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Tag Archives: Charles Cameron


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Founding of the Dublin Women’s Suffrage Association

The Dublin Women’s Suffrage Association (DSWA), later the Irish Women’s Suffrage and Local Government Association (IWSLGA), a women’s suffrage organisation based in Dublin from 1876 to 1919, is founded on January 26, 1876. The organization also campaigns for a greater role for women in local government and public affairs.

The association grows from a committee established by Anna Haslam and her husband, Thomas Haslam, after a meeting on 21 February 21, 1872, chaired by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Sir George Bolster Owens, and addressed by Belfast suffragist Isabella Tod.

The DSWA is formally founded at a meeting on January 26, 1876, in the Exhibition Palace, Earlsfort Terrace (now the National Concert Hall). After the Poor Law Guardians (Ireland) (Women) Act 1896 allows women to be elected to the boards of guardians of poor law unions, it renames itself the Dublin Women’s Suffrage and Poor Law Guardians’ Association. After the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 allows women to serve on local councils, it becomes the Dublin Women’s Suffrage and Local Government Association. It establishes branches outside Dublin in the 1890s and becomes the IWSLGA in 1901.

In 1919, after the Representation of the People Act 1918 provides full franchise at local elections and partial franchise at parliamentary elections, the IWSLGA merges with the Irish Women’s Association of Citizenship to become the Irish Women Citizens’ and Local Government Association, later renamed the Irish Women’s Citizens Association, which in 1949 merges into the Irish Housewives Association.

The association confines itself to constitutional, nonsectarian and peaceful methods, and attracts support from both unionist and nationalist suffragists. Its tactics include making friends in parliament, hosting meetings with important speakers, and issuing pamphlets and periodicals. Its first secretaries are Anna Haslam and Miss McDowell. Haslam serves as secretary until 1913. In regards to membership, Haslam suggests an annual subscription of one shilling per annum as membership in the association. Other goals include appointing women to positions “such as rate collectors and sanitary inspectors, while always pursuing the association’s main objective of the parliamentary vote.” Prominent members of the association in the 20th century are Lady Margaret Dockrell, Mary Hayden, and Bridget Dudley Edwards (mother of Robert Dudley Edwards). Prominent supporters include Charles Cameron, Sir Andrew Reed, Willie Redmond MP, and William Field MP. Following the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, Lady Dockrell is one of the first women appointed Justice of the Peace.

(Pictured: Anna Haslam, co-founder of the DWSA along with her husband, Thomas)


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Birth of Charles Cameron, Physician, Chemist & Writer

Sir Charles Alexander Cameron, CB, Irish physician, chemist and writer prominent in the adoption of medical hygiene, is born in Dublin on July 16, 1830. For over fifty years he has charge of the Public Health Department of Dublin Corporation. He is elected president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 1885.

Cameron is the son of Captain Ewen Cameron of Scotland and Belinda Smith of County Cavan. He is descended from Clan Cameron of Lochiel. He receives his early education in chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry in Dublin. In 1852 he is elected professor to the newly founded Dublin Chemical Society while continuing to study medicine at several schools and hospitals in Dublin. In 1854 he goes to Germany where he graduates in philosophy and medicine. While there he publishes his translations of German poems and songs.

Upon his return to Ireland, Cameron becomes scientific advisor to the British government in Ireland in criminal cases and over the years takes part in many notable trials, including those relating to the Phoenix Park Murders. In 1862, he becomes public analyst for the City of Dublin, a position which is later extended to 23 counties in Ireland. In 1867, he is elected Professor of Hygiene in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). He is also lecturer in chemistry in Dr. Steevens’ Hospital and the Ledwich School of Medicine, succeeding Dr. Maxwell Simpson, and retains these positions until 1874. In 1875 he is appointed Professor of Chemistry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

From 1858 to 1863, Cameron is editor and part proprietor of the Agricultural Review, in which he writes hundreds of articles on various subjects. In 1860–62, he is also editor of the Dublin Hospital Gazette and afterward publishes many reports on public health to the Dublin Journal of Medical Science. At this time, he is in contact with many agricultural associations both in Ireland and abroad and receives a number of awards and tributes.

