29 Facts About Dorothy Price

Dorothy Stopford Price was an Irish physician who was key to the elimination of childhood tuberculosis in Ireland by introducing the BCG vaccine.

Eleanor Dorothy Stopford was born on 9 September 1890 at Newstead, Clonskeagh, County Dublin, to Jemmett Stopford, a civil servant, and Constance Kennedy.

Dorothy Price's aunt was Irish nationalist historian Alice Stopford Green.

Dorothy Price lived through two World Wars, the Spanish Influenza pandemic, the 1916 Rising in Ireland, and the foundation of a new Irish state.

Dorothy Price was brought up as a child of the British Empire, living first in Dublin and later in London.

Dorothy Price spent Easter 1916 as a guest of Sir Matthew Nathan, the British Under-Secretary.

Dorothy Price first began her education by working with the Charitable Organisation Society, where she studied a form of social science.

Dorothy Price passed an examination to study Art, Design and Ornamentation in the Regent Street Polytechnic.

Dorothy Price sat a further exam which gave her the opportunity to enter the Royal College of Art, but did not do so.

Dorothy Price ultimately decided to study medicine at age 25, and was a medical student in Trinity College Dublin from 1916 to 1921.

Dorothy Price graduated with a BA in 1920, BAO, BCh and MB in 1921.

Dorothy Price tended to victims during the day and cycled to the mortuary at night to carry out post mortems.

Dorothy Price joined Cumann na mBan, an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers, and gave lectures on first aid as part of her involvement.

Dorothy Price was first exposed to the disease when John Richard Green, husband of her aunt, Alice Stopford Green, died from the condition.

Dorothy Price attended a Tuberculosis Day in Walworth at the invitation of Mrs Anstruther, a social worker friend of her aunt.

Dorothy Price began to research and write about tuberculosis, particularly in the context of children.

Dorothy Price was interested in the controversial BCG vaccine which could protect against tuberculosis.

Dorothy Price was anxious that Irish emigrants, including young Irish nurses and nurse trainees, be vaccinated.

In 1949, Dorothy Price was appointed as the first chairperson of the Irish National BCG Committee.

Dorothy Price learned German while working at St Ultan's to translate and read German literature on TB.

Dorothy Price took a post-graduate course in Scheidess before preparing a thesis on The Diagnosis of Primary Tuberculosis in Children, which described modern continental theories and practices, and won her an MD.

Dorothy Price began writing her book Tuberculosis in Childhood in 1937 and had 1000 copies of it produced by a Bristol-based publisher in 1939.

Dorothy Price became a member for the Red Cross Anti-TB committee, but later resigned for political reasons.

Dorothy Price was recognised for her work when Health Minister Noel Browne appointed her as Chairman of a Consultative Council on TB.

Dorothy Price discovered she was unable to have children in 1926.

Liam Dorothy Price later compiled an account of his wife's fight against TB by 1955.

Dorothy Price suffered a stroke in January 1950, which led to her relocating to 1 Herbert Park, Ballsbridge.

Dorothy Price died on 30 January 1954, aged 63, after suffering another stroke.

Dorothy Price was buried in St Maelruen's graveyard in Tallaght.