Moyvore historian launching book at Maynooth University

Moyvore historian, Dr Ciarán McCabe, is launching his latest book at Maynooth University on Monday, November 24, at 7 pm.

​His latest book is called Pre-Famine Fever Epidemics: A Case Study of the Cork Street Fever Hospital, Dublin, which is published by Four Courts Press.

​The book is included in Four Courts Press, in its own prestigious Maynooth Local History Series.

​Dr McCabe said: “The book looks at how the Cork Street Fever Hospital in Dublin was established in the early nineteenth century and responded to two particularly devastating typhus fever epidemics: those of 1817-19 and 1826-7.

​“The hospital opened for the admission of patients in 1804 and initially catered for the sick poor of Dublin city, especially in the south western quarter, best known as the Liberties.

​“In this area were living a large number of skilled tradesmen, or artisans, especially in the textiles industry, and an economic downturn in the mid-1820s devastated their industry.

​“This economic crisis coincided with a fever epidemic, which resulted in a greater mortality rate than usual.”

​Dr McCabe is a busy man, and besides his literary work, he is a tutor in the Department of History at the University of Galway, having previously taught at Queen’s University Belfast and several other Irish universities.