| Ada English | |
| Birth Name: | Adeline English |
| Birth Date: | 10 January 1875 |
| Birth Place: | Cahersiveen, County Kerry, Ireland |
| Death Place: | Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland |
| Resting Place: | Creagh Cemetery, Ballinasloe |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Blank1: | Other names |
| Data1: | Eithne Inglis |
Adeline English (Irish: Eithne Inglis; 10 January 1875 – 27 January 1944) was an Irish revolutionary politician and psychiatrist.[1] [2] English was dedicated to the reform of Ireland’s large custodial psychiatric institutions throughout her life.[3] She was a Sinn Féin TD in the Second Dáil from 1921 to 1922 for the National University of Ireland constituency. She voted against the Anglo-Irish Treaty in January 1922.
English was born in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, to Patrick English and Nora McCardle of Mullingar, County Westmeath.[4] She had four siblings, including two brothers, Pierce (who became a doctor in Castlerea) and Frank (who became a bank official). Her father was a pharmacist and a member of the Mullingar Town Commissioners while her grandfather, Richard, had been Master of the Old Castle Workhouse in the town.
She was educated at the Loreto Convent in Mullingar and graduated from the Royal University of Ireland (she attended Queen's College Galway) in 1903, reputedly as one of the first female psychiatrists in Ireland. She served at the Mater, Richmond, and Temple Street hospitals in Dublin. For a short period, she had an appointment at a London hospital before, in 1904, taking the position of assistant Resident Medical Superintendent (RMS) at the Lunatic Asylum (now St. Brigid's Hospital), in Ballinasloe, and also worked part-time in Castlerea Mental Hospital. She developed occupational therapy to a high degree and under her direction Ballinasloe was the first mental hospital in Ireland to use electric convulsive therapy. In October 1914, she was appointed to a lecturership in mental disease in University College Galway, a position she retained until February 1943. In 1921, she was offered the position of RMS of Sligo Mental Hospital by Austin Stack, Secretary of State for Home Affairs, but she decided to stay in Ballinasloe, where she was later appointed, in 1941, to the position of RMS. She retired from this position in December 1943.
Through her contacts with people like Thomas MacDonagh, Patrick Pearse (who had once tutored her in the Irish language), Arthur Griffith and Liam Mellows, her belief in Irish nationalism grew and her rational and passionate arguments in its favour had a profound influence on the future Bishop of Clonfert, Dr. John Dignan, who arrived in Ballinasloe in the same year as English.
She was Medical Officer for the Irish Volunteers from its inception and worked at Athenry during the 1916 Rising. She was also a prominent member of Cumann na mBan. She was arrested in 1920 by Crown forces, spending six months in Galway Prison (she had been sentenced to nine months but was released due to food poisoning before completing her sentence).
In May 1921, she was elected unopposed to the Second Dáil for the NUI constituency as a Sinn Féin representative.[5]
She voted against the Anglo-Irish Treaty, voicing her opposition to it in the Dáil on 4 January 1922. She began by stating her opposition to the position of the British monarch in the agreement:
She was also one of the few speakers to voice her opposition to the partition of Ireland:
In the course of the same speech, she also explained that she had been elected as an Irish republican and would remain so:
She also rejected the claim made by male supporters of the Treaty that women were opposed to it for emotional reasons:
She stood again for the National University of Ireland at the 1922 general election for the Third Dáil but lost her seat,[5] being succeeded by the independent William Magennis. She assisted the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War and reportedly served with Cathal Brugha in the Hamman Hotel in Dublin in July 1922. She maintained her opposition to the Treaty and refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Irish Free State. Along with other members of the Second Dáil who opposed the Treaty, she played a part in Comhairle na dTeachtaí during the 1920s which saw itself as the true government of the Irish Republic.
She died on 7 January 1944[5] in Ballinasloe and is buried in Creagh Cemetery.[6]