Pioneering Mayo doctor remembered on commemorative plaque

A COMMEMORATIVE plaque has been unveiled to Mayo native Dr. Kathleen Lynn and her partner Madeleine fFrench-Mullen who co-founded the first infant hospital in Ireland.

They established St. Ultan’s Children’s Hospital in Dublin in 1919, and a plaque to remember their legacy was unveiled on the building where it was based by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Alison Gilliland, at the weekend.

St. Ultan's closed in 1984. The property is now a hotel.

Honouring 2 amazing women from our past with a @DubCityCouncil commemorative plaque - co-founders of St. Ultan’s Children’s Hospital Dr Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine fFrench-Mullen pic.twitter.com/zOrBuMRydT

— Lord Mayor of Dublin (@LordMayorDublin) June 19, 2022

Dr. Lynn was a medical and political pioneer.

Born in Killala in 1874, she was so greatly affected by the poverty and disease among the poor that followed the years of the Great Famine that, aged 16, she decided to become a doctor.

She was chief medical officer of the Irish Citizen’s Army, based at City Hall, during the Easter Rising. Following her death in 1955, she was buried with full military honours for the role she played in the Rising at Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin.

Commenting on Twitter, Councillor Gilliland voiced her support that the new National Children’s Hospital be named after Dr. Lynn, noting: 'What more fitting name and acknowledgement of how we’d want that hospital to be run!'