Draft:Dr. John Harrison

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DR JOHN HARRISON M.D.

Dr John Harrison (1815-1890) was a famous medical doctor in Roscommon, Ireland. His fame can be attributed to the following: he was a highly skilled surgeon; during the Great Famine of Ireland (circa 1850) he treated the poor for free; he served as a doctor for 50 around years; and his renowned compassion.

His story is both touching and inspiring. It is the story of an archetypically generous and devoted Irishman; of a consummate professional doctor; and of selfless service during one of the most tragic social events in European 19th century history, The Great Famine. He is a favourite son of Roscommon.

Historians sometimes debate whether difficult times bring out the best in people, or whether the best people simply respond to the difficult times. It is probable that the indescribably tragic times of the Great Famine in Ireland in the middle of the nineteenth century allowed a number of already fine human beings to rise up and become heroes.

Irishmen who were trained as doctors were relatively few in Ireland in 1841; the year Dr John Harrison graduated from his medical studies in Edinburgh, Scotland. John’s practice was noted for its eclectic nature. He provided medical treatment to residents for fifty years. He was a medical officer for the Old Jail (on Roscommon Town Square), and the Union Workhouse (on Golf Links Rd, Roscommon Town). He also served at Ballyleague dispensary, the local fever hospital, and operated a private medical practice.

He never differentiated between ‘classes’ or religion in the quality of his medical service and devotion to his patients. It is clear that he was not motivated by financial reward as he was renowned as being difficult to remunerate for his attendances. Nevertheless, he earned a respectable income. As a consequence of being highly skilled, his services were in strong demand.

Roscommon was the hardest hit county during the Great Famine of the 1840s. The epicentre was the workhouse and fever hospital in Roscommon Town. People died daily of fever or starvation at these terrifying institutions. It was Dante’s inferno come to Ireland; Hell on earth.

John would have attended many, many cruel confinements and subsequent deaths. He requisitioned funds and championed the hospital and workhouse with the authorities and potential benefactors. The trauma and administrative dysfunction in the community was catastrophic. A lesser man may have found reason to emigrate from Ireland as had his younger brother, Joseph, in 1854. It would have been so easy for John to have joined Joseph in Victoria, Australia. Joseph was a young mining engineer and quickly prospered on the goldfields of Ballarat, Victoria.

So what kept John in Roscommon when so many of his countrymen had escaped to the New Worlds? His parents were hale and hearty so he did not need to attend them. The only logical conclusion was that it was his sense of duty to his community, family, and profession. Luckily for the people of Roscommon, John chose to help rather than respectfully emigrate. And at the time of Ireland’s greatest need he did something rare and heroic; he seldom, it appears, charged poor people for his services.

In recognition of his selfless service the townspeople presented John with opulent gifts at a testimonial dinner in 1865. After his death in 1890 a fund and trust were established by the grateful townsfolk of Roscommon. Multiple contributions were received from local people, and from those of the greater district by whom he was also loved.

When he died his estate was relatively small. It appears he never owned a property. This is not surprising for he was renowned for his generosity. He frequently donated to worthy causes. Similarly, his parents and brother appear to have been benefactors of property to the Catholic Church.

At the time of his death there was a large outpouring of public grief throughout Roscommon and adjacent counties. This resultant Harrison Memorial Fund provided a fitting monument to John’s life; the Harrison Hall in Roscommon.

The story of the public recognition of the life of John is a wonderful reflection of the strong humanist and religious values innate in Irish culture. He is hailed as an heroic figure because of his selfless service, generous nature, and unconditional affection; the values of Saints. These values and the consequent affirmation by a society are the pinnacle of human achievement. The character of the man and the values innate in his life story are a reminder of how much Ireland has to offer the world.

FAMILY HISTORY

John was born in 1815 and lived in Abbey St, Roscommon Town. His father, William (d.1874), was a respected townsman and wool merchant. He was the Roscommon racecourse treasurerohn, his brother James, and his father William were members of the Grand Jury (precursor of the County Council) as well as members of many town committees (see below).

His mother was Anne, nee O’Conner. Although birth records do not exist, it is probable that her father was Charles O’Conner. William’s only known sibling was his brother Daniel. John married Mary Fegan in the 1850s and had a son William. He lived alone in later years, as he and Mary separated. She is buried in the family crypt of John’s brother, James, in St Andrew’s Church in Westland Row, Dublin. John’s sister, Anne, died when she was twenty years old in 1847. She is buried with him and the cause of her death could well have been related to the famine.

