RCPI Heritage Centre Blog

Book of the Month: Recollections of an Irish Doctor, by Lombe Atthill

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000Z

This book was first published in 1911 and its centenary has recently been marked by a re-issue in a limited edition, reflecting the value of its contribution to Irish medical and social history.

The author of the book, Dr. Lombe Atthill, was born in Co. Fermanagh in 1827, the son and grandson of Anglican clergymen, a clerical tradition that was to be carried on by Lombe’s own son.

The book is an interesting reminiscence of Irish life prior to the Famine and a modest description of Atthill’s early professional struggles. It reflects the author’s own strong Christian beliefs and principles and it is significant that it was published by The Religious Tract Society, a major British publisher of Christian literature intended initially for evangelism.

Frontispiece - Lombe Atthill

The author commenced his medical education at a very young age, being apprenticed to a surgeon at the Meath Hospital at the age of only 16. He went on to qualify as LRCSI in 1847 and take the degrees of MB and MD at Trinity College, Dublin. His interest in obstetrics and gynaecology led to him serving as Obstetric Physician to the Adelaide Hospital and, subsequently, to his election as Master of the Rotunda Hospital in 1875. He was to continue to serve the Rotunda and effect many improvements in the Hospital until his retirement in 1898.

Atthill was to serve the College of Physicians equally well, following his election as a Fellow in 1850. He acted as Censor, Registrar and Treasure before being elected President in 1888. He was actually to be the last President of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland as the College’s name was changed to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1890.

Dr. Atthill’s autobiography had its origin in a lengthy article that he had published in the British Medical Journal in early 1910, “Recollections of a Long Professional Life 1844 to 1904”. This article was, presumably, a shortened version of the book as Atthill has completed the manuscript and placed it in the hands of the publisher before his sudden death in September 1910. It was published posthumously the following year.

RCPI 22 - Lombe Atthill

The fine photograph of Dr. Atthill that forms the frontispiece of the book was used after his death, with the addition of the President’s gown, to create the oil painting that was presented to the College by Dr. Atthill’s children in 1913.

Robert Mills, RCPI Librarian

Art and Medicine: William Hunter

2012-01-18T10:08:00.000Z

Last year I posted a series of blog posts looking at diversity in Irish medicine, based on some of the displays at the Heritage Open Day in August 2011. This is the first in a series of posts looking at art and medicine, again based on the Heritage Open Day displays from August 2011. The first post looks at the Scottish obstetrician William Hunter (1718-1783).

Bronze medal of Hunter by Edward Burch, 1774

William Hunter was one of the leading anatomists and obstetrical specialists of his age. Born in Scotland in 1718, he studied at Glasgow University and in London under some of the best known anatomists and obstetricians. He set up in practice in London, and attracted many high-ranking patients. In 1761 he attended Queen Charlotte during her first confinement, and the following year was appointed as physician-extraordinary to the Queen. He would attend the births of all her children until his own death in 1783. As well as his private practice Hunter also lectured in anatomy, and undertook a number of important dissections, including many of pregnant women. The source of the bodies used in Hunter's dissections has recently caused some controversy. Don Shelton in an article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine last year suggested that Hunter, and his contemporary William Smellie, had pregnant women murdered, or at least showed a callous disregard for where the bodies came from, to provide illustrations for their obstetrical atlases. Helen King, in an article in Social History of Medicine, has argued that Shelton's claims raise new questions about how medical history is researched, the rise of the internet and non-professional historians, and the way 'historical truths' are generated and accepted.

Hunter is best remembered for his obstetrical research and publication, which greatly assisted him in his private practice. In 1750 Hunter was able to dissect a full-term human gravid uterus, and determine for the first time the relationship between maternal and foetal blood. The dissections were illustrated by Jan van Rymsdyk, and the art works exhibited. Twenty four years later Hunter published his greatest work Anatomia uteri humani gravid tabulis. It is illustrated with 34 engraving by van Rymsdrk, including the ten from the 1750 dissection.

Illustration from Anatomia uteri humani gravid tabulis

Following Hunter's death, a draft manuscript for Anatomical Descriptions of the Human Gravid Uterus was found. It was published in 1794 edited by Matthew Baillie (1761-1823), Hunter's nephew, whose education Hunter had overseen.

