It is not easy to précis the life of gynaecologist and obstetrician Thomas More Madden. Aside from his prolific penmanship and championing of societal issues, a study of his life serves to demonstrate the crossroads at which orthodox medicine stood during the late nineteenth century – a period of transition between ‘heroic’ and modern health care. Reflecting this state of flux, Madden wrote several books about childbirth but he was also interested in heterodox subjects including heliotherapy and hydrotherapy. His political beliefs were no less eclectic. On one hand he was a Catholic ‘Unionist’, in favour of maintaining Ireland's place in the UK, but his writing was also imbued with the spirit of the Gaelic literary revival. Through his work he tried to make a case, not just for Ireland's place in the western health care tradition but also for its contribution to contemporary medicine.
MaddenRR. The United Irishmen, their lives and times, Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1842.
2.
CoxCThe medical marketplace and medical tradition in nineteenth-century Ireland. In: WoodRMcCleanS (eds). Folk healing and health care practice in Britain and Ireland; epistemologies of healing; stethoscopes, wands and crystals2010; Vol. 8, Oxford: Berghahn, pp. 55–80.
3.
Letter from Richard Robert Madden to George Gregory dated 22 January 1829. Royal Irish Academy Archives (thereafter RIA) 24/0/11.
4.
His age is recorded as 61 on the 1901 Census of Ireland but this would have made his birth year 1840. This cannot have been possible since the family had left Cuba by then.
5.
Letter from Richard Robert Madden to Sir James Stephens dated 5 December 1843. Letter from Richard Robert Madden to Daniel O’Connell undated. RIA Archive 24/0/11/6 and 24/0/11/251.
6.
Letter from Dowell O'Reilly to Richard Robert Madden undated. RIA Archive 24/01/11/1-20.
7.
During Richard's student years in Paris, he once scribbled a note to the Irish poet Thomas Moore on the lid of a pill box – an early example perhaps of fan mail. He maintained correspondence with the poet during his time in Cuba, see: Madden TM (ed.). The Memoirs, chiefly autobiographical, from 1798 to 1886, of Richard Robert Madden. London: Ward and Downey, 1891, p. 80.
8.
McMahonC. Struggling against oppression's detestable forms: RR Madden and Irish anti-slavery, 1833–1846. History Ireland2007; 15: 24–29.
9.
MaddenTM. The memoirs, chiefly autobiographical, from 1798 to 1886, of Richard Robert Madden, London: Ward and Downey, 1891, pp. 223–224.
10.
Thom's Directory, 1850.
11.
MaddenTM. The Memoirs, chiefly autobiographical, from 1798 to 1886, of Richard Robert Madden, London: Ward and Downey, 1891, pp. 277–277.
12.
Scrapbook of press cuttings belonging to Thomas More Madden 1851–1858. Trinity College Manuscript Library (Thereafter TCD), 4590f.
13.
McCree BryanMLBairBDe AnguryM. The selected papers of Jane Addams2009; Vol 2, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, pp. 265–265.
14.
Records of St. Mary's, Pro Cathedral 1867. National Library of Ireland P.357/B.394.
15.
FitzpatrickW. History of the Dublin Catholic cemeteries, Dublin: Cemeteries Board, 1900, pp. 48–48.
16.
O'HartJ. Irish pedigrees, or, the origin and stem of the Irish Nation, 5 ed. Dublin: James Duffy & Sons, 1892, pp. 570–570.
17.
O'Hart J. Ibid: 570.
18.
The Irish Monthly March 1886; 14, 153: 171–174.
19.
KirkpatrickPC. The book of the Rotunda Hospital: An illustrated history of the Dublin lying-in hospital from its foundation in 1745 to the present time, London: Adlard and Son, 1913.
20.
Letter from Dominic Corrigan to Richard Robert Madden dated 2 December 1859. Royal College of Physicians in Ireland archive (hereafter RCPI) Medical Testimonials KP496.
21.
Letter from William Wilde to Richard Robert Madden dated 2 December 1859. RCPI archive KP496.
22.
Freeman's Journal, 19 February and 14 March 1861.
23.
MaddenTM. On change of climate: A guide to travellers in pursuit of health, London: Cautley Newby, 1864.
24.
See: On morbid somnolence and death trance. Medical Magazine: London, 1897 November in which Madden cited the influence that increased atmospheric pressure or ‘drowsy weather’ had on sleep patterns.
25.
CoxCThe medical marketplace and medical tradition in nineteenth-century Ireland. In: WoodRMcCleanS (eds). Folk healing and health care practice in Britain and Ireland; epistemologies of healing; stethoscopes, wands and crystals2010; Vol 8, Oxford: Berghahn, pp. 55–80.
26.
Freeman's Journal, 27 June 1864.
27.
Madden TM. On insanity and the criminal responsibility of the insane. Dublin: John Falconer, 1866. Madden, ibid, p. 10. As evidence of his continued interest in the law, he chaired a workshop on medical jurisprudence at the 56th annual meeting of the British Medical Association in 1888 (see British Medical Journal, 1888; 1: 1431).
28.
British Medical Journal1890; 2: 1557–1557.
29.
MurrayB. Educational psychology, New York: St John's University Press, 1964, pp. 3–3.
