The Belfast Hospitals

About this time an earnest young curate came to the Parish Church of St. Ann, situated in Donegall Street. This young man, the Rev. John Clarke, when visiting in his parish, was struck with the "scanty accommodation and provision afforded by poor households" during confinements. So much was he impressed by the conditions, that he determined to attempt the foundation of an institute to which an expectant mother might apply for admittance and help. He mentioned his ideas to some of the wealthier members of his parish, and as a result of the activity of one benevolent lady whose name has not been recorded, a scheme for the founding of a lying-in hospital was evolved. A private house, situated at 25 Donegall Street, was rented, and converted into a lying-in hospital with six beds, and it was opened for the reception of patients on February 20, 1794. The opening of the hospital was not allowed to pass without opposition. Doctor William Drennan, in a letter to his sister, written while he was in Dublin, gives the main objections to the scheme. This letter reads:-