John had eight known siblings and is buried in the old St Coman’s graveyard in Roscommon Town. His brother Joseph migrated to the Australian goldfields of Ballarat, near Melbourne, where he married Ellen O’Reagan from Cork, and had nine children.

John’s brother, James, was a wealthy wool merchant. John’s nephew, Arthur, who lived in Melbourne, Australia, was at one time also a wool merchant. Garments, etc. at the time were usually made from wool or cotton. John’s ancestors owned land so it is probable that they were sheep farmers. The wool export industry in Ireland, however, all but ceased in the latter part of the 19thcentury, primarily because of resistance by the sheep farmers in the primary export market; England. Also, the new colony of Australia was a strong exporter of wool by the mid-nineteenth century.

John attended the Classical Academy School as a child in the hall that was to become Harrison Hall. His school friends included Most Rev Dr. Laurence Gillooley; the future Bishop of Sligo, and Very Rev. Patrick Kelly P.P., V.F. The Sacred Heart Church in Roscommon is dedicated to Bishop Gillooley. John and Laurence became lifelong friends. As noted above, John completed his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh. Catholic Irish were unable, and later usually forbidden by the Church, to study at Trinity College in Dublin.

William Harrison was a successful merchant. He owned 13 properties in Abbey St. Roscommon Town, as well as other local properties. Only two percent of Irish Catholics owned land at this time in Ireland. The Harrison family (probably per William’s nephew James) appears to have donated land to the Catholic Church; most likely number 22 and 23 Abbey St. These now comprise the entrance to the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart from Abbey St. £400 was donated by the Harrison Memorial Fund around 1902 for a memorial window in the Church which was then under construction. Local lore states that the stained glass windows in the right hand porch as you enter the Church came from the Harrison Hall. Further funds may have similarly been donated for the creation of a grotto on the church grounds.

John, similarly to his parents, was a member of the Roscommon gentry. He participated in fox hunts.

The Harrisons were an old, respectable family of the district. The family name Harrison evolved from ‘son of Henri’ and was initially introduced to Ireland in the 11th century by the Norman invaders. Henri was the name of one of the Norman kings. Similar pre-11th century Celtic names such as O’Harrolyn were often changed into this name. The Normans emanated from Normandy in France, the genus of who were the Vikings from Scandinavia. The Norman Kings allocated land in Ireland to military officers and knights. A local historian believes that Protestants never converted to Catholicism in Ireland as they had too much to lose. As the Harrisons were Catholics, it appears to be probable that the Harrison and their large land holdings emanated from the Norman Conquest.

ROSCOMMON

Roscommon is a prosperous, farming based, community of approximately five thousand people. It is located in the west of Ireland. Not so long ago there were around twenty pubs in Roscommon Town. The district was named after the 6th century A.D. local saint, St Coman. Ireland’s last High King and first President were from this county. Roscommon is the Anglicised name for Ros-Comain – the wood of Coman. St Coman is the Patron Saint of Roscommon.

Felim O’Connor, King of Connaught, established a Dominican Priory in 1253. The ruins of the Priory remain today. The site of St Coman’s Augustine Abbey is now occupied by the present St Coman’s Church of Ireland. It was attacked by the Vikings in 802 and burned by Munster forces in 1113. This site was also the town graveyard and John is buried there. Local lore states that a well where St Coman baptised people is located in Roscommon Town. The site is marked by an upright stone at the entrance to a well-known supermarket. Christianity was introduced in the 5th century and a well where St Patrick reputedly baptised people, and where pre-Christian Celtic Priestesses may have been ordained, can be found in nearby Athleague.

Due to the success of the potato as a food source combined with fertile soil, Roscommon became the most populous county of Ireland in the 1840s. The population of Ireland in 1841 was around eight and a half million. Due to famine and immigration this number reduced to six and a half million by 1851.National Famine Museum This is also the population of the island of Ireland today.

Most Irish people at this time worked the land as peasants under the Landlord system, had many children, and lived a subsistence lifestyle. Even before the Great Famine social and economic conditions were deteriorating; primarily due to the burgeoning population and the inability of peasants to own land. Similarly, changes in land practice from tillage to pasture resulted in less work for labourers, and added to emigration numbers.

