(Material researched & presented by Barbara Armstrong)

[1869 - 1958]

Ernest William John Ireland was born on 28 June 1869 at Hobart, Tasmania. He was the son of Alexander Ireland, headmaster of Scotch College, and Marianne Forbes.

As a youth he was highly successful in his scholastic examinations under the Council of Education, being gold medallist and senior Tasmanian scholar. Following this, Ernest travelled to Scotland in order to undertake his medical training. According to the 1891 census, at age 21 he was at St Cuthberts, Edinburgh, a student of medicine at the University of Edinburgh, living as a lodger at 64 Marchants Crescent. In 1893 he gained his qualifications (MB, CM Edinburgh) as physician and surgeon.

Shortly after graduation he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the medical staff of Mildmay Mission Hospital, London. This Hospital had its origins in the work of Rev. William Pennefeather and his team of Christian women, later known as Deaconesses, who began their work of visiting the sick of the East of London during the cholera outbreak of 1866. The Hospital was established in 1877 and the 'new' hospital opened in 1892. According to contemporary reports, there he was:

introduced to an extensive practice, and had an opportunity of gaining as much experience in 12 months as he could have done in as many years in an ordinary colonial town. The published report of his work, and the presentation made to him by his patients on his retiring from office, show that as a medical practitioner he has been remarkably successful and much appreciated. With a view to making children's diseases a specialty, he passed through a course at the Great St Ormond-street Hospital prior to his leaving the old country, so that he will doubtless form a valuable accession to the medical faculty of Hobart.

During October 1894, Dr Ireland was a passenger aboard the R.M.S. Rome, travelling via Melbourne on his way to Tasmania. By the end of October he was approved as a legally qualified medical practitioner in Tasmania.

By the January 1895 Dr Ireland had established a medical practice as Physician and Surgeon at 142 Elizabeth Street, Hobart. His advertisement included the following statement:

N.B. Dr Ireland will treat Homœopathically any of his patients preferring to be so treated.

The daily news of The Mercury for 11 January, 1895 announced:

Dr E. Ireland announces that he has settled down in Hobart as a medical practitioner. We had occasion some time ago to refer to his successful career as a medical student in Edinburgh, and subsequently as a medical officer in connection with Mildmay Hospital, Victoria-park, London. Dr Ireland has opened practice at 142 Elizabeth-street, and will treat patients according to the most improved principles either of homœopathy or allopathy.

Dr Ireland threw himself into the local scene, providing lectures on the following topics: digestion, the effects of physical exercises on health, food, athletics, milk and milk infection.

In 1898 allopaths in Hobart formed a sub-branch of the British Medical Association (B.M.A.), adopting the standard rules that they would not consult with homœopaths or assist them in providing surgery or anaesthetics.

Originally Dr Benjafield, Dr Gibson and Dr Ireland were the only medical practitioners in Hobart who did not join as members of the B.M.A. However, subsequently Dr Ireland decided to become a member. He publicly renounced the practice of homœopathy, thereby leaving Drs Benjafield and Gibson isolated in their ability to surgically treat their patients. It is unknown whether Dr Ireland continued to prescribe homœopathic medicines as part of his practice.

As a result of the boycott on behalf of the allopaths, the supporters of homœopathy in Hobart formed the Southern Tasmanian Homœopathic League.

When members of the B.M.A. who were Honorary Medical Officers of the Hobart Hospital had a disagreement with the Hospital Board and resigned their positions, Dr Ireland initially offered to provide his services. However, presumably because of pressure from the B.M.A. he withdrew his offer.  Several years later it was noted that it was very difficult for some doctors to gain a position within the hospital's honorary system.  Doctor Ireland had tried for many years, but had found it impossible.

The Tasmanian Consumptives' Association was established in 1905, Dr Ireland being one of the Honorary Medical Officer at the Sanatorium in 1915 and 1916.

In  July 1917 Dr Ireland was appointed House Surgeon at the Hobart General Hospital, a position which he held until May 1918.  He was then appointed as House Surgeon at the Launceston General Hospital from 1918 until 1926, before returning to practice in Macquarie Street in Hobart.

On 26 December 1899 he married Agnes Kennon Anderson [1872 - 1906] in Fitzroy, Victoria. They had three children. Sadly, Agnes died of meningitis on 14 April 1906, shortly after the birth of their son.

Dr Ireland married Constance Alice Whitmore Page [1878 - 1970] on 5 December, 1912. They had three children.

Dr Ireland died on 25 July, 1958.

©   Barbara Armstrong      

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