Mission Matters Issue 3 Summer 2026 - Flipbook - Page 35
From the Sky: A 1920's aerial view of the Mater Hospital on Eccles Street
Mater in the 19309s and then later
Reverend Mother of the Mercy order.
The nursing staff consisted of 115
general nurses which included
probationers (students) and fullyqualified nurses; the youngest being
17, the eldest 33, and one Night
Superintendent. There were four
domestic servants to look after the
nurses9 home.
The resident medical and surgical staff
are a varied bunch – two Physicians
and four Surgeons – ranging in age
from 22-27. Four are from Ireland
with one Physician David Miller age
22 from Cape Town, South Africa, and
listed his religion as 8Hebrew9. The
other was 24 year old Surgeon John
Dewey McKinley Bruen from Chicago,
Illinois, U.S.A.. Resident Surgeon
Francis Lavery became a well-known
Ophthalmic Surgeon to Jervis St
Hospital and worked in the Royal Eye
and Ear Hospital, Dublin. Four of the
six listed they could 8read but cannot
speak9 Irish. There are nine resident
pupils living in-house from all over
Ireland, ranging in ages from 19-26
years.
Rosary House: by 1926, Rosary House
accommodated the School of Nursing - as
well as all resident students and staff
nurses for the next 28 years
The domestic staff are for the most
part single women, with some widows
employed but no married women, the
youngest maid being 15 and the oldest
67. The staff consisted of two cooks,
seven kitchen maids; 11 housemaids;
10 general domestic servants; 15
wards maids; and four sewing maids
aged in their forties and sixties. The
laundry had 17 maids with a Head
Laundress.
The link to search the census is
here:
https://nationalarchives.ie/collec
tions/search-the-1926-census
Helen Madden ext. 7590
helenmadden@mater.ie
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