In 1874, Cameron becomes Co-Medical Officer of Health for Dublin Corporation and two years later becomes Chief Medical Officer. Being in charge of the Public Health Department of Dublin City means that he is always in the public eye, and due to the level of poverty and disease in the city at the time his work is cut out for him. He makes many recommendations for improving the sanitation of dwellings and sees to it that unsanitary housing is either improved or closed down. He publishes numerous sanitary reports, papers on hygiene, the social life of the very poor and proper eating habits, those of the very poor in particular. On the other hand, he is in a position to meet the major figures of the day, from the monarchy and the government downward. He is a member of several clubs in the city and dines with local and visiting celebrities alike, which he describes in his reminiscences.

In 1884, Cameron becomes vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and the following year becomes president. He is knighted in 1885 in consideration of “his scientific researches, and his services in the cause of public health.” In 1886, he publishes his History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and of the Irish Schools of Medicine. This work contains nearly 300 biographies of the most eminent medical men in Ireland.

Cameron marries Lucie Macnamara of Dublin in 1862, who dies in the early 1880s. They have eight children. His eldest son, Captain Charles J. Cameron, dies in a boating accident in Athlone in 1913, while another son, Lieutenant Ewen Henry Cameron, shoots himself in a train in Newcastle in 1915 while on the way to the Western Front. Two sons, Edwin and Mervyn, die of pulmonary tuberculosis in their 20s.

Cameron is a leading Freemason in Dublin, serving as Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland (1911–20), Deputy Grand Master of the Great Priory of Ireland, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree (Ancient and Accepted Rite for Ireland). He is first initiated as a member of Fidelity Lodge No. 125 in 1858 and is also a member of the Duke of York Lodge No. 25, serving as its secretary for over 50 years.

In 1911, Cameron is made a Freeman of the city and honoured by many from the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor, Alderman Kelly, to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Aberdeen.

Cameron dies at his home on Raglan Road in Dublin on February 27, 1921, and is interred in Mount Jerome Cemetery. At his death he leaves a son, Ernest Stuart Cameron, and two daughters, Lucie Gerrard and Helena Stanley.


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Death of Philip Woodroffe, Surgeon at Dr. Steevens’ Hospital

Philip Woodroffe, the resident surgeon at Dr. Steevens’ Hospital in Dublin for over 30 years, dies in Dublin on June 4, 1799. Several eminent surgeons are apprenticed to him. He is the president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 1788.

In his history of the RCSI, physician Charles Cameron writes that he has been unable to learn anything about Woodroffe’s parents or his early life.

Woodroffe is appointed assistant-surgeon to Dr. Steevens’ Hospital in 1763, and resident surgeon from 1765, an office which he holds until his death. In 1780 he becomes surgeon to the House of Industry Hospitals in Dublin and remains so for the rest of his life. In 1769 he is living in Crow Street. He moves to Fownes Street in 1774, and in 1784 he is living in St. Andrew’s Street.

Woodroffe is one of the founding members of the Dublin Society of Surgeons that later becomes the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and is one of those to whom the first charter is granted in 1784. In 1786, he follows William Dease as treasurer to the college, and holds the office for eight years. He is president of the college in 1788. His appointments also include surgeon to the Blue Coat School, the Foundling Hospital, and the Hospital for Incurables, Lazar’s Hill (now Townsend Street). Several notable surgeons such as Abraham Colles are apprenticed to him. Colles takes over as resident surgeon at Dr. Steevens’ Hospital after Woodroffe’s death.

Woodroffe dies on June 4, 1799, in St. Andrew’s Street, and is interred in St. Andrew’s churchyard.

(Pictured: The College of Surgeons, Dublin, 1837)