A ceremony that may predate Christian times is still followed today from time to time outside the towns. When a person dies the grave is dug by his neighbours. They then sit by the grave and drink the whiskey and other drink supplied by the relatives of the deceased. They cannot leave the graveside until the whiskey etc. is drunk. Also, the time of burial is a time of forgiveness. A warring neighbour may approach his adversary and shake his hand while stating this, or something similar: “In the name of our recently deceased neighbour, please accept my offer of reconciliation”.

There is a strong tradition of the Roman Catholic religion in Roscommon. On land formerly owned by William Harrison at the entrance to the Sacred Heart Church in Abbey St there is a house now owned by the Church. It is the House of Perpetual Adoration. Inside the chapel on an altar is an enshrined Holy Eucharist. For over 25years, 7 days per week, 24 hours per day parishioners have maintained a constant prayer vigil before the altar.

During the past fifteen years however, there has been social change in Roscommon and other parts of Ireland. Ireland is becoming more secular and people are becoming less interested in partisan politics; particularly the young people.

MEDICAL CAREER

John was registered as a surgeon in 1840 in Dublin (FRCSI), gained an MD in 1841, and was registered as Medical Officer Roscommon on 1/1/1859; all significant achievements.

His qualifications in the 1868 Medical register are: Lic. 1840, Fell. 1840, Lic Midwif.1840, R. Coll. Surg. Irel. M.D. Univ. Edin. 1841.

His annotation in the Irish Medical Directory is: Harrison, John, Roscommon – M.D. Edin 1841; L and F.R.C.I.S. 1840; L.M.R.C.S.I. 1860, Med, Off. Roscommon. Union Work; Med. Off. Co. Goall and Ballyleague Disp. Dist.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was established in Dublin in 1784. Low levels of education in Ireland meant that there were relatively very few doctors who were Irish. Also, more lucrative careers would have been available overseas. It is estimated that when John graduated there was only one doctor per 6,000 people!

In reference to his admission a local newspaper noted: “John Harrison, son of our justly esteemed townsman, William Harrison, Esq, was admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. It affords a source of much gratification to every lover of his country, to see Irishmen possessed of talent and skill that places them far beyond those of any other country. Irishmen at present excel in literature and professional knowledge. From our acquaintance with Mr John Harrison, from his boyhood, we have no hesitation in saying that the profession to which he belongs will gain additional éclat by his association with it.”.

John was regarded as a skilled surgeon. Local newspapers in 1857 spoke of his ‘fame’ and cited him successfully removing the injured hand of a worker; and the successful treatment of a young girl afflicted with a disease of the spine. Another article spoke of a sick friend of the editor who was stricken by a desperate disease far away from home and who was “attended by a kind and sympathetic physician, whose voice and touch were as tender as a woman, and whose skill was paramount. For days and nights, and weeks, he watched over him with tender solitude.”

ROSCOMMON WORKHOUSE AND THE GREAT FAMINE

The Roscommon workhouse is a large, austere stone building in Roscommon town; the largest building in the district. It was built in 1843 and opened for inmates in November; two years before the Great Famine commenced in Roscommon. A number of workhouses were set up in Ireland in the 1800s due to the work of the Poor Law Unions. There was no public hospital in Roscommon Town at this time and scant public funds. A fever hospital was established in the workhouse grounds in response to outbreaks of cholera, dysentery, etc.

These were desperate times; there were starvation riots in the district. Roscommon lost almost one third of its population (31.5%); the highest proportion in the country. The population of the district was four times higher in 1821 than it is today. John was the workhouse doctor for most of this period. He was in his early thirties. Typhoid, cholera and TB were common. He would have worked extraordinarily hard during this crisis. It would have been a bruising time for medical workers as the very thing that could have saved many of the dying, i.e. nutritious food, was scarce. Also, there were no cures as penicillin and antibiotics had not been discovered. John attended many dying people, and wrote out many death certificates.

