Some 19th Century Detail on the Fever Hospital in Cork Street

The Hardwick Fever Hospital - or House of Recovery, in Cork Street, the most extensive institution of the kind in Ireland, was founded chiefly by the exertions of a committee of mercantile gentlemen, principally of the Society of Friends, who urged the adoption of hospitals for the reception of persons afflicted with fever alone. The subject having attracted the notice of government in 1802, on the recommendation of the Earl of Hardwicke, then Lord Lieutenant, a sum of 1,000l. was voted towards erecting a building, and 500l. towards the annual support of an establishment for the reception of fever patients residing in that part of the city which comprises the liberties on the south side of the. Liffey. The contributions made in a very short time, amounted to 10,000l., and have since received further augmentation. The original design extended to 40 beds only, but the founders were enabled to enlarge their plan, and accordingly determined on the erection of an hospital capable of containing, in case of emergency, 120 beds. The first stone was laid April 24th, 1802, and the house was opened May 14th, 1804, for the reception of 18 patients.

It is most advantageously situated, being near the district for whose relief it was established, and possessing good air and abundance of water; and stands on the south side of Cork-street, in a space of nearly three acres. The hospital, when first erected, consisted of two parallel buildings, 89 feet by 30, three stories high, running north and south, and connected by a colonnade of 116 feet. The eastern building is used for fever, the western for convalescent patients. The wards in these buildings are small and not very lofty, being only 16 feet by 11ft. 3in., and 101 feet high; and are arranged on each side of the galleries, which run the length of the building. They are ventilated by the chimney, which is opposite the door; by the window, and by a tube from the ceiling communicating with louvres in the roof. The galleries communicate by gratings placed vertically over each other. The apartments of the officers were originally in the western wing, but they have since been removed to the centre, which was built in 1808, for the purpose of affording additional accommodation; and thus, the number of beds was increased to 144.

This circumstance together with the increase of the parliamentary grant, which in 1805 was made 1,000l. per, annum, induced the governors to extend the district to the relief of which the hospital was to be applicable; they therefore determined to take in patients from all parts of the city, south of the Liffey; and in 1809, declared themselves ready to admit them from all parts of the city within the Circular Road. But in the lapse of a few years, they found, notwithstanding the establishment of the Hardwicke Fever Hospital, that their accommodation was still inadequate to the number of applicants; accordingly, in 1814, a fourth building, much larger than any of the former, was erected, by which the hospital was rendered capable of containing altogether 200 beds, which is its present establishment. (In 1818, when famine crowded the hospitals every where throughout Ireland, the number of beds in this hospital was increased to 260 - see Reports of Managing Committee for 1816.)

In the construction of the fourth building, the system of large wards has been adopted: it stands to the south of the east wing, and is ventilated by windows in the eastern and western sides. The hospital is supplied with ample offices, coal-vaults, &c.; and a laundry, a very perfect establishment, has lately been erected at a great expense, where the principal part of the labour is performed by means of a steam-engine.

The affairs of the institutions are conducted by a committee of 21 persons (15 of whom were elected 23^rd October, 1801, for life, and six others are selected annually from the subscribers), who meet every Tuesday. At the first opening of the hospital, the medical department consisted of three physicians and one surgeon; but the number has been since increased to six permanent attendants (besides whom, two other are occasionally employed), one surgeon and an apothecary.

Three physicians attend the hospital daily, and the others are employed in visiting, at their homes, the applicants for admission. The internal attendance is taken in turn by the physicians, each set attending one month in succession: their salaries are small at first, but are gradually augmented, until, at the expiration of three years, they are allowed 100l. annually. The surgeon receives 50l. per annum, and one guinea for every difficult case which he attends. These salaries and allowances, together with those of the minor officers and servants, amount to upwards of 1,600l. per annum; and the average annual expense, for the last six years, has been about 6,500l. This expenditure is chiefly defrayed by a parliamentary grant; the subscriptions and funded property amount to about 1,000l/ a year. Since the opening of the hospital to May 14th, 1823, 49,029 patients have been admitted; the mortality has been 1 in 15. No recommendation is necessary in order to procure admission, but on notice being left at the hospital, the applicant is inspected by a physician on extern duty.