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]