Admission to the workhouse was usually a death sentence. You forfeited your property, tenancy and residence, and relied primarily on the goodwill of local residents to provide funds for your sustenance and shelter. The operating costs of the workhouse were paid by the local landowners and gentry. A notice was posted up outside Roscommon Workhouse in January 1847 which stated that no new applicants seeking assistance could be admitted. William Harrison had proposed to the Board of Guardians, of which he was a member, that he rent a property as an auxiliary workhouse. It appears that this did not transpire. Facilities were extremely basic; just enough to feed and shelter the residents. An article in a local newspaper cites Dr Harrison recommending that bread be provided instead of stirabout for breakfasts as it was more nutritional .

Between 1847 and 1851 people were literally fighting to get into the workhouse. It housed over 1000 people. The alternative was often to die of starvation or fever nearby. You ‘qualified’ for the workhouse if you were destitute. As noted above, you relin¬quished your property and any lease holding. Often your house was razed by the Landlord so that you could not go back. Once in the workhouse you were separated from family members by gender. You could not escape. A third party, such as your relatives could buy your way out. Once free of the workhouse many former internees migrated to the New Worlds; particularly Canada, USA and Australia. Some landlords helped people to emigrate.

During the famine years most residents of the workhouse died there. To this day it remains a cold, forbidding building. Overcrowding fostered the highly contagious diseases. People who were admitted already had a weakened constitution. The workhouse was later renamed the County Home and operated as a home until the 1960s. Old people could spend the winter there and return home in spring. It accommodated the destitute, terminally ill, geriatrics, and ‘Knights of the Road’ (tramps).

These were desperate times and not everyone was ethical. The medical officer at the Strokestown workhouse once noted that the health of the babies at the workhouse was deteriorating despite his allocation of a double portion of milk. On examinations it was determined that the local farmer supplying the milk was significantly diluting it with water.

Another sad consequence of the workhouse was that the lease holding and property of new residents was often appropriated by neighbours. This often led to enduring enmity.

A newspaper article at the time noted that in taking on the role as doctor for the workhouse, John had forgone his high income in private practice. Funds for the destitute were periodically provided by the more ‘well-to-do’ and the Churches. Another article noted that in the 1868 an extraordinary meeting was convened of the local well-heeled residents to collect money in order to help the destitute. The major local landlord, Lord Crofton, chaired the meeting and substantial contributions were collected, including an amount from William Harrison.

A local Roscommon historian tells of a chilling story related by a former workhouse employee. She remembers being in the workhouse and hearing a banging sound on the stairs above her. To her shock she observed a deceased inmate being dragged down the stairs; the banging sound was made by the head of the inmate bumping on the stone steps.

Many of the people who died at the workhouse during the famine and up until the1940s were buried in an adjacent field; Bully’s Acre. Few details of these burials remain. At present this site is, unfortunately, difficult to access.

FEVER HOSPITAL AND BALLYLEAGUE DISPENSARY

John was the doctor for the Roscommon Town fever hospital. The fever hospital opened in 1848 in the grounds of the workhouse. Those suffering fever were previously housed in the converted stables of the workhouse.

John was also the doctor for the Ballyleague/Cloontuskert dispensary. There was not always one, central building. Rather it was a movable, localised dispensary that from time to time travelled around the district. Sickly members of the public would thereby attend the dispensary for treatment and medication. He was also the dispensary doctor for the Roscommon workhouse.

A newspaper article in 1880 cites John admitting to the fever hospital twenty cases of a bad type of typhus fever .

THE TESTIMONIAL

On Saturday 2nd September 1865 prominent townspeople met to design a testimonial to express their gratitude to ‘this esteemed gentleman’. Eight hundred guineas were sub¬scribed. The testimonial consisted of ‘a first class London built Brougham (i.e. carriage) and set of double harnesses and a magnificent and really beautiful casket composed of polished ebony richly inlaid with silver and leaving an appropriate inscription’. The testimonial was presented by three hundred and five Ladies and Gentlemen and stated: ‘In grateful recognition of the consummate ability, the nonostentatious liberality, and the universal devotion which have eminently distinguished his lengthened professional career, and which have insured for him the respect, and won for him the affection, of all ranks and classes of society’.

John’s speech in reply is humble in the extreme. He states that today is “the proudest and happiest day of mine (i.e. my existence)’’; “you have over-rated my deserts; you have put too high a value on what was but a duty; if I have in any way been instru¬mental in lessening sorrow for, and increasing the happiness of, the home circle, it was my greatest ambition to do so, and my highest recompense that it was felt.”

