Dr. William Smyth, Heroic Donegal Doctor

Reproduced by kind permission of The Donegal Historical Society.

William Smyth was born on March 30, 1859, at Stonepark, Mountcharles. His father, Dr. Samuel Smyth, a native of Argrey, Raphoe, was dispensary doctor to the district for a period of 40 years, his patients being mainly small farmers struggling for a bare existence and unable to pay for medical aid. Dr. Samuel's wife was the daughter of Mr. Hugh Scott, Mountcharles. William was the eldest son in a family of eight and at the time of his death only one brother and two sisters survived him. Up to the age of ten William was educated by his parents and from 10-13 & 1/2 he received formal lessons from a Mr. Willis, Mountcharles. From thence he went to the Royal School, Raphoe, and entered Trinity College Dublin, at the age of seventeen. He is described then as being 6'2" in height, handsome, direct in speech and without affectation of any kind. He delighted in athletic skills, including boxing. He took the degrees of Licentiate in Midwifery and Licentiate and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, completing the course in a year before the minimum age for granting diplomas. He caught smallpox while "walking the hospital" and recovered. He was only twenty-one when appointed to the dispensary district of Ardara. And in 1882, following the death of Dr. Spencer from typhus, he applied for the then vacant dispensaries of Dungloe and Burtonport, then classed as a congested district and including a number of small islands. For the benefit of members not acquainted with the area, the following is a contemporary description of the Rosses:

In the Rosses (Na Rosai), meaning promontories or peninsulas, it is difficult to tell whether the long, rocky shore is an island or is joined to the mainland by a narrow neck. And between the bays of Gweebarra and Gweedore there are countless loughs, narrow and intricate, winding among the rocks and hills. Often the road passes close between the shores of the two and has to bend and turn to suit their involutions. There are numerous long, low, grey and white little houses with weather-stained thatch and there is no way of telling whether they are lived in. To explain why there are numberless little houses in this apparently wild and uninhabited land, firstly, their colours exactly blends with their surroundings. The yellow and brown of the thatch is often invisible against the brown of the rushes and grass. The greystone and white walls marked with green algae stains are a repetition in colour of the grey and white boulders with their patches of moss and lichen. There are no fences. What the casual observer has at first mistaken for bits of brown bog turn out to be spade-dug potato patches. These have nothing to separate them from the rest øf the hillside and so it is impossible for sheep to be kept. The colour of the houses and the absence of fencing accounts for the apparently uninhabited appearance of the country. It is necessary to go out after dark to get an impression of the swarming populations. At this time the solitude is suddenly peopled and one sees that it is indeed on of the Congested Districts which cause the authorities the gravest perplexities. Neither shutters or blinds are known and a lamp is put in the window as soon as darkness sets in. (F.D. How, A Hero of Donegal, London, 1902).

It was generally believed that the men returning from harvesting operations in Scotland brought the dreaded infection of typhus with them, and from time to time the local doctors had to cope with yet another outbreak. There were many deaths among the people and those who could be persuaded to help. People were so terrified of "the fever" however, that nursing was mainly done by priest and doctor who had to do everything including coffining the dead. At that time fishing as a means of livelihood did not exist. The money brought back from Scotland was the main income for the year. All trade was carried out on the credit system, the debt to the store being paid on the return of the breadwinner. Later Father Bernard Walker, aided by Dr. Smyth and Mr. Hammond, agent to the Marquis Conyngham, initiated a scheme to improve the fishing industry. Nets were procured and men to demonstrate how to use them and repair them, and arrangements made for the curing, salting and disposal of the fish. One of the open fishing boats then in use brought in thirty to forty baskets of herrings, each worth from five shillings upwards, when sold by auction on the pier. These three gentlemen worked to improve conditions in various ways. Mr. Hammond succeeded in reducing the charge of half-a-crown per cwt. on everything carried by sea from Londonderry and was later able to get a sailing ship to bring goods at sixpence per cwt. Afterwards came steamboats which enabled goods to be brought in for less cost still. Another practice which they managed to stop concerned the payment of overdue rents. When rents were overdue the bailiffs would go out on a given day and drive in every four-footed beast to be sold to pay the money owing. They would call out: "Give a shilling per beast and we will let them go for a month." The shillings would be paid and doubtless went into their pockets. By their influence these three men put a stop to this system of extortion.

After his appointment, Dr. Smyth settled at Roshine Lodge, Burtonport, and in April 1883, he married a girl he had known since his school days, Miss Esther McKeown, daughter of a local merchant. His reputation as a doctor, surgeon, friend and counsellor was soon established. His work included amputations in primitive conditions, travelling many miles by horse and side-car through rugged and hilly terrain to difficult cases and often returning to see how the patient was progressing the same day, bringing with him the materials for food and nourishment. During an epidemic of smallpox he vaccinated 700 people in two weeks in addition to his normal work. Sometimes he had to spend half the night in small dark cabins without much ventilation. On leaving, someone would seize a piece of glowing turf from the fire as a torch and precede the doctor to where the pony and outside car were waiting. His dispensaries included Gweedore and Arranmore Island, to which he went by boat. Serious cases were brought to his home where his wife could prepare suitable nourishment. Only those with an intimate knowledge of conditions in the Rosses in those times could appreciate the hardships for doctor and patient. In 1889 his unusual strength and energy gave way and he was advised to take a long sea voyage. His friends, fearing that he had undermined his own health while looking after theirs, subscribed £100 towards the voyage (his salary was only £100 per annum) and he was given leave of absence by the Glenties Board of Guardians. Before he left, Father Bernard Walker, his friend and parish priest of Burtonport said:

"I am at a loss for words to express my estimate of his worth. In his profession he has been eminently successful; he has secured the abiding confidence of the community in the many and varied cases which came before him, for alone and unaided he had to attend to all their ills - a population o some 12,000 scattered over a district of some fourteen miles radius."

