Sir John Lumsden

Sir John Lumsden KBE (14 November 1869 – 3 September 1944) was an Irish physician and the founder of the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland.

John Lumsden was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. He was a medical doctor.

Dr. Lumsden's father (also named John Lumsden) had come from Scotland via India to work in a bank in Armagh and later moved to Dublin in 1867 to work for the Provincial Bank. Dr. Lumsden's father was a keen golfer and Dr. Lumsden worked with his father and his brother in setting up a rough and ready golf course in 1885 west of the Phoenix Cricket Club, thus establishing Ireland's second oldest golf club, the Dublin Golf Club. His father later helped the Dublin Golf Club become the Royal Dublin Golf Club in 1891.

In 1896 Dr. John Lumsden married Caroline Frances Kingscote, daughter of Major Fitzhardinge Kingscote and Agnes Grant Stuart, and their first child, John Fitzhardinge Lumsden, was born on 11 June 1897. At the time of the birth they were living at Dr. Lumsden's parents house but, soon after, moved out to 4 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, where Dr. Lumsden also had a medical practice on the first floor.

Their first child was soon followed by sisters: Leslie, born in 1898, Norah in 1900, Margery in 1908 and twins, Nancy and Betty born in 1911.

Dr. Lumsden was a physician on the staff of Mercer's Hospital in Dublin and in 1902 was the Principal Medical Officer for the Commissioners of Irish Lights. However, it was his role as the Medical Officer (later Chief Medical Officer) at the Guinness Brewery that Dr. Lumsden made his name.

The Guinness family had a tradition of noblesse oblige and philanthropy and therefore Dr. Lumsden's work for Guinness focussed on the well-being of the employees, many of whom lived in appalling conditions in the slums and tenements of inner city Dublin.

After the Great Irish Famine (1845–1846) many people moved from rural areas of Ireland into cities such as Dublin looking for food and work. This resulted in overcrowding with 33.9 percent of all families in Dublin each living in a single room. Poverty and cramped conditions led to problems of disease and by 1881 Dublin had the highest death rate in Europe.

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