Hunter was a magnificent lecturer, and as he did not publish a great deal some of his discoveries are only to be found in notes taken by his students during his lectures. In an 1817 biography of Hunter, Joseph Adams (1756-1818) describes him as 'the most perfect demonstrator as well as lecturer the world has ever known'. Hunter began lecturing in London in 1746 offering courses in which 'gentleman may have the opportunity of learning the Art of Dissection ... in the same manner as in Paris', meaning they would practice on a human corpse. In 1760 Hunter planned to give up lecturing but the protests of his students changed his mind. In 1767 he began lecturing in his newly designed anatomy theatre, attached to his house on Windmill Street. The building also contained a museum to house his growing collection of medical specimens and his art collection. After his death this collection would go yo Glasgow University, where it forms the foundation of The Hunterian Museum.

BMS/32 - An unnamed student's notes from Hunter's Lectures

Hunter greatly valued the importance of art to medicine, stressing the importance of accurate and natural plates to illustrate his own works. In 1768 when the King founded the Royal Academy of Art, Hunter was appointed professor of Anatomy. He said of himself that 'I am pretty much acquainted with all the best artists and live in friendship with them.' An important and wealthy figure in London society, Hunter was both patron and subject of the arts. He had a fine collection of art work, a vast library, and a collection of coins said to be second only to the King of France's own. His portrait was painted several times, including by the influential portrait painter Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). His likeness continued to appear in engravings into the nineteenth century, confirming his position as one of the 'great men' of medicine.

Engraving of William Hunter by James Thomson, 1847

Guest Post: Irish Medical Involvement in the First World War

2012-01-09T09:58:00.000Z

Today's guest post is by David Durnin, an IRCHSS Doctoral Scholar at the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland, UCD, and winner of the 2011 RCPI History of Medicine Research Award. David is currently researching the role and experiences of Irish medical personnel involved in the First World War, and this post looks at some of the sources held by RCPI's archive which he has made use of for his research.

On the outbreak of the First World War, the Director General of Britain's Royal Army Medical Corps and the Royal Navy immediately issued letters to the Dean and Registrar of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland requesting that they recommend young qualified practitioners to volunteer for service in the Allied medical forces. However, the Directors received a response stating that while the College acknowledged the appeal, they regretted that they were 'unable to furnish any names of candidates at the present time'. This was indicative of the initial response of Ireland's medical profession to the First World War. The Royal College of Physicians' archive material provides a great insight into this initial reaction and helps chronicle the development of attitudes among Ireland's medical personnel towards Irish involvement in the conflict, 1914-1918.

RCPI/2/3/3/14 - Letter from the Director General of the British Army Medical Corps

To combat the lethargic reaction among Ireland's medical profession, an Irish Medical War Committee was established in 1915 as a regional subsidiary to a Central Medical War Committee in Britain. The Central group relied upon local organisations, like the Irish Committee, to determine which practitioners were eager to enlist and to encourage the less eager to partake. The Irish group consisted of various prominent medical professionals including the President of the RCPI, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and the President of University College Dublin. Their establishment appears to have been instrumental in increasing the number of Irish medical enlistments.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal in December 1916, Maurice Hayes, Fellow of the RCPI and Honorary Secretary of the Committee, reminded the profession that 'there was no compulsion in the matter of recruiting in Ireland, yet the Irish were now more than doing their bit'. He referenced a letter received from the Central Committee, which commended the 'patriotism' of Irish doctors and congratulated the Irish group on the steady flow of volunteers it was enlisting.

The Kirkpatrick Index (a collection of newspaper cuttings and manuscript notes relating to nearly 10,000 Irish medical practitioners from the seventeenth century to the 1950s collected by Dr T P C Kirkpatrick) records the biographical details of a considerable number of this steady flow of volunteers. These records contain various details including, rank, date of enlistment and honours received. During the conflict, Irish medical men and women acted as medical officers, surgeons, nurses, and worked in field ambulance divisions, casualty-clearing stations and in the specialised war hospitals established throughout Ireland to assist in the treatment of invalided veterans. The Kirkpatrick index shows that a significant proportion of Irish medical personnel enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps throughout the First World War and participated in all areas of care.

