M
Mark Baber
Staff member
Moderator
Member
Here are two articles I recently stumbled across in the microfilms. I've written to St. Vincent's to try to find out if this plaque still exists. I'll report back once I've heard from them.
MAB
The New York Times, 6 February 1914
DR. O'LOUGHLIN MEMORIAL
---
New Hospital Emergency Ward to Bear Name of Titanic's Surgeon
---
An emergency ward in St. Vincent's Hospital containing seventeen beds, with a treatment room adjoining, will be dedicated on Feb. 16 to the memory of Dr. W. F. N. O'Loughlin, the surgeon of the Titanic. In the absence of Cardinal Farley, who sails for the Bahamas to-morrow, the dedication service will be conducted by Mgr. Lavelle.
Dr. O'Loughlin went straight from the University of Dublin to the White Star Line in 1870 and remained with the company to the end. During his long career he made many friends in New York who formed a committee, with Thomas Hughes Kelly as treasurer, to put up some monument to perpetuate his memory. Dr. O'Loughlin was well known in the neighborhood of St. Vincent's Hospital, and in the institution itself the new hospital ward was decided upon as the best memorial. A bronze tablet inscribed with his name will be placed in the hall outside the ward facing the small chapel where the sisters meet to go through their daily spiritual exercises.
The New York Times, 17 February 1914
HONOR TITANIC'S SURGEON
---
A new emergency ward in St. Vincent's Hospital, equipped and furnished throughout as a memorial to Dr. Francis Norman O'Loughlin, the senior ship surgeon of the White Star Line, who perished in the disaster to the Titanic, was dedicated yesterday to the use of disabled seamen. The ward is on the ground floor, off the entrance on Eleventh Street, near Seventh Avenue. It consists of three separate rooms, one for general usage containing nine beds, one with three beds for patients in delirium, and the third with five beds to provide for an overflow or for women patients when necessary.
The committee in charge of erecting a memorial to Dr. O'Loughlin began its work shortly after the sinking of the Titanic. The memorial, as proposed originally, consisted of a laboratory to be erected on the roof of St. Vincent's, but this not complying with the requirements of the Building Bureau, it was decided to equip an emergency ward. St. Vincent's was selected for this purpose because it receives the majority of injured seamen and was the hospital at which Dr. O'Loughlin was a constant visitor in attendance on sailors. At yesterday's exercises Dr. Edward C. Titus, for many years an associate of Dr. O'Loughlin, said:
"Dr. O'Loughlin, whose memory we perpetuate, as (sic; "was"?) a ship surgeon for forty years. He was a constant visitor at this hospital, in caring for his ship's injured sailors. Not more than a month before his death he said to me, 'If I die on land, I hope that my burial will be in peace, but by all that is fitting I should be wrapped in a sack and sunk in the sea which I have traveled for forty years.'"
While the dedication ceremonies were in progress Angello Grillo, a ship rigger, was brought to the hospital suffering from internal injuries resulting from a fall from a mast derrick on a pier. There were eight sailors in the hospital yesterday.
-30-
MAB
The New York Times, 6 February 1914
DR. O'LOUGHLIN MEMORIAL
---
New Hospital Emergency Ward to Bear Name of Titanic's Surgeon
---
An emergency ward in St. Vincent's Hospital containing seventeen beds, with a treatment room adjoining, will be dedicated on Feb. 16 to the memory of Dr. W. F. N. O'Loughlin, the surgeon of the Titanic. In the absence of Cardinal Farley, who sails for the Bahamas to-morrow, the dedication service will be conducted by Mgr. Lavelle.
Dr. O'Loughlin went straight from the University of Dublin to the White Star Line in 1870 and remained with the company to the end. During his long career he made many friends in New York who formed a committee, with Thomas Hughes Kelly as treasurer, to put up some monument to perpetuate his memory. Dr. O'Loughlin was well known in the neighborhood of St. Vincent's Hospital, and in the institution itself the new hospital ward was decided upon as the best memorial. A bronze tablet inscribed with his name will be placed in the hall outside the ward facing the small chapel where the sisters meet to go through their daily spiritual exercises.
The New York Times, 17 February 1914
HONOR TITANIC'S SURGEON
---
A new emergency ward in St. Vincent's Hospital, equipped and furnished throughout as a memorial to Dr. Francis Norman O'Loughlin, the senior ship surgeon of the White Star Line, who perished in the disaster to the Titanic, was dedicated yesterday to the use of disabled seamen. The ward is on the ground floor, off the entrance on Eleventh Street, near Seventh Avenue. It consists of three separate rooms, one for general usage containing nine beds, one with three beds for patients in delirium, and the third with five beds to provide for an overflow or for women patients when necessary.
The committee in charge of erecting a memorial to Dr. O'Loughlin began its work shortly after the sinking of the Titanic. The memorial, as proposed originally, consisted of a laboratory to be erected on the roof of St. Vincent's, but this not complying with the requirements of the Building Bureau, it was decided to equip an emergency ward. St. Vincent's was selected for this purpose because it receives the majority of injured seamen and was the hospital at which Dr. O'Loughlin was a constant visitor in attendance on sailors. At yesterday's exercises Dr. Edward C. Titus, for many years an associate of Dr. O'Loughlin, said:
"Dr. O'Loughlin, whose memory we perpetuate, as (sic; "was"?) a ship surgeon for forty years. He was a constant visitor at this hospital, in caring for his ship's injured sailors. Not more than a month before his death he said to me, 'If I die on land, I hope that my burial will be in peace, but by all that is fitting I should be wrapped in a sack and sunk in the sea which I have traveled for forty years.'"
While the dedication ceremonies were in progress Angello Grillo, a ship rigger, was brought to the hospital suffering from internal injuries resulting from a fall from a mast derrick on a pier. There were eight sailors in the hospital yesterday.
-30-