The language used at the testimonial is very florid and emotive. The speakers and reporters of the day used language that expressed far more intensity and colour than their successors of today. Testimonials were uncommon in Roscommon. They were a way of publically honouring a famous person while they were alive. Unfortunately this practice no longer continues. It seems that it is more appropriate to honour a person during their lifetime rather than waiting until they pass away. John was fortunate in that he was publically honoured while he was alive as well as after he passed away.

THE CLASSES

The newspaper articles of the time often refer to the classes in Irish society. The English class system had been introduced from the 16th century. John and his family belonged to higher strata of the Irish Catholic society. These groups were usually critical of the Dublin based Anglo rule. The higher strata of society was mainly comprised of military officers, clergy of all faiths, civil servants, land¬owners, professionals, successful merchants, and landed farmers.

One of the local landlords was Lord Crofton of Mote Park. He was a leading figure in the district of Roscommon. He sat on the Grand Jury and was a member of, and chaired, many committees. He often donated to local causes. The local newspapers noted that he cited Dr John as a dear friend. The Croftons had been in the district for many centuries and left Ireland in the early 1950s. They thus followed along the path of many of the landlords and associated gentry in the previous decades.

THE FUNERAL

John died on his 75th birthday (24th December 1890) peacefully at home after a short illness. He was laid to rest in St Coman’s graveyard. An article in the local newspaper at the time of John’s death eloquently noted, and in reference particularly to the famine years: “the marked tenderness for the poor which distinguished his conduct in those extraordinary circumstances has always characterised him and while there was no more welcome guest, no physician more eagerly sought for in the homes of the wealthy and socially great ones of the province, and in many a place outside it, the humblest and poorest always knew they could call on him with the same confidence. Nor was he merely the medical adviser: he was looked on as the kindly sympathetic personal friend, whose very visits exercised a beneficial effect. Every worthy object, every worthy cause received from Dr. Harrison substantial recognition, for while it required no inconsiderable diplomacy to in the slightest degree recompense his services his own purse was ever generously open”.

The epitaph on his tombstone also attests to these facts. Another newspaper article noted that as he aged he continued to work as hard as ever despite a failing constitution, and that although so many of his patients had died of disease (particularly during the famine), that ‘Providence’ had protected him. A colleague who was Surgeon of the Roscommon dispensary, Dr Robert Lloyd, died there of fever in 1847. The newspaper also noted that the famine and its effects harmed Roscommon for over forty years, the very years of John’s tenure. The article further noted that these tough times brought out the best in John; that he was untiring and his work was marked by “tenderness for the poor” and a dear friend to all his patients. Finally, it noted that his role as medical officer of Roscommon workhouse and his associated notoriety induced people from other unions to enter the hospital who otherwise would not have done so.

Another newspaper article commented: “....his townsmen and all who knew him are determined that the memory of his great deeds shall not pass lightly away, and that future generations shall be reminded by a fitting memorial of the greatest son in the walks of medicine that Roscommon ever produced”

Yet another newspaper article commented lyrically: “he done good by stealth and blushed to find it fame”.

High Mass was officiated by twenty-four clergy. After the funeral a number of the mourners adjourned to a hall where it was decided to establish a fund to honour John’s memory. On the day £380 was subscribed for the Harrison Memorial Fund. A commemoration and fund raising committee of thirty-five people was thereby established. It was agreed also to set up sub-committees in the parishes. This reflected that John was loved throughout many districts. Sub-committees from ten adjacent districts were located in; Athlone, Castlerea, Boyle, Roscommon, Frenchpark, Ballygar, Creggs, Strokestown, Elphin, and Athleague. The fund collected the impressive amount of £760 (around €64,000 in today’s money!). A trust was then set up to perpetuate his memory and still operates today as ‘keepers of the flame’. It languished for a period but was revitalised by a local parish priest during the 1970s.

THE JOHN HARRISON TRUST AND HARRISON HALL

One of the most imposing buildings in Roscommon Town is the Georgian limestone Bank of Ireland building at the top of the hill in The Square. Funds collected by the Dr John Harrison Commemoration Committee were used to purchase this building.

