Hannah Dawson was District Maternity Nurse in the Shangarry Dispensary Area for just under 40 years and during that time she delivered most of the babies born in the area for unlike to-day there were few Maternity Hospitals and most deliveries were home-births. In fact the only local hospital was the old County Home in Carlow. During her years in service the maternity nurse became one of the best known and highly respected residents of the area.

She was born Hannah Nolan at Ballinvalley, Ballon on August 6, 1889. She trained as a midwife in Dublin's Rotunda Hospital and commenced working in the Ballon/Myshall/Fenagh area as the district midwife in 1919. Her husband Mick Dawson was a painter and they lived at Cappagh. Dr. Frank Humphries, later to become a TD, was the medical doctor in the area at the time.

As Shangarry Dispensary covered a large geographical area long distances had to be covered and the only mode of transport, particularly in the very early days, was the bicycle. The roads were in poor condition full of potholes and of course were not tarred in those days.

Expectant mothers rarely made an appointment and the first the nurse knew that her services were required was when a father- to- be arrived at the door seeking her assistance.

Hannah Dawson

This could be at any time of the day or night and many a call out was in the middle of the night and often in the depths of winter. This could necessitate very long journeys, sometimes by bicycle,other times by pony and trap, to places as far away from her home in Cappagh to Coolnasnaughta, Raheenleigh or Fenagh. On occasions her services could be required twice in the one day or night often great distances apart. Breeda McDonald, one of our committee members, remembers her attending her late mother on the birth of a younger sibling when a call came for her to go to the Fenagh area.

On one particular occasion Dr. Humphries and Nurse Dawson had to walk through snow up Ballinrush Hill to the home of a patient at the foot of the Blackstairs Mountains. Some complications meant that they had to return with the patient to meet an ambulance, stranded by snow at the bottom of the hill, which then brought the patient to hospital. Hannah suffered frostbite on this particular occasion. The winter of 1947- the year of the big snow- was particularly difficult for the cycling nurse.

On one particular occasion Dr. Humphries
and Nurse Dawson had to walk through snow up Ballinrush Hill to the home
of a patient at the foot of the Blackstairs Mountains. Some complications
meant that they had to return with the patient to meet an ambulance, stranded by snow at the bottom of the hill, which then brought the patient to hospital.

Hannah suffered frostbite on this particular occasion. The winter of 1947- the year of the big snow- was particularly difficult for the cycling nurse.The doctor did not always accompany the nurse to deliveries; in fact most were solo efforts. Sometimes the expected baby would arrive within hours but on occasions Mrs. Dawson might spend as long as two days with the patient before the baby was delivered.

When she was called out she would always bring her "black bag" with her. This was always in readiness, under the table in the front porch and for those of us who lived with her its contents were always a great mystery. Despite some of our best efforts to peek inside we never succeeded. In our innocence we thought that she delivered the baby from this "Black Bag". Her daughter, who herself went on to train as a Maternity Nurse, was of the same opinion when growing up.

Hannah Dawson retired in 1957 after 38 years in the Shangarry Dispensary Area and of course was never replaced as Maternity Hospitals had become the in-thing. She died in Carlow on April 16, 1971 aged 82 years.