Dr Margaret Merrick

We would be glad to know of any photographs of Dr Merrick.

Dr Margaret Merrick (1896-1970)

Daughter of a Methodist minister noted for his social conscience, Margaret Merrick was born in Ballina, Co. Mayo, in 1896 and grew up in towns all over Ireland. She studied medicine at Queen’s University, Belfast, and moved to Dublin in the 1920s.

Dr Merrick lived and practised on Lower Rathmines Road, becoming keenly aware of the unsuitable conditions in which many of her patients lived as they grew older. She recruited others to help her visit elderly people, provide practical help and raise funds to improve conditions. In the 1950s, as the Irish Red Cross began to address the needs of elderly people, she became a founding member of its Old People’s Committee. She was Chair of the Rathmines Group, whose members, mostly women ‘of every age, occupation and creed’, met every month. They raised funds to employ a specialized geriatric nurse, and also hired home helps.

Dr Merrick made a close alliance with Professor T.W. Moody of the TCD Social Services (Tenements) Company to build Auburn House in Harold’s Cross, and gave generously of her medical expertise and personal energy to support its work. Shortly before her death she was persuaded to allow the company’s new House on Eaton Road to bear her name.

Read more about Dr Merrick’s life here.