At the time represented in the novel Dr. Andrew John Horne
was one of two Masters, or physician directors, of the National Maternity Hospital in
Holles Street. Horne served as Master of the hospital for
nearly 30 years, from 1894 until his death in 1924. Joyce goes
out of his way to suggest the capable and charitable offices
of the good doctor, but it seems that his warm feeling was not
reciprocated.
In Lestrygonians Josie Breen tells Bloom that Mina
Purefoy is in the hospital because "Dr Horne got her
in," consistent with the mission of Dublin's maternity hospitals
to help all women in need. Oxen mentions his
proprietorship: "Of that house A. Horne is lord.
Seventy beds keeps he there." Later, the chapter very exactly
identifies "the National Maternity Hospital, 29, 30 and 31
Holles street, of which, as is well known, Dr A.
Horne (Lic. in Midw., F. K. Q. C. P. I.) is the able and
popular master." The anagrammatic titles, which
Joyce has such fun with in Aeolus and Cyclops,
here seem more respectful, signifying that Horne was Licensed
in Midwifery and was Former Knight of the Queen's College of
Physicians in Ireland.
Andrew Horne was born in County Galway in 1856, attended Clongowes Wood College for
five years, studied medicine at the Carmichael School of
Medicine in Dublin, was licensed by the Royal College of
Surgeons in 1877, specialized in obstetrics while working at
St. Vincent's and the Mater
hospitals, became the assistant Master at the Rotunda Hospital
on Rutland (now Parnell) Square, moved to the new NMH in
Holles Street as Joint Master in 1894, and later was appointed
sole Master. He became a member of the Royal College of
Physicians of Ireland in 1881, served as its Vice President
from 1894 to 1896 and as President from 1908 to 1910, and was
knighted by King Edward in 1913. (The RCPI acquired its
present title in 1890. Before that, it was known as the King
and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, as the initials
in Oxen indicate.)
Fully 17 times, Oxen of the Sun links the name of
this accomplished obstetrician with the hospital in which he
served, turning a national institution into a personal domain:
"Horne's house," "Horne's Hall,"
"the house of Horne," "the high hall
of Horne's house," "Horne's." It
appears, however, that the admiration that Joyce felt for
Doctor Horne did not run in the reverse direction. According
to a 14 June 2013 post by Harriet Wheelock on the RCPI
Heritage Centre Blog site, Horne never had a copy of Ulysses
in his house, and Horne's family recalls that he "turned
Joyce out of the Maternity Hospital in 1904, when Joyce was a
student, for an offensive remark about 'the poor breeding
like rabbits.'" The truth of the remark, Wheelock notes,
has not been authenticated.
