Sir John Lumsden KBE (14 November 1869 – 3 September 1944) was an Irish physician. He was famous for his role as Chief Medical Officer of

Guinness Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...

, during which time he founded both

St James's Gate F.C. St James's Gate Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Drimnagh/Crumlin, Dublin. They played in the League of Ireland between 1921–22 and 1943–44 and again from 1990–91 until 1995–96. Gate were the inaugural win ...

and the St John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland. During the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with t ...

of 1916, he was noted for treating anyone who was wounded, regardless of which side they fought for.

Early years

Sir John Lumsden was born in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, County Louth, Ireland, the son of John Lumsden, a bank manager, and Florence Isabella Groom Lumsden (née McKean). The father had come from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

via

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

to work in a bank in

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

and later moved to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

in 1867 to work for the Provincial Bank.Sport supplement; Golfing Log By Dermot Gilleece, the Irish Times, 7 December 1996 Lumsden's father was a keen golfer and Lumsden worked with his father and his brother in setting up a rough and ready golf course in 1885 west of the Phoenix Cricket Club, thus establishing Ireland's second oldest golf club, the Dublin Golf Club, which became the

Royal Dublin Golf Club The Royal Dublin Golf Club, founded in 1885, is Ireland's third oldest golf club. It is a private members' club, with an 18-hole links course on Bull Island, Dublin, Ireland. The championship routing that we recognise today was by designed by H ...

in 1891. In 1896, Lumsden married Caroline Frances Kingscote, daughter of Major Fitzhardinge Kingscote and Agnes Grant Stuart, and their first child, John Fitzhardinge Lumsden, was born on 11 June 1897. At the time of the birth they were living at Lumsden's parents house but, soon after, moved out to 4 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, where Lumsden also had a medical practice on the first floor. Their first child was soon followed by sisters: Leslie, born in 1898, Norah in 1900, Margery in 1908 and twins, Nancy and Betty born in 1911.

Lifetime achievements

Lumsden was a physician on the staff of

Mercer's Hospital Mercer's Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Mercer) was a hospital in Dublin, Ireland. It was converted into a clinical centre and medical library for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1991.Guinness Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...

that made Lumsden famous. The Guinness family had a tradition of ''

noblesse oblige ''Noblesse oblige'' (; ; literally “nobility obliges”) is a French expression from a time when French (more specifically, Anglo-Norman) was the language of the English nobility, and retains in English the meaning that nobility extends beyo ...

'' and philanthropy and therefore Lumsden's work for Guinness focused on the well-being of the employees, many of whom lived in appalling conditions in the slums and tenements of inner city Dublin. After the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

(1845–1846) many people moved from rural areas of Ireland into cities such as Dublin looking for food and work. This resulted in overcrowding with 33.9 percent of all families in Dublin each living in a single room. Poverty and cramped conditions led to problems of disease and by 1881 Dublin had the highest death rate in Europe. Lumsden saw a high rate of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

amongst Guinness employees and knew that overcrowding was probably a factor. In 1900 he got the approval of the Guinness board to spend two months inspecting the homes of each Guinness employee to ensure that they lived in proper housing and to look for ways to prevent or treat the disease. The main

Iveagh Trust The Iveagh Trust is a provider of affordable housing in and around Dublin, Ireland. It was initially a component of the Guinness Trust, founded in 1890 by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, great-grandson of the founder of the Guinness B ...

buildings built in 1903–1905 were designed accordingly. He also studied the diets of the employees and established cookery classes for the wives of Guinness employees. Finally, he helped to set up the first Guinness sports club which included

In his post as Medical Officer, Lumsden was asked to provide first-aid classes for employees at the Guinness Brewery. The classes became so popular that they later became the first registered division of the

St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland St John Ambulance Ireland (SJAI), previously known as the St John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland, is a charitable voluntary organisation in Ireland. For constitutional reasons it is not a full member association of the Venerable Order of Saint J ...

, which Lumsden founded in 1903 and became the first Commissioner, a post he held until his death.History of The St John Ambulance Brigade in Ireland
The Brigade was involved with many major events in Irish history, including treating casualties from the clashes during the General Strike of 1913 (sometimes referred to as the

Dublin Lockout The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Ireland's capital and largest city, Dublin. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often vi ...

). However, the Brigade became prominent in Dublin during the

of 1916 where it treated casualties on both sides and fed and cared for evacuees. During the fighting in the streets of Dublin, Lumsden became a familiar figure as he dashed out carrying a white flag and his medical kit to tend to the wounded on both sides. He was knighted by

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

for these acts and for the formation of the St. John Ambulance Society and became Sir John Lumsden KBE. Lumsden also encouraged Brigade members to be blood donors and advertised in the Irish national papers for people to register to set up an 'on call' blood donor panel to serve hospitals in the Dublin area. The service later became the National Blood Transfusion Association in 1948 but owes its origin to the Brigade and more especially to Lumsden. In 1923, after the establishment of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

, Sir John wrote to the President of the Council of the Irish Free State to start the process of breaking the Brigade away from the control of the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with mor ...

Society and the Order of the St John of Jerusalem. This led to the Brigade becoming an Associated Body and completely independent from the English-based St. John Ambulance and further led to the formation of the

Irish Red Cross The Irish Red Cross Society (IRCS; also Irish Red Cross or IRC; ga, Crois Dhearg na hÉireann) is the National Red Cross Society for the Republic of Ireland. (Northern Ireland comes under the aegis of the British Red Cross.) The society was f ...

Society in 1939.Irish Statute Book, No. 206/1939, Irish Red Cross Society Order, 1939 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1939/en/si/0206.html

Later years

In 1930 Lumsden moved into Earlscliffe in the Baily area of

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and include ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

where he practised his other passion: gardening. When Lumsden moved into Earlscliffe the gardens, according to his daughter, Betty L'Estrange, were "virtually shrubless and flowerless"Letter to the Irish Times on 22 June 1987, reproduced in http://www.earlscliffe.com/history/house/lumsden/the_lumsden_years.html He set about transforming the garden, planting shrubs and building a number of terraces. He also celebrated his work at the St John Ambulance Brigade by building a

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...

sundial at Earlscliffe, which gave him "enormous pleasure". This sundial can still be seen today at Earlscliffe, which later came into the hands of gardener and horticulturalist

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

. Lumsden died on 3 September 1944.

Arms

Notes

External links