page_title: Bishop Dunbar's Hospital
section_title: The Hospital
hierarchical_section_title: Bishop Dunbar's Hospital / The Hospital
caption_attribution_description: English: The Lintel from Bishop Dunbar's Hospital (c1820) - "Per Executores" (See Orem) From a drawing by Mr J Logan, Aberdeen in a Collection held by the National Library of Scotland by George Henry Hutton, a professional soldier and amateur antiquary. (With permission)
context_page_description: Bishop Dunbar's Hospital was founded in 1531 by Bishop Gavin Dunbar, the Elder. The hospital was endowed by a mortification just before his death. Dunbar petitioned the King, James V of Scotland, and the charter, signed on 24 February 1531 records the King’s approval that ‘[Dunbar shall] ... found an hospital near the cathedral church, but outside the cemetery...’ It was also known as St Mary's Hospital. In the mortification, Dunbar's charitable purpose is recorded. Bedesmen were supported by a charitable foundation that emerged from the original church control until the twenty-first century. Bedesmen drew their name from the word "bede" - a prayer. The residents of Dunbar's Hospital said prayers in a cycle of Divine Office. The Bede House, Old Aberdeen was used by the Bedesmen from the hospital from 1789 to the end of the nineteenth century. The only remains of the 1531 building can be seen in a perimeter wall for Seaton Park in Old Aberdeen. The last Bedesman died in 1988. The Managers of the Hospital constituted a Charity, Bishop Dunbar Hospital Trust. The Charity ceased active operation in 2012.
context_section_description: Very little is known about the exact conditions of the Hospital. The earliest drawings are in accord with the 1531 Mortification. William Orem, the Old Aberdeen Town Clerk, writing in 1725 provides some details:
  “ …Above the gate is an inscription “PER EXECUTORES” and on the south side of the ..oratory another inscription, viz. Duodecim pauperibus domum hanc Reverendus Paper Gavinus Dunbar hujius alme sedis quondam pontifex aedisicari jussit anno a Christo nato 1532”. [Trans. Gavin Dunbar, reverend Father in God, who was sometime Bishop of this holy see, ordered this house to be built for twelve poor men, anno 1532 – Glory To God] Within the Oratory there is an further dedication (which includes) .. “Gloria episcopi est pauperum opibis providere. Ignominia sacerdotis est proprijs studere divitijs Patientia pauperum non perbit in sinem..” [ Trans. ..It is the glory of the Bishop to provide for the poor but a reproach to a priest to study only how to make himself rich. The Lord will not suyffer the poor to perish..] The armorial costs of King James V are on the south side of the Hospital along with that of Bishop Dunbar.  “.. in the said Oratory there is a desk for a chaplain, and seats also for the said poor men; and a little baptizary in the south wall thereof. …”(pp63-64)
caption: The Lintel from Bishop Dunbar's Hospital (c1820) -  "Per Executores" (See Orem, 1782) From a drawing by Mr J Logan, Aberdeen in a Collection held by the National Library of Scotland by George Henry Hutton, a professional soldier and amateur antiquary. (With permission)
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