Christiaan Corlett looks at a valuable, but little-known portfolio of photographs taken by Victorian doctor Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave, now in the collection of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
There are still some very significant collections of historical photographs that remain relatively unknown in both private collections as well as those held in public institutions. These frequently have an artistic quality apart altogether from their historic value when ressurected from the dust of over a century ago. Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave’s photographs of Dublin, now held in the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, are a perfect example of this.
Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave (1853-1925) was born in Dublin, the son of William Alexander Cosgrave (a solicitor) and Anna Maria (nee MacDowel), who then lived at 20 Belvedere Place. He took his name and subsequent profession from his maternal grandfather, Dr Ephraim MacDowel, founder of the Richmond Hospital. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin, he subsequently lectured in biology in the Carmichael Medical School, and on its closure was elevated to professor at the Royal College of Surgeon’s of Ireland from 1889 to 1895, where he also served as President from 1914-15. In 1884 he married Anna, daughter of Rev Crofts-Billen of Ballythomas, Mallow Co Cork. From 1882 Cosgrave worked as a physician at Drumcondra Hospital (in 1893 it changed its name from Whitworth General Hospital), of which he wrote a brief history.1 From 1900 he was physician at Cork Street Fever Hospital in Dublin.
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