The hall was built in 1750 as a session house (courthouse), and later became a courthouse and Market House in 1762. It was designed by George Ensor. A primary donor for the construction of this apparently privately funded building was Sir Marcus Lowther Crofton. Next it was purchased in 1829, the year of Catholic emancipation, from the Grand Jury by Rev John Madden until a new church became available (the Church of The Sacred Heart) in 1903. Mass was first celebrated in the Church in 1836.

The form of the memorial to John was debated inconclusively by the trust that was set up to manage the donations for the next seven years. John’s nephew, James, offered a central block of land upon which it was proposed that a memorial hall be biult but this was rejected.Then a meeting of the trust was held to finally resolve the issue. It was chaired the Bishop of Elphin, the Most Reverend John Clancy, who was also the manager of the Church estate. This former church was sold on favourable terms at £550; £400 of which was to be paid out of the Harrison fund. The trustees thereby acquired St Coman’s Hall as it was then named, and renamed it Harrison Hall in 1910. The trust deed stated that members must be residents of the Parishes of Roscommon or Kilteevan; and that the trust membership was to be interdenominational.

A concert was held in the hall in 1912 as a commemoration of the acquisition. The ample hall served the community well for sixty-eight years. Among other activities, it hosted over the years Gaelic League events, a school, concerts, parish and other meetings, cinema, dance hall, gymnasium, operas, plays, badminton, snooker, squash, boxing tournaments, amusement arcade, and even a travelling circus. The trust subsequently sold the hall in 1976 to the Bank of Ireland; and the adjacent, former Presbyterian Church became Harrison Hall. This building now houses the County Museum and Tourist Office. This was a timely sale as the Harrison Hall was facing possible demolition.

An article in 1978 in a local newspaper lamented that Roscommon Town will never be the same again after the sale of the hall .

COMMITTEES

Eminent and influential townspeople served on local committees. Examples of committees, etc. that William and John served on were:

• The Grand Jury; (William and John). The Grand Jury was the equivalent of today’s County Council. It had quasi-judicial powers and its decisions were binding in statute. Membership of this body, due to its considerable power and influence, assisted John in the pursuit of his community and medical goals

Committee for the establishment of a Dispensary in the town of Roscommon

Participant at meeting to request the repeal or modification of the cruel Irish Poor Law

• Committee for a new school for the Sisters of Mercy School (1856); (William)

• Testimonial Committee to the Late Rev Bishop Dr Browne; (William)

• Contribution to fund for preserving the Abbey gravesites; (William)

• Signed the proposal for town gas lighting (1860); (William)

• Committee to lime wash poor people’s houses (1853); (John)

• Roscommon League of Friendship (1876); (John)

• Steward at Castlecoote Coursing Meeting (1890) (greyhounds); (John)

ANECDOTES

John loved horse racing and bred highly regarded greyhounds. He owned a very successful horse stud. His most famous horses were Maid of the Mill and Wagtail. Although John was very busy with his practice he attended at the Lenebane racecourse whenever he could. The first race meeting was held there in 1837. To this day, an annual race named the Harrison Plate commemorates his memory.

He housed some of his greyhounds at home and from time to time they were very noisy. Local residents in Abbey St would shout out a warning when the dogs were let out as they would raid local houses for food!

McGuiness pharmacy in Roscommon Town maintains records going back to the 1800s. Even after John passed away the pharmacy for many years sold ‘Dr John Harrisons Cough and Cold’, ‘Dr J Harrisons Stomach & Liver Mixture’, ‘Harrison’s Pills’, and other remedies. The Stomach & Liver mixture according to the label cured, among others, an ailment termed ‘sickness’. The label on the ‘Cough Elixir’ states: ‘Poison: not suitable for infants’. They were held in high regard in the community and were purported to cure many ailments. They were sold in small, colourful potion containers with a distinctive label. The current pharmacist still has the old dispensary book that contains the secret recipes.

In 1873 a judge of the probate court cast negative aspersions on the character of John when determining a civil cast about ill-gotten financial advantage, to which he was a litigant. The press cites an outpouring of disbelief and anger about the judge’s statements. Lord Crofton chaired a public meeting to defend John’s character. Attendees included leading Clergy of the county, and The O’Connor Don M.P., who came especially from London to attend. It is unclear as to who was in the right in the case. The line of argument in the newspaper editorials and reports was that the judge erred as his criticisms were absolutely inconsistent with the well-established character of John, and that John would have no financial motive for benefiting financially from his neighbour.

