Dr. C. E. R. Gardiner, Medical Officer of Dungloe, 1901 - 1937.

[Shanachai]

The Wicklow Newsletter, December 1st, 1900.

Editorial.

A Medical Officer’s Duty.

The Local Government Board, after an exhaustive local inquiry by their Inspector, have come to the conclusion that Doctor Gardiner can no longer be permitted to occupy the important position of Medical Officer of the Arklow Dispensary District, and they have, in a long communication with the Rathdrum Guardians, called upon that body to require him to send in his resignation forthwith.  There was not the least necessity for the Local Government Board to add ‘’otherwise the Board will be obliged to issue an order under seal removing him from the office.’’  The Guardians and the public had already condemned Dr Gardiner for his careless conduct, and no amount of explanation, sympathy or threats, could possibly restore him to the position he once occupied in the confidence of the people.  He richly deserves the censure he has received – to him, indeed, a heavy punishment. 

Dr Gardiner was admittedly a very clever young man in his profession; he quickly won the esteem and respect of the good people of Arklow, after his appointment some years ago, and quite recently his salary was increased by about £10 a year.  We have heard it asked over and over again why the doctor should have acted so carelessly with his poorer patients, and why was he so particular about ‘’red tickets’’ and other formalities, when his attendance was a question of life or death.  In the words of the Local Government Board, it is ‘’inexplicable.’’

Now-a-days, there is too much tomfoolery and humbug carried on with the ‘’red ticket’’ system.  These tickets are very often issued to persons who have no right to them; in fact, they are issued so persistently in some districts that it is no wonder that the medical men feel aggrieved.  On the other hand, the doctors sometimes draw the line too fine, and refuse to attend a patient, although they must feel that their delay in refusing to act promptly on the ticket may mean death to the unfortunate patient.  Again, there are instances where the doctor does attend on the patient, but in such a humour that the poor wretch needing his aid shrinks from seeking relief, and prefers to suffer sooner than again incur the doctor’s displeasure. 

Thank goodness we in this county have not much to complain of as to medical attendance, and we hope the present instance will impress upon all medical officers the fact that when they accept a salary – whether small or large – from the ratepayers, they are expected to attend the poor man with the same care and assiduity as one of their rich pay patients.

[Shanachai]

Irish Press, 14th October 1937.

Dr. C. E. R. Gardiner Retires.

Dr. C. E. R. Gardiner’s resignation from the position of medical officer of Dungloe, a correspondent writes, has officially terminated an honourable service and association of over 35 years with the Rosses of West Donegal. 

In his 45 years in the profession, Dr. Gardiner has had varied and trying experiences in battles against disease at home and abroad.  After taking his degrees in 1888, Dr. Gardiner volunteered for service in Central Africa and was appointed state surgeon to the Congo Free State, at that time the private property of the King of Belgium.

Of fourteen others who went with Dr. Gardiner to the Congo there were only five survivors at the end of three years.  On completion of his service Dr. Gardiner was awarded the Congo Star, and personally decorated by the Belgian King.

Fight Against Plague.

Following his return to his native Dublin, Dr. Gardiner was brought in contact with the Rosses, in 1901.  Outbreaks of typhus and typhoid fever in West Donegal had resulted in the deaths of Drs. O’Doherty and Sullivan.  The only medical man remaining in West Donegal was Dr. Smyth of Burtonport, whose single-handed fight against the plague constitutes one of the most glorious pages in the history of the profession.

Dr. Gardiner accepted the appointment, which many had refused, as medical officer in the Rosses.

His first duty was to attend on Dr. Smyth, who had, by then, contracted the fatal disease.
A second outbreak of fever took place soon afterwards, and another in 1916.

