Ada English (Patriot and Psychiatrist)

This is the untold story of the life and work of Dr. Adeline (Ada) English (1875-1944), a pioneering Irish psychiatrist deeply involved in Irish politics. Ada English spent four decades working at Ballinasloe District Lunatic Asylum, during which time she introduced significant therapeutic innovations. A passionate participant in Ireland's Easter Rising, English spent six months in Galway Jail for possessing nationalistic literature and was elected as a Teachta Dala in 1921. A friend to Pearse, McDonagh, Griffith, Mellows, De Valera, and others, she became heavily involved in the country's civil war. This engaging and sensitive biography reveals the gifted, compassionate, and modest woman behind the revolutionary medical achievements and political engagements, her education and medical training, her 40-year career at Ballinasloe, and her position within the context of pioneering Irish medical women, such as Kathleen Lynn and Dorothy Stopford Price. The book also shines light on a woman whose abiding concern was for those she cared for - so much so that she requested to be buried alongside her former patients. *** "An inherently fascinating read, 'Ada English: Patriot and Psychiatrist' is a very highly recommended addition to academic library Modern Irish History and Irish Biography collections." - Midwest Book Review, Library Bookwatch: May 2015, Biography Shelf [Subject: Biography, Irish Studies, Women's Studies, Medical History, Psychiatry]