Edward Coey Bigger

Edward Coey Bigger
Senator
In office
17 September 1925 – 29 May 1936
Personal details
Born1861 (1861)
Belfast, Ireland
Died1 June 1942(1942-06-01) (aged 80–81)
PartyIndependent
Spouse
Maude Coulter Warwick
(m. 1886; died 1926)
Children2, including Joseph
RelativesFrancis Joseph Bigger (brother)
Alma mater

Sir Edward Coey Bigger (1861 – 1 June 1942) was an Irish politician and physician.[1] He was an independent member of Seanad Éireann from 1925 to 1936. He was first elected to the Seanad at the 1925 election for 9 years.[2] He was re-elected at the 1934 election for 3 years.[2]

He was chair of the Irish Public Health Council and Medical Member of Local Government Board, Ireland.[1] In 1917 he was the author of a report to the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust on the physical welfare of mothers and children in Ireland.[3]

Bigger was the Crown Representative for Ireland on the British General Medical Council from 1917 to 1927.[1] He was chair of the Central Midwives Board for Ireland (1918–1942).[1] He was the inaugural Chair of first the General Nursing Council for Ireland from 1920[4] and then the General Nursing Council for the Irish Free State from 1929.[5] He was on the Joint Nursing and Midwives’ Council for Northern Ireland at the time of his death in 1942.[6] He was on the Royal College of Nursing Council 1924-1932.

He was knighted in the 1921 New Year Honours for his contribution to public health.

One of his brothers was Francis Joseph Bigger. His son Joseph Warwick Bigger was a senator from 1947 to 1951.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Dempsey, Pauric J. "Bigger, Sir Edward Coey". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Edward Coey Bigger". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Obituary". British Medical Journal. 1 (4249): 740. 13 June 1942. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4249.740. PMC 2162218.
  4. ^ "Great Events". The Nursing Record (London, England). 64 (1664). 21 February 1920.
  5. ^ "General Nursing Council for the Irish Free State". The Nursing Record (London, England). 77 (1937). December 1929.
  6. ^ "Joint Nursing and Midwives' Council for Northern Ireland". Nursing Times (London, England). 38 (1946). 15 August 1942.