Former leading psychiatrist, Ada English celebrated in Ballinasloe this weekend

The third Ada English Summer School begins this evening, May 3, at Gullane’s Hotel Ballinasloe at 7.30pm. The summer school honours Ada English, one of Ireland's first female psychiatrists and Deputy RMS of St. Brigids Hospital from the 1920s to 1941. 

The event opens with a panel discussion. Mayor Carmel Greally will then open a memorabilia exhibition of St Brigid’s Hospital which will include a display of artefacts, photographs, uniforms and memorabilia of St. Brigid’s Hospital collected from former members of staff of St. Brigid’s Hospital. This will be followed by live traditional music.

Guest speakers at the summer school will include Dr Brendan Kelly, Una Spain, Professor Donagh Uralach, Brian Casey and Declan Kelly. There will also be a guided walking tour of St. Brigid’s Hospital Grounds on Saturday.

Dr Ada English is still remembered locally as the one-time war of independence patriot, early Dail TD and Deputy RMS of St. Brigids Hospital from the 1920s to 1941.

A Mullingar native, she was educated at the Loreto Convent, Mullingar and graduated from the Royal University, Dublin in 1903 as one of the earliest Catholic Doctors. She was one of the first female psychiatrists in Ireland. Ada worked in the Mater, Richmond and Temple Street hospitals before joining the staff of Ballinasloe Mental Hospital.

She was a medical officer with the Irish Volunteers from their inception and worked with Liam Mellows in Athenry during the 1916 Rebellion in West Galway. She was active in Cumann na mBan and was arrested by Crown forces in 1920 and served six months imprisonment in Galway jail. She died in 1945 and is buried in Creagh Cemetry.