One newspaper article included the following attestations: “the provisional practitioners of Ireland, amongst whom there has been no more honoured name than that of John Harrison”; “Dr Harrison is known widely as one of the first physicians of Connaught far beyond the limits of which his reputation has reached.......he is loved and esteemed by every member of the comm-unity, of every rank, creed and condition”; “Generous, hospitable, self-sacrificing, and charitable John Harrison’s life rises up pure and untouched”; “a man so disinterested and humane to whom the voice of suffering never called in vain, who flew to the pallet of the beggar as quickly to the bedside of the nobleman, whose hand was ever open t ogive; of whom the jealous neighbour once complained that he was ‘unprofessional’ in failing to exact his due fees....this man who the little children bless as he passes through the streets, who has built up for himself an imperishable monument, aere perennius, in the affections of the poor and lowly, to whom he had been doctor, friend, and father....”.

IRISH MIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA

Approximately 30% of Australians have Irish heritage in australia. Around forty thousand convicts who arrived from the late 18th century through to the mid-19th century were from Ireland. They had usually been convicted of political or economic crimes, such as stealing food. Young Irelanders such as Thomas Meagher from Waterford were transported to Australia. He was sent to cold and inhospitable Maria Island off the eastern coast of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). The first major wave of Irish immigrants was to the gold fields in the 1850s; particularly those in the southern state of Victoria around Ballarat and Bendigo. Irish immigrants often favoured Victoria as it had a cooler climate than northern states, and the soil was often similar to that of Ireland.

In 1912 Daniel Mannix from Ireland was appointed a Bishop of Melbourne. He was soon to become the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne for forty-six years. He is regarded as one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia. He was a staunch republican and a firebrand. It appears that the Church ‘exported’ him to Australia as he was too inflammatory in his republicanism to remain in Ireland. This opinion is supported by the current Rector of the Maynooth Seminary in Ireland (2016). He set up the still strong Catholic School system in Australia. He was anti-British and opposed the pro-conscription lobby during the First World War. He branded it “just a sordid trade war”. The son of John Harrison’s nephew, Jim, thus chose not to enlist along with many other Catholics and consequently received an anonymous white feather in the mail. Mannix’s views increased the polarisation of society along religious grounds. This approach re-fuelled the enmity between Protestants and Catholics in Australia that was to last for many years. An example of the partisan nature of society was the 1868 attempted assassination by a republican, Henry O’Farrell, on the visiting Duke of Edinburgh in Sydney.

When new immigrants arrived in Australia in the 1800s and early 1900s from Ireland, the church would find them accommodation and work if they needed help.

Irish immigrants have always been proportionally represented as State Premiers and Prime Ministers. Irish immigrants traditionally aligned with the Labour Party. When, in the 1950’s the labour party lurched towards Communism, Archbishop Mannix was instrumental in creating the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). Initially it received strong support and it poached many members and voters from the Labour party. The split with the Labour Party kept Labour out of office for many years. The DLP was recently deregistered.

Since the famine around fifty million Irish people have emigrated. The current population of the island of Ireland is around six and a half million. It is easy to understand why so many Irish immigrated in the mid-eighteenth century to Australia. They were escaping feudal landlords, poverty, hunger, disease, overcrowding, cold and wet weather, and religious and political repression. In Australia they found space, a sunny climate, fertile soil, a more libertarian political structure, the English language, religious institutions, free bush building materials and cheap bountiful land, camaraderie, work, and opportunity. At the beginning of the gold rush in Victoria prospectors were literally picking up lumps of gold from the bush creeks. These gold fields were also the stamping ground of the Ireland’s arguably most famous export to Australia; the family of bushranger Ned Kelly!

Irish immigrants have prospered in Australia. A steady flow of migrants and visitors from Ireland have continued to this day, and Melbournians are very proud of their Irish history. The capital cities most closely associated with the Irish in Australia are Melbourne and Hobart (in Tasmania).