He was presented with an illuminated address reflecting the esteem of the people of the two parishes-a remarkable tribute to a young man still in his twenties and only seven years in the district. He sailed from Londonderry in October, 1889, for Quebec and travelled through Canada to Vancouver, returning on "The Dochra" on Dec.26, and arriving in Liverpool on 12th May, 1890-a voyage of four and a half months. During the voyage he spent his time making mats and sails and doing carpentry work with the sailors. In October, 1901, he was summoned to Arranmore with a message that the fever had broken out. He took out his boat and went across. He found that the victims were all Gallaghers who occupied several little houses to the southwest of the island. Dr. Smyth greatly hoped that the outbreak could be confined. In this he was thoroughly backed up by neighbours who studiously avoided contact with the stricken. Dr. Smyth determined to attend the patients himself. Secondly, he decided if it were possible to remove them to Glenties Hospital. Day by day he rowed himself across to the island taking the various things for the patients, for he was their doctor, nurse and only friend. Some of the patients refused to leave their homes, fearing they would be burnt down in their absence, but Joe Gallagher and his family agreed to go. The authorities were prepared to send an ambulance to Burtonport. But a boat was required to get the patients from the island across three miles of sea. No one would lend a boat for fear of infections. So he was obliged to buy one that was barely seaworthy. Dr. Brendan McCarthy, Medical Officer of Health for Co.Donegal, came to his aid and together they rowed the patients from the Chapel Strand across the Roads of Arranmore. The patients included Joe Gallagher, his wife, and three children, who were aged form two to seven. After a stormy trip in a leaking boat they landed safely in Burtonport. Then the old boat sank! But an ambulance brought the patients to Glenties hospital where they recovered.

Before the outbreak of fever on Arranmore, accounts of the Glasgow Exhibition had excited the doctor's interest. And now that he was satisfied that he had done all he could to contain the fever and urged by his wife and friends, he decided to make the trip. On November 6 he embarked on one of the boats which made the trip to Glasgow from Burtonport weekly. He had not been long on board before he began to feel unwell, but he decided to continue the journey. He was able to stay at the exhibition only a few minutes-just long enough to buy a memento for his wife, and left immediately for home, where he became gravely ill. His colleague, Dr. Gardiner of Dungloe, diagnosed typhus. Dr. Smyth died on November 19th, 1901, aged 42, and is buried at the Parish Church of Dungloe beside six of his children who died before the age of five. Eight others survived him. Many stories have been told in West Donegal of the doctor's generous humanity, his skill as a doctor and surgeon, his love of the sea, and boats, his sympathy for the people. In the words of a local man, "he appreciated and admired the industry, toil and sacrifices of life, as it was known in the Rosses in those days". But, perhaps, it is on the fairy tale island of Arranmore that the story of his unselfish bravery is best remembered. On 27th November, 1902, a stained glass window to his memory was erected by Sir Wm. Whitla and unveiled by the Earl of Dudley, in the Library of the Ulster Medical Institute, Belfast. It is composed of two doctors. Some years ago it was removed to a place of safety an it is now intended that the window be placed in a new building being erected at the City Hospital. A much fuller account of Dr. Smyth's life and work is given in the book A Hero of Donegal by Frederick Douglas How, from which the above details have been extracted. The book was published by Isbister and Co., Ltd., Tavistock St., Covent Garden, in 1902, and contains eight photographs, including the Dispensary and Courthouse, Arranmore.

M.R.

In the course of a letter (20/2/1976) to Mr. Edward Mac Intyre, FLAI, Mrs. Mary Russell of Bangor, a daughter of Dr. Smyth's, has this to say:
". . . I feel that as Mrs. Rankin's article has covered my father's life-story so well, there is little I can add to it. I can only say how pleased and proud I am that my father has been so frequently remembered in the press, pulpit, on radio. etc., over the last seventy five years, and that his name is so revered in the Rosses. And now the decision of the Co. Donegal Historical Society to erect a plaque to his memory on Arranmore is greatly appreciated by the remaining members of his family. The memory of his fearless and unselfish devotion to duty, the fact that he was so wll beloved by all amongst whom he lived and laboured, and the added support and help of many friends, in some way sustained my dear mother during her long life without him. To his family he left a shining example of courage and dedication . . I would ask you to accept my very best thanks for your interest and all the trouble you have taken in this matter . . .
Yours sincerely,

Mary Russell."

Dr. Smyth's Family:
From Mrs. Russell we also received a list of the names and birthdays of the eight children of Dr. Smyth's family who survived him. In order of seniority here they are: Mrs. Isobel Anthoney, born 12 April, 1885; William, 26 January, 1888; Hugh Edwin, 8 October, 1889 (died 1972); Alice, 16 April, 1891; Stella, 25 February, 1895 (died 1945); Mary, 18 July, 1896; Mrs. Esther Hope Meakin, 17 March, 1898; Samuel Dudley, 1 October, 1901.

Of the many memorial verses like those of J. Howard Deazeley, composed on the death of Dr. Smyth, the following are selected. They are just a few verses from a long poem by Frederick A. Boas, which originally hung by the memorial window in the Ulster Medical Institute, Belfast: