Dr Bridget Lyons Thornton set to be honoured

Roscommon County Council will examine the viability of a proposal to recognise the heroic work of nationalist hero Dr Bridget Lyons Thornton.

Roscommon local elected representative, Cllr Tom Crosby, received the full support from his council colleague when he presented a notice of motion calling on the council to recognise the heroic work of Dr Bridget Lyons.

A Roscommon native Dr Lyons moved to Longford at a young age to live with her uncle Frank McGuinness and his wife Kate, who paid for her secondary school education.

A patriot hero of the Easter Week Rising, Dr Lyons received awards for her bravery and courage, also as a medical doctor attending to the injured soldiers in the GPO.

The War of Independence hero was imprisoned at the time when leaders Pearse and Connolly surrendered to the British Army. Brigid was a close colleague of Countess Markievicz.

Later she was commissioned by Michael Collins to become the first and only woman to be accepted as a female officer in the Free State Army. She was part of the medical services that formed the corps, when it was time to establish a permanent, new all Irish Medical Service in 1922.

She became a leading figure in the fight against tuberculosis amongst the poor in Ireland and pioneered the BCG vaccination scheme in the 1950s which practically rid Ireland of Tuberculosis.”

Brigid Lyons married Captain Edward Thornton in October 1925 in the Chapel of St. Kevin at the Pro-Cathedral Dublin. Cllr Crosby said her family home should be restored as a monument.

In conclusion, Cllr Crosby said if she was a man “there would be many monuments in recognition” of her contribution.