Fielding Ould

Sir Fielding Ould (1710–29 November 1789) was an Irish doctor and medical writer.[1][2]

Portrait. Credit: Wellcome Library

Ould was the son of British Army Captain Abraham Ould (1689–1715) and a Miss Shawe of Galway, in which city he was born. He studied in Paris and settled in Golden Lane, Dublin as a medical practitioner in 1736. He published an enormously influential treatise on midwifery in 1742, although it was criticized for a number of factual errors.

An obstetrician, he acquired a huge practice and was master of the Rotunda Hospital (the Dublin lying-in hospital). After a lengthy battle, he was eventually granted his licence as a physician. In 1759, he was knighted for services to the medical profession. He died of apoplexy at his home on South Frederick Street and was buried at St. Ann's Churchyard, Dawson Street.[3]

He had at least two children, including William, who was chaplain of the Rotunda Hospital. Later descendants included the painter Sir Fielding Fielding-Ould, and the noted architect William Vitruvius Morrison.