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke has said: "... apart from Ireland, Australia is more Irish than any other country. It is true that more people of Irish descent have gone to the United States than to Australia; but, as a proportion of the population, (it is) higher in Australia than in the United States.”(need a reference)

THE DECENDANTS IN AUSTRALIA

John’s brother, Joseph Camden Harrison, was born in 1830 in Roscommon Town and died at Trentham, Victoria, Australia in 1906. He was a mining engineer, spoke six languages, and travelled to Australia in 1863 on the “Great Tasmania”. He married Ellen O’Reagan from Cork. She had migrated to Australia in 1854 and died in Melbourne in 1901. They are buried along with other family members in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

The family have two letters written to Joseph by his friend Laurence Gillooley; later appointed the Bishop of Elphin. The first was a letter of introduction dated 1850 from the St Vincent’s seminary in Cork to the Lord Bishop of Buffalo, USA. Joseph travelled to Buffalo, but decided to migrate to Australia. Buffalo was established by the then Pope as a Diocese about 1847. It was, similarly to Victoria, experiencing a gold rush at this time. As the Buffalo gold rush subsided, the Victorian gold rush intensified.

The second letter from Laurence referred to the dithering by the Dr John Harrison Memorial Committee about resolving the form of commemoration for John. A statue had been proposed but there was no cast of his features. A water fountain had been proposed but there was inadequate water. The last proposal was for a market building.

Joseph also received a letter in 1894 from his cousin Jack in Dublin which spoke of John’s death. He noted that he had offered a block of land to the Memorial Committee in Abbey Street as a site for a library, hall or similar.

Joseph and Ellen had six children, and Joseph worked on the ‘diggings’ at Blue Dog near Ballarat in Victoria. The gold rush at Blue Dog peaked during the 1850s. The town then had around eleven thousand residents; today it has around ten residents. The ‘diggers’ lived in tents and a few shanties. The family prospered on the gold fields, and then moved to Melbourne where they built or purchased a fine house.

Joseph’s son Arthur Edward (1870 -1956) is Julian Harrison’s grandfather. Joseph was well educated and came from a financially secure family in Roscommon Town, so it is likely that he arrived in Australia with adequate funds. His subsequent success at the gold fields consolidated this position and thereby set his children up to be very financially secure and well educated. The perpetuation of this legacy is exemplified by the fact that all of Julian Harrison’s twelve nieces and nephews are tertiary educated.

Arthur was a successful commercial traveller for a company called Iona. It specialised in medical ‘remedies’ such as were created by John. Arthur prospered and had six children. He purchased houses outright for his two sisters and some of his children.

The Harrison family is reminded of John when we consider vocations of our family members; Nicolette and Julia. Nicolette has worked as a medical doctor for remote Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia for the past thirteen years.

Julia is also a medical doctor and received a prestigious national teaching award for her work educating doctors. She was presented with an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Excellence award in 2009 by the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

LEGACY

As of 2019 Roscommon has the Harrison Hall (the County Museum), the Harrison Arcade, Dr John’s residence in Abbey St, the Harrison’s Cafe, Dr John’s gravestone, an award winning podcast about Dr John’s medical career, a play, poem and song by Tommy Carthy, a bust of Dr John under construction, and discussions around the creation of a short video documentary. The town hosted a highly successful celebratory conference on the life of Dr John Harrison over a long weekend in 2015. This was comprised of a dinner, lectures, a family diaspora, the welcoming of an honoured relative from Australia, a theatrical play, and a walking tour.

The memory of Dr John Harrison lives on. An old aphorism states that ‘you live on for as long as you are remembered’. The 2015 commemoration of John’s life will help perpetuate his story. Now that the precedent has been set, his life will continue to be commemorated at similar events in future years. The original Harrison Hall is replicated by the hall that houses the museum, and the Dr John Harrison Memorial trust will continue. It is appropriate that John rests in peace with so many of the parish who were under his care. Many of these are paupers’ graves and are marked only by stones.

John’s legacy is one of service, compassion, and care of the poor. He was a selfless ‘man of the people’ who bravely stepped up at the time of arguably the greatest social disaster of 19th century Europe. His family in Australia are justly proud of his achieve¬ments. The cultural and personal values he embodied have successfully been transferred across the sea to his antipodean family.

EPITATH ON THE GRAVESTONE OF DR JOHN HARRISON

…..And after a long and

distinguished medical career

died 24th December 1890.

Universally regretted by all

classes more especially by

the poor who always found in him

a sincere friend. R.I.P.

REFERENCES