The hospital opened in the 1870s. It was founded by charitable subscription and some of the prominent patrons included Lord O’Neill (President), Sir Thomas Dixon (Patron) and Lady Edith Dixon (Patron).
From 1897, due to funding problems, the hospital was compelled to stop offering free out-patient medicine, opting for a discounted prescription model instead.
The hospital moved to a new building on the Falls Road in 1932.
Notable medical staff include:
• Joseph Nelson – Eye and ear specialist. He also served with Italian nationalist leader Giuseppe Garibaldi in Italy during the reunification of that country in the 1860s, ran a tea plantation in India, and was a president of the Ulster Medical Society.
• Brice Smyth – Founding physician. Ex-president of the British Gynaecological Society.
• John Fagan – Founding surgeon. He helped John Dunlop create his air filled bicycle tyre.
• Jessie Lennox – Founding matron. An ex-student of Florence Nightingale’s school of nursing, she kept in contact with Nightingale regularly.
Do you want to learn more about the history of Belfast? We pass this site on my Doctors and Diseases Tour!