1 Comment
In another in our series of articles relating to Newry Museum's new temporary exhibition, Caring for the Community: The Development of Medicine in Newry and Mourne, Wendy Ward talks about her late husband, Paddy Ward, the well-known Police Surgeon and GP.
My husband Paddy Ward was born in Dublin in 1925 and attended The Royal School in Armagh. He ran away at the age of fifteen to join the Merchant Navy during the Second World War and served in the Naval Convoys which protected vital supplies of food, equipment and raw materials to the British Isles. Goods were transported in thousands of merchant ships which were grouped into convoys with naval escorts, protecting them from German submarine attacks.
After he left the Navy, he did what was called a ‘grind’, and studied to pass exams into the College of Surgeons in Dublin. He set up practice in Bangor, and then in 1959 moved to Bessbrook in county Armagh where he was GP. In the early years he was by himself in the surgery but was later joined by Dr McKnight and they worked together for thirty years.
It was also around this time he became a Police Surgeon and would have examined victims of assault, rape, man-slaughter as well as suicides or murders. He was also Staff Medical Officer for Daisy Hill Hospital and would have carried out annual medicals for staff, similar to what we now know as Occupational Health. He was also Staff Medical Officer for Dromalane House and was also the Medical Officer for the Bacon Factory, and much later Norbrook Laboratory.
One of the most high-profile murder cases he was involved in was the infamous McGladdery case. Robert McGladdery, who murdered Pearl Gamble, was the last man to be hanged in Northern Ireland, in Crumlin Road Prison in December 1961.
I married Paddy in 1971 and we lived on the Green Road, near Bessbrook. As the Troubles intensified, and with the helicopters landing nearby, Paddy decided it was time to move. A building site became available and we built a house in 1971.
At that time Paddy was still working as a GP, but his police surgeon duties were increasing due to the Troubles. He would have been called out sometimes two to three times a night. There were so many horrible incidents during the Troubles that my husband had to deal with that took place around the Newry and south Armagh area. Some of them stick out in my mind.
One of them was The Miami Showband Murders which took place on 31st July 1975 on the A1 road at Buskhill in county Down. Five people were killed, including three members of the Miami Showband, one of Ireland's most popular show bands. I remember that day as we were supposed to have been going to our holiday cottage in Donegal. At about 2 am that morning Paddy got a call to go in to the police station in Newry as the survivor had come in to report the attack. He then had to go out to a scene of desolation to examine those who had been killed.
Other awful incidents he had to deal with were the murders of the Reavey brothers and the Kingsmill Massacre, both of which occurred near Whitecross within a day or two each other in January 1976. Paddy was called to sedate one of the survivors of the Kingsmill Massacre who was a patient of his and suffering from severe shock. He then went to the hospital and was told to go to the scene of the crime to offer medical help. Eight of the ten men who were murdered were his own patients.
For Paddy, the surgery doors never closed, and even in the evening if he was worried about a patient he would contact them. Patients would also come to the house if the surgery was closed and he would never turn them away. As a GP’s wife you were very housebound, and you could not leave the house for any length of time as you had to answer the phone and there were a lot of house calls. In the afternoon it was not as busy, as the phone could be diverted to the surgery in Bessbrook.
Paddy was very caring to his patients, and around Christmas time he would have taken presents to some of them. I remember one Christmas morning he visited a patient with a gift, but she was at church and did not see him. Around 1 pm or 2 pm when I was getting the Christmas dinner ready for the family, the doorbell rang, and who was it only the patient he had visited. She came in and said, ‘I heard you were at my house, doctor, I am here for my Christmas dinner!’ After dinner was over, we went to the sitting room and Paddy switched the television over, and she said, ‘Oh doctor, you have turned off the Generation Game!’ It was amusing incidents like this that you remember as well as the terrible tragedies.
In 1985 Paddy was awarded the MBE, he was also Deputy Lieutenant of County Armagh and a Justice of the Peace, and I remember him having to sign a lot of paperwork in that role.
At the age of seventy my husband retired, but he went back to work the next day on a part-time basis as a GP and was still working in some capacity for Daisy Hill Hospital. He completely retired at eighty-three and died at the age of eighty-six in 2012.
by Wendy Ward
Entry to Caring for the Community: The Development of Medicine in Newry and Mourne is free and the exhibition runs until early September 2023. For further information please contact the Assistant Curator at 0330 137 4608.
The Museum is currently offering free tours of the main exhibition galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2.00 pm. These must be booked in advance by calling our Education Officer at 0330 137 4422.
Newry and Mourne Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 am – 4.30 pm. Please call 0330 137 4422 or email museums@nmandd.org for further information.
Please visit our website at www.visitmournemountains.co.uk
