The Building of Dr Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin, 1710–33

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors affecting hospital provision in early eighteenth-century Dublin by examining the early history of Dr Steevens’ Hospital. It explores Richard Steevens’s motivations for endowing a hospital and the friendship networks reflected in his will and that of the hospital trust, the latter initially set up in 1717 and expanded over the decades. In particular it focuses on the role of his sister Grizel Steevens in bringing the hospital into being. By using subscription and benefaction lists it plots the growth in support for the hospital until its eventual opening in July 1733. At the same time, it goes beyond a focus on the wealthy patrons of the hospital to investigate the people who actually worked on the building site in the fateful year 1720 - the year of the laying of the foundation stone and the year of the stock market crash which hampered fundraising efforts.