Details of Major Robert Stewart Smyth, RAMC, (d.1916) from the Kirkpatrick Index

When hostilities ceased, many Irish medical personnel returned to Ireland. However, not all returned home. A number of Irish medical professionals were killed in action. Their previous places of employment opted to remember them by creating rolls of honour. The RCPI Archive holds the Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital Roll of Honour, which includes the names, qualifications, rank and regiment of those associated with the hospital who participated in the First World War.

PDH/5/2/6 - Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital Roll of Honour

My current project has benefited greatly from the RCPI Heritage Centre Archive. The collections referenced are just a small proportion of the material available and a visit to the archive is essential for those interested in the history of the Irish medical profession.

David Durnin
IRCHSS Doctoral Scholar
Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland
UCD
http://www.ucd.ie/history/chomi/daviddurnin.html

Goodbye Wellcome … Hello Library

2012-01-05T10:29:00.000Z

The end of December 2011 saw the completion of the 21 month Wellcome Trust funded project to electronically catalogue RCPI's entire archival holdings. The project has been a great success; all the material in the 26 archival collections held by RCPI at the start of the project has been catalogued. In addition, two collections of material which were donated to the archive during the project have all been catalogued; the papers of the Royal National Hospital for Consumption for Ireland and the archive of Apothecaries' Hall.

The online catalogue now contains over 4,500 records across 28 collections. The collection lists are all available from the archive webpage, and all the records can be searched using our online archive catalogue.

As well as providing a catalogue of the archive material held by RCPI for the first time, the project has also been very successful in raising awareness of the collections RCPI holds, and in encouraging researchers to make use of the wide variety of primary resources we hold for the history of medicine and medical education in Ireland.

Sir Andrew Horne

Although the Wellcome Trust funded project has finished, the care of the archive is very much an ongoing process. RCPI is committed to the continued care and development of its archival collections, and continues to collect archival material to add to the collections we already hold. During 2011 the RCPI archive accessioned the minute book of the Dublin Obstetrical Visiting Society, the archive of The Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland, a copy of the Book of Saint Ultan and a collection of material relating to Sir Andrew Horne (1865-1924), the first Master of the National Maternity Hospital.

With the archival cataloguing backlog now under control, attention is moving to focus on the backlog of cataloguing in the library. The Dun's Library contains approximately 30,000 items, but at present just under 9,000 volumes are catalogued in our online library catalogue. In the run up to the 300 anniversary of the founding of the library in 2013, the Heritage Centre is going to be concentrating on cataloguing the library collections, and making them available. Hopefully this project will be as successful as the Wellcome funded archiving project, and the growth in the use of the archive over the past two years will be mirrored by an increased use in RCPI's unique library collections.

Book of the Month: The Compleat Midwife’s Companion

2011-12-12T15:04:00.001Z

Very little is known about the author of this book, Jane Sharp, other than that she was an English midwife who, in an age when few women wrote books, published The Midwives Book: or the Whole Art of Midwifery in 1671, becoming the first English woman to publish a book on midwifery.

Sharpe draws on her own, 40 year, experience as a midwife combined with the accepted medical knowledge of the day. She claims in the introduction, "I have been at a large expense in translating of books, either French, Dutch or Italian of this kind; the marrow of which I offer with my own experience".

The book is presented as a self-guide manual for women, taking them through conception, pregnancy, birth and postnatal care. Sharp is extremely critical of man-midwives, believing them to be expensive and unnecessary. The book is dedicated "To the celebrated Midwives of Great Britain and Ireland" whom she addresses as "Sisters".

The book enjoyed great success and went through four editions by 1725, with the title being slightly changed to the extremely long version as illustrated. Astonishingly, it has remained in print to the present day and has been the inspiration for a children's book (The Midwife's Apprentice, 1996) and a play (The Man who discovered that Women lay Eggs, 2005).