Such outbreaks are now almost unknown.  Much of the credit is due to pioneers like Dr. Gardiner.
During those years Dr. Gardiner gave wholehearted support to anything which tended to benefit the Rosses, particularly the town of his adoption, Dungloe.  The same may be said of Mrs. Gardiner and the members of the family, one of whom is now medical officer at Ballintra; another, the Rev. J. G. Gardiner, O.P., Dublin, while others hold important positions elsewhere.

Dr. Sullivan (Jun.), Mountcharles, is acting as medical officer in Dungloe since the resignation of Dr Gardiner.

The Irish Times, 20th February, 1945.

Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Gardiner and O’Connor, February 20th, 1895, at St. Agatha’s, William Street, by the Very Reverend Father O’Malley. P.P., Charles Edward Roche Gardiner, L.R.C.P. and S.I., son of Mrs. and the late Captain Robert Gardiner, Greyfort, Sligo, and Kathrine, daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Thomas O’Connor, 6 Jones Road, Dublin.  Present address, 2 Kill Avenue, Dun Laoghaire.

[Shanachai]

It seems Dr Gardiner volunteered for service in the hell hole that was the Congo Free State straight after qualifying as a Doctor, and could not have been prepared for what he was to encounter once he arrived at an up-river trading post called Bangala.  Gardiner was in the Congo when the novelist Joseph Conrad and the Irish diplomat Roger Casement were there, discussing the horrors that confronted them.  Conrad's experience was brilliantly realized in his short novel Heart of Darkness, and Casement went on to produce a devastating report in 1903 that contributed to the eventual independence of the Congo from Belgian rule.

My concern is that Dr Gardiner accepted the posting to Dungloe in 1901 because he could not find a position anywhere else - not after the outrage of Arklow.  Astonishingly, despite what was known about the Doctor's cavalier attitude to human life, he was only asked to hand in his resignation.  He was not 'struck off.'  In other words, he was free to continue to endanger the lives of his patients.  So what did he do in Dungloe, which was about as isolated a settlement as it was possible to find in Ireland in 1901?  Was he properly supervised?  Were the locals subjected to the same mistreatment that marked Dr Gardiner's stays in Arklow and the Congo Free State?

Only the locals could answer that question, and my guess is there weren't many around in the first three or four decades of the 20th century to listen to what they had to say.

[Shanachai]

In terms of poverty and helplessness in around 1900, there was not much difference between the poor of Donegal and the poor of the Congo Free State.

[Shanachai]

The nine Kings of Boma, 1900, Congo.

[myluck!]

This is really interesting.
It begs so many questions of the man's background, attitudes, empathy levels, humanity... But needs to be looked at in the context of its time also.

An analysis of death records may be the only conducive way to check if a high rate occured; bearing in mind that the mortality rate of the poor is always higher than that of the better off.

I wish you well in your research and would start with the local papers or historic societies. You probably will find very few people living who remember him but should find references.

[rathmore]

donegal resources

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/1911meenmore.htm

say he was from Louth.

[Shanachai]

You are right.  In terms of some treatments of the past, the 'context of the times' is either overlooked or manufactured by later commentators to validate their particular ideological agenda.  Thankfully that's not really an issue in this instance, as Gardiner was ultimately damned by 'the context of the time,' both in regard to his behaviour in the Congo and in Arklow.  He was judged by his contemporaries, and it is their judgement that matters.  The trouble is, Gardiner's actions were under scrutiny in Arklow and the Congo by people with the ability to expose him.  Were there many people like that in an isolated district in Donegal in the early years of the 20th century?  I doubt it, which means Gardiner was relatively free to do as he wished and cover his tracks.  I've already come across a press report about an outbreak of typhoid fever in Dungloe in 1915 that suggests the local people were in the habit of avoiding the doctor like the plague.  That may have been due to Dr Gardiner's track record, or it may have been due to a natural wariness during times of contagion. 

The key, I think, is local history and folk memory. 

Thanks again for your input.  It's much appreciated.

[myluck!]

FTR
He was born and baptised in Drogheda in 1865

Parents mentioned previously by shanachai