Royal Military Infirmary

Georgian hospital in Dublin, Ireland

Hospital in Dublin, Ireland

Royal Military Infirmary, Dublin

The Royal Military Infirmary in 1794

Site of Former Royal Military Infirmary

Geography
Location| Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates| 53°21′00″N 6°17′49″W﻿ / ﻿53.350120°N 6.296806°W﻿ / 53.350120; -6.296806
Organisation
Type| Former British Military Hospital
Patron| Government of the Republic of Ireland
Network| Irish Department of Defence
Services
Beds| Originally designed for circa 190
History
Opened| 1788 (building completed)
Closed| 1913 (but reopened during WW1)

The Royal Military Infirmary (RMI) is a hospital in Dublin, on the southeastern edge of Phoenix Park (Páirc an Fhionnuisce), one of several former British military installations in the area.[1] The hospital buildings are now part of the Irish Department of Defence's (An Roinn Cosanta) estate and currently houses Ireland's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Oifig an Stiúrthóra Ionchúiseamh Poiblí \- ODPP).[2] The bulk of the British Army's medical services in Dublin were transferred from the RMI to a new hospital at Arbour Hill in Dublin in 1913.[3] The Infirmary buildings are protected as they are nationally significant architecture.[4][5]

## History

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The original RMI was designed by the English Architect James Gandon in the late Eighteenth Century.[6] The executant architect for the building's construction was William Gibson, who redesigned some aspects of the building; the building's construction took place from 1786 to 1788.[7] The original construction costs for the infirmary were recorded as £9000.[8] Its design was seen as advanced and best in its class as a military hospital well after its inauguration.[9]

The Infirmary's role was to take sick soldiers who could not be adequately dealt with by regimental hospitals in the various barracks of the Dublin Garrison.[10] Between 1824 and 1825 the Infirmary was reconfigured as a military general hospital.[11]

In 1806, the costs of the Infirmary and all other medical facilities in Ireland were costing the British Exchequer circa £15418.[12] In 1835 soldier patients were expected to have some of their pay deducted to meet the running costs of the Infirmary.[13]

The Infirmary was operating as a general hospital for the British Military during the 1900s and 1910s.[14] However, the British Military had intended to close the hospital in 1911 on the completion of a new hospital which had been commenced in 1909 at Arbour Hill in Dublin.[15] In 1910, the British Government had not decided on a purpose for the old hospital building[16] In 1910, Lieutenant Colonel O Birt, was posted as the senior medical officer in charge of the Royal Military Infirmary.[17] All proving that the Infirmary continued to function well beyond the date the British Government had anticipated. The Infirmary was certainly functioning as a hospital during World War 1.[18]

The Royal Military Infirmary, looking from Phoenix Park

The RMI and all other British Military installations fell under the direct control of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) in 1922 and the Department of Defence became the managing entity of the old Infirmary site and that remains the case to the present day. In 2007, there was a proposal to renovate the original Gandon building and adjacent annexe and construct a subterranean annexe to provide new office space for the relocation of the ODPP.[19] This project did not take place as originally conceived.

## Site Description

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The Infirmary's foundation stone was laid in the presence of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the Duke of Rutland on 17 August 1786. The original main three-storey building was designed with a C-shaped footprint; it was built of granite blocks faced with Portland stone. The main facade (circa 60 metres in width) faces southwest on raised ground overlooking the southern entrance of Phoenix Park. This frontage includes a glazed cupola tower that sits above a central clock face. Inside the original Infirmary, there were 13 wards (six allocated to surgical and seven allocated to medical patients) which were mainly located in the two rearward-orientated wings; initially, these wards could accommodate 187 beds. The central building span included offices, staff accommodation, chapel and other facilities.[20]

## See also

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* Royal Hibernian Military School
* Magazine Fort
* Ordnance Survey Ireland

## References

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1. ^ Dickson, David (1 May 2014). Dublin: The Making of a Capital City. Profile. ISBN 9781847650566. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
2. ^ "DPP Home Page". Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
3. ^ "1786 – Irish Army Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin". Archiseek - Irish Architecture. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
4. ^ "Environmental Impact Assessment Section 7: Architectural Heritage O'Devaney Gardens" (PDF). Retrieved 27 June 2020.
5. ^ "Architectural Heritage Impact Assessment" (PDF). Retrieved 26 June 2020.
6. ^ "Dublin Almanac and General Register of Ireland". Pettigrew & Oulton. 1835. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
7. ^ "GIBSON, WILLIAM - Dictionary of Irish Architects". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
8. ^ "HENDY, WILLIAM - Dictionary of Irish Architects". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
9. ^ Lee MD, Charles A. "Hospital Construction with notices of Foreign Military Hospitals" (PDF). Retrieved 27 June 2020.
10. ^ Wright, George Newenham (1825). "An Historical Guide to the City of Dublin, Illustrated by Engravings, and a Plan of the City". Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
11. ^ The National Archives, Kew (1824–1825). "Ireland. Conversion of Royal Military Infirmary, Phoenix Park, Dublin into a military general hospital". WO 43/220. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
12. ^ Parliament, Great Britain (1812). "Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates, During the ... Session of the ... Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the Kingdom of Great Britain ..." R. Bagshaw. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
13. ^ "Royal Military Infirmary". The Dublin Penny Journal. 3 (156): 412–413\. 27 June 1835.
14. ^ "1901 Census Returns, Ireland". Retrieved 26 June 2020.
15. ^ "1909 – St Bricin's Military Hospital, Arbour Hill, Dublin". Archiseek - Irish Architecture. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
16. ^ Hansard, British Parliament. "Royal Military Infirmary, Phœnix Park. (Hansard, 11 July 1910)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
17. ^ "British Military Journal" (PDF). Retrieved 26 June 2020.
18. ^ Durnin, David (2019). The Irish Medical Profession and the First World War. Springer. ISBN 9783030179595. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
19. ^ "O. D. P. P. Offices Data & Credits". paularnoldarchitects.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
20. ^ Warburton, John; Whitelaw, James; Walsh, Robert (1818). "History of the City of Dublin: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time: Containing Its Annals ... to which are Added, Biographical Notices of Eminent Men ... ; in Two Volumes, Illustrated with Numerous Plates, Plans, and Maps". Cadell and Davies. Retrieved 26 June 2020.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Military Infirmary.

* National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
* Curious Ireland The Irish Army Headquarters, Phoenix Park. Dublin City 1786
* the National Library of Ireland Catalogue - Royal Infirmary, Phoenix Park, Dublin