'To Supply the Sick Poor'

'At a numerous and highly influential Meeting of the Nobility, Clergy and Inhabitants' of Carmarthenshire held at the Guildhall, Carmarthen on Saturday 24 October 1846, Sir John Mansel, Bart., High Sheriff in the chair, unanimous expression was given to the view that 'the want of a Public Infirmary to supply the sick poor with gratuitous Medical advice on Surgical treatment has been long and grievously felt in this Town and County'. It was further felt that this want, already urgent, would be aggravated by 'the increased number of casualties which may naturally be expected to occur' during the prosecution of 'the Great Public works about to be commenced in this county'.

This meeting was the first step towards the foundation of the Carmarthen Infirmary, and then on the proposition of D. A. Saunders Davies, Esq. M.P., seconded by David Morris Esq. M.P. it was unanimously carried — "That an Institution which in other counties has proved under the Divine Blessing eminently successful in mitigating human misery and corporal sufferings, is imperatively demanded by the wants of this County and Town, and that a benevolent project, fraught with such prospective advantages to the cause of suffering humanity, specially commends itself to the sympathy and cooperation of the Ministers of Religion of every denomination and they are hereby earnestly requested to extend their utmost influence in their various localities and respective spheres of labour to promote the humane objects of this meeting". In the subsequent discussion it was stated — "That it is a duty incumbent on everyone whom God has blessed with the means, and especially on the great landed proprietors, to contribute to the Building of the Projected Infirmary". Subscriptions of £20 per annum to the Building and Endowment Fund secured membership of the committee and the medical practitioners of the town and county of Carmarthen were thanked "for the kind and liberal tender of their gratuitous professional services when the Infirmary is opened for the reception of Patients". Various suggestions were put forward for the acquisition of a suitable building including the Carmarthen Barracks, but matters were left to the General Meeting on 7 July 1847. It was then resolved that the Borough Gaol be converted into a temporary infirmary and the offer of the Town Coun

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