a revolver in his hand. Brugha was possibly immortalised in Ada’s eyes as it was he who had always said that “it was the women who kept the spirit alive” after the 1916 rising. Liam Mellows her close companion from the 1916 rising in Galway was also executed by Free-State forces in 1922. Following such a traumatic incident Ada was “arrested by P.G. (Provisional Government) troops, with four other members of Cumann na mBan”29 in Ballinasloe in August 1922, which essentially encouraged her to abandon politics for the rest of her life apart from reaching out in 1929 to Miss MacSwiney’s renegade “Dáil” only to show her support for others efforts to revoke the oaths.

Ada’s dedication to her patients

Throughout her illustrious and ever-eventful life Ada retained a profound empathy for the patients under her care at Ballinasloe District Asylum. , the later anti-treaty politician, had offered her the prominent position of R.M.S in 1921 at Sligo Mental Hospital, which was a much superior and better-

28 B.D. Kelly, Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist, 35. 29 Dublin Castle File No. 4168(National Archives, Kent, Surrey), 1. It is worth noting that there is no record of her release date in this file or any other record of her captivity

Page|16 paying post than that of which she held at the time in Ballinasloe. Ada however refused to even consider being separated from her patients and decided to remain. In 1944 following Ada’s death, due to a heart attack in Mount Pleasant Nursing Home, Ballinasloe in accordance with her own wishes she was buried in Creagh Cemetery adjacent to Ballinasloe Mental Hospital (later renamed St Brigid’s hospital (1960) until final closure in 2013) alongside some of her former patients.

30

As evident from her comments at the Catholic Truth Society Conference in 1921 she also acknowledged the link between social environments and general mental wellbeing. Her demand “for decent housing for the working class for it was impossible that people condemned to dwell in wretched, crowded insanitary houses could cherish or practice any high ideals”31 applied to many

30 Photo taken by author 03/03/2017 31 See: Irish Times 24th October 1921

Page|17 of her patients who had endured deplorable conditions before entering care at the Asylum and quite drearily upon arrival to the overcrowded wards.

Beginnings of reform and re-evaluation of the “Asylum” system

Ada sought throughout her life undoubtedly to improve treatment and legislation for those under her care. Ballinasloe was the second hospital in Ireland in December 1939 after Cork (July 1939) to introduce revolutionary (for the time) Cardiazol induced convulsive therapy, which while being considered outdated today, putting it into perspective it was one of the only effective treatments available during Ada’s lifetime.

Mrs Helena Concannon, a senator paid tribute to Ada on the 19th of April 1945 upon the Mental Treatment Act of 1945 passing in the Dáil and noted her role in bringing it about. She highlighted Ada’s substantial efforts in having the term “Asylum” replaced with the less ominous “mental hospital” which finally came about in the Local Government Act of 1925.32 Ada’s thoughts on establishing outpatient clinics in the community, alongside voluntary admissions to psychiatric wards, was another element reflected upon. In August 1939, the Committee of Management in Ballinasloe had issued a resolution “calling for the revision of existing lunacy laws dealing with both the reception and treatment of mental cases”.33 Regrettably Ada’s desire to exchange the custodial nature of the prevalent institutions of the time with a more therapeutic environment wasn’t achieved until recent times, with immense progress still being required, an aspect identified by “A Vision for Change” in 2006 particularly in the case of the provision of CAMHS.34

32 See: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1925/act/5/section/79/enacted/en/html 33 B.D. Kelly, Hearing Voices: The History of Psychiatry in Ireland, 150. 34 See: A Vision for Change: Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy (Dublin: Government Publications, 2006).

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Ada’s legacy and remembrance today

I by no means am suggesting that Ada somehow miraculously established utopian conditions for all present in Ballinasloe. Seamus Breathnach, a past native of Maigh Cuilinn, Co. na Gaillimhe recalls being chided in early youth during the late 1930s and 1940s by his grandparents “be careful or you might be sent to Ballinasloe” 35 if he was caught messing around. He noted that while as far as he can remember there was never any negative will towards Dr English, it was a wide-held belief that admission to Ballinasloe very likely meant that someone would remain there for the rest of their lives. As a result a great fear revolved around the place in his locality.

Such dreary circumstances aside I believe Ada was an advocate, striving to improve the quality of care accorded to those suffering from ailments of the mind and a strong proponent of overcoming prejudice, social exclusion and disintegration, indifference and ignorance of mental illness. She was an individual who overcame great obstacles and put into motion the reform of our psychiatric system over the years while also being a great cultural and nationalistic enthusiast. It was said by Professor Mary Macken of UCD that Ada was “tolerant of everything except incompetence…She burned to get at her real work of medicine; it was for her as much a vocation as a profession”.36

It’s quite satisfying to see that recognition of Ada’s exploits continues to grow. With the play “For A Little Lonely While”, by Pat Johnston exploring Ada’s life, The Ada English Trophy for camogie in Ballinasloe, The St Brigid’s Hospital Heritage Group and the erection of plaques honouring her at Pearse Street, Mullingar and more importantly at Loreto College, Mullingar alongside an

35 Interview with Seamus Breathnach by author 36 B.D. Kelly, Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist, 9.

Page|19 ornate marble bench where the foundations for her illustrious career were laid, her memory is residually treasured.

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In my interview with Pat Johnston we discussed that unlike her contemporaries Ada left behind no personal papers. This has greatly hampered efforts to discover more about who Ada English was and her thoughts on other issues of the day. Hopefully as time progresses more information relating to her will surface such as old newspapers bearing her name on them which were recently found in Ballinasloe. As identified in the same interview however the struggle to revive Ada English in the national consciousness continues.38

37 Photo taken by author 03/03/2017 38 Interview with Pat Johnston, Ballinasloe 03/03/2017

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Bibliography: Books: 1. Professor Brendan Kelly, “Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist”, Irish Academic Press (2014) 2. Professor Brendan Kelly, “Hearing Voices: The History of Psychiatry in Ireland”, Irish Academic Press (2016) Internet Sources: 1. http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/ 2. http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/tales-from- the-big-house-the-connacht-district-lunatic-asylum-in-the-late- nineteenth-century/ (Piece by Professor Oonagh Walsh) 3. http://www.imt.ie/features-opinion/searching-ada-dr-ada-english-1875- 1944-09-10-2014/ (Piece by Professor Brendan Kelly) 4. http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debatesw ebpack.nsf/yearlist?readform&chamber=dail 5. The British Journal of Psychiatry

Newspapers: 1. Irish Times 2. East Galway Democrat Interviews: 1. Seamus Breathnach 2. Pat Johnston

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