The Least of These: The Tragic Story of Dublin’s Foundling Hospital

The dramatic, newly researched story of an enigmatic institution where 125,000 children were admitted, and 100,000 died or disappeared. Imagine an institution where 125,000 children are admitted
and 100,000 die or go missing. This is the story of the Dublin Foundling Hospital. Its mission: to take in the children of poor Catholics and raise them as loyal Protestants. Lying at the very edge of the eighteenth-century city, behind high walls and forbidding gates, the Dublin Foundling Hospital was often the object of horror and curiosity during its lifetime. But following its closure this enigmatic institution seemed to slip from the city’s memory. Based on new research, this book tells the dramatic story of the Hospital, including the tattooing of every child admitted with an identification number and the feeding of opium to thousands of children, hastening their deaths. Above all, the author searches for clues as to what happened to the children and why the institution was protected and allowed to continue for a hundred years. AUTHOR: Mark has studied History at master’s level an Trinity College, Dublin, where he wrote a highly praised thesis on the Dublin Foundling Hospital, as part of his MPhil degree. In his day job he is a medical doctor and consultant psychiatrist and has considerable experience in public speaking and lecturing. He has also co-authored a number of articles in academic medical journals and is a member of the History section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. 20 b/w illustrations