30.
British Medical Journal1890; 2: 1557–1557.
31.
Freeman's Journal 25 January 1861. During his career Madden treated several children who bore the telltale signs of delirium tremens.
32.
See: Freeman's Journal 14 October 1887: 4.
33.
See: Methodist Temperance Magazine 1884 in which Madden was praised for his stance against child alcoholism.
34.
Brooklyn Eagle 14 August 1898.
35.
KirkpatrickPC. The book of the Rotunda Hospital: An illustrated history of the Dublin lying-in hospital from its foundation in 1745 to the present time, London: Adlard and Son, 1913. Madden interrupted his obstetric career briefly in May 1871 when he resigned his position at the Rotunda to join a 300-strong Irish ambulance corps to help the wounded of the Franco-Prussian war in Paris (see: Medical Press and Circular 27 December 1867 and Letter of French Government to Thomas More Madden, 1871. RCPI KP496).
36.
Dublin Hospitals Commission. Report of the committee of inquiry together with the minutes of evidence and appendices, Dublin: HM Stationary Office, 1887.
37.
McCree BryanMLBairBDe AnguryM. The selected papers of Jane Addams2009; Vol 2, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, pp. 265–265.
38.
StonePKA history of western medicine, labour, and birth. In: SelinHStonePK (eds). Childbirth across cultures: Ideals and practices of pregnancy: Childbirth and the postpartum, London and New York: Springer, 2009, pp. 41–55.
39.
Medical Press and Circular 23 August 1871.
40.
British Medical Journal 1890; 2: 1561:1281.
41.
International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 29 December 1922.
42.
Montreal Medical Journal 1887; 15.
43.
MoscucciO. The science of women: Gynaecology and gender in England: 1800–1929, New York: University of Cambridge, 2009, pp. 141–141.
44.
Medical Age 1893: 11.
45.
See: Medical Record 1 September 1894 in which Madden opposed Dr Smyly's use of accouchement force and also his comments in Medical Age. ibid.
46.
British Medical Journal 1888; 1: 1425: 844–846.
47.
Testimonial of James William Cusack regarding Thomas More Madden 17 January 1860. RCPI Archive KP496.
48.
Dublin Hospitals Commission. Report of the committee of inquiry together with the minutes of evidence and appendices, Dublin: HM Stationary Office, 1887.
49.
British Medical Journal 2 April 1898.
50.
Freeman's Journal 2 October 1891.
51.
Freeman's Journal 14 September 1872. In 1867, he had shown an interest in this subject, having edited Charles Haliday's Statistical Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of Kingstown. Dublin: John F Fowler, 1867.
52.
Our Tiny Bulletin, Dublin: Joseph Dollard, 1873. Freeman's Journal 27 January 1877 and Letter of Thomas More Madden to Mother Superior of Temple Street Children's Hospital, 22 February 1900. Temple Street Children's Hospital archive.
53.
Freeman's Journal 29 April 1878.
54.
Dublin Hospitals Commission. Report of the committee of inquiry together with the minutes of evidence and appendices, Dublin: HM Stationary Office, 1887.
55.
The Times 25 April 1889.
56.
Irish Times 16 January 1960.
57.
Freeman's Journal 5 February 1892.
58.
See: American Practitioner 1898: Vols. 25–26 and Journal of the American Medical Association 1900; 34: 2.
59.
Medical Times and Hospital Gazette 25 November 1893.
60.
MaddenTM. The memoirs, chiefly autobiographical, from 1798 to 1886, of Richard Robert Madden, London: Ward and Downey, 1891.
61.
Kildare Observer 24 March 1900. Madden is listed as a landlord for several tenants in Naas, County Kildare in Irish Land Commission, Land Law Acts, Return according to provinces and counties of Judicial Rents 1901. Dublin: HM Stationary Office.
62.
MorleyJ. Recollections, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921, pp. 308–309.
63.
Freeman's Journal 18 April 1900.
64.
Irish Times 13 September 1900 and Report of the Director to the Board of Governors and Guardians for the Year 1900, National Gallery of Ireland. Dublin: HM Stationary Office.
65.
Freeman's Journal 10 July 1864.
66.
Freeman's Journal 21 April 1902.
67.
Letter from Archbishop William J Walsh to Mother Superioress at Temple Street Children's Hospital, 23 February 1902. Diocesan Archives IE/DDA/AB5.
68.
Freeman's Journal 21 April 1902.
69.
O'DuffyRJ. Historic graves in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin: James Duffy & Co, 1915, pp. 51–51.
70.
British Medical Journal 18 August 1888; 2: 1442.
71.
WalshJJ. The Catholic Church and healing, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1928.
72.
CoxCThe medical marketplace and medical tradition in nineteenth-century Ireland. In: WoodRMcCleanS (eds). Folk healing and health care practice in Britain and Ireland; epistemologies of healing; stethoscopes, wands and crystals, Oxford: Berghahn, 2010, pp. 55–80.
73.
Walsh, Ibid: 5.
74.
Freeman's Journal 28 November 1881 and 18 July 1883.
75.
Dublin Hospitals Commission. Report of the committee of inquiry together with the minutes of evidence and appendices, Dublin: HM Stationary Office, 1887.