The Dun's Library holds a copy of the 4th edition of this work, published in London in 1725. It was originally acquired by Dr. Fleetwood Churchill, the great 19th century obstetrician, and came to the College as part of Churchill's bequest of his wonderful collection of over 600 rare and important books on obstetrics and gynaecology.

Robert Mills, RCPI Librarian

Conservation Treatment of the College’s Grant of Arms

2011-12-07T09:20:00.000Z

Earlier this year Dr Hima, one of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, very generously sponsored the restoration of the College's Grant of Arms. Dating from 1667 this is the oldest item in the College's archive, and records the granting of the College's Arms and Motto by the Ulster King of Arms, Sir Richard St. George. The conservation work was carried out at The Paper Conservation Studio in Dublin. This post written by Rebecca de Bút, one of the conservators at the studio, details how the item was treated.

Condition of item pre-treatment

The object was in poor condition and had suffered due to the poor mounting technique, surface dirt and poor handling during its lifetime. The image was attached to a poor quality wooden backing and held by small nails pined through the edge of the image attaching it to a wooden backing. This band of nails had been covered with strips of silk to hide them but these have been lost. The image was surrounded by a covering of red silk to hide the appearance of the wood and there was considerable moisture staining at the edge of the red silk. It was undulated and tension had built up where the nails had been applied. There had been a degree of pigment loss from the surface of the work and elements of cracking in some areas where the pigment was thickest and more fragile. Surface dirt was noted in various parts of the support and around the nails.

Conservation Goals

The aim of the treatment was the cleaning, repairing and humidification of the parchment. Following this a mount and frame would be created to support the parchment for display and storage.

Parchment

The Grant of Arms is a parchment item, which requires specialist treatment during conservation work. Parchment is the skin of an animal which has not been put through a tanning process and made into what we call leather. Parchment was made from the fine sheep or goatskin, which is also used in the making of a bodhrán (traditional Irish drum). Vellum was also used to create illuminative texts such as the book of Kells and is made from the finer skins of calves. During the production phase the hair and other follicle matter was removed by liming and the skins stretched out and dried. The surface was rubbed with chalk and pumice and the surfaced shaved with special tools. This gave the parchment its flat surface for writing and the application of pigment.

The problem with parchment stem from the reactions it has to fluctuations in moisture and temperature. If too dry the parchment may crack and if too moist it may distort by shrinking or expanding. This can lead to tensions in the parchment which in turn affects the surface where the media has been placed. The pigment can crack if it was applied heavily and flake off the surface over time. Some inks such as Iron Gall ink can burn through the surface and lead to losses in print and parchment. These distortions can also be exacerbated by poor housing as the tensions can lead to tearing if the parchment is not supported correctly to allow for expansion and contraction over time. This is a common problem with parchment and has affected the charter where it has been held in place using nails.

Conservation Treatment

After assessing the objects condition the following treatment were carried out;

1. The surface was dry cleaned (non-aqueous method) using chemical sponge. The areas around the nails were cleaned using a poultice to help soften engrained surface dirt.

2. The object was then humidified to relax and soften the parchment for manipulation under tension.

3. The object was then pressed under weight to allow the parchment to dry as flat as possible.

4. Tabs of Japanese paper were applied to the four edges of the work with the centre of the object being held in place. These will be used to adhere it to a backing of conservation board which will support the parchment support.

5. The holes left behind by the removal of the nails were covered using the strips of Japanese paper.

6. A custom built window mount was made to allow the text to be viewed and help support the wax seal.

7. A new frame was made and commissioned to receive the object and the frame was sealed to protect it from dirt and environmental changes in the future.

Outcome

The degradation and weakening edges due to the nails have been filled and are now supported by Japanese paper. The object is now stable and in a controlled and supportive mount and frame. This will enable the object to be viewed within its frame and housed under tension if removed from the frame.

Rebecca de Bút, Conservator, The Paper Conservation Studio

Launch of the ‘History of Occupational Health in Ireland’

2011-12-02T15:22:00.000Z

Today saw the launch of a new history of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, written by a former Dean of the Faculty, Prof John Malone.

Founded in 1976, the objectives of the Faculty were to advance the science and practice of occupational medicine and to promote education, study and research in the specialty. The volume recounts the history of the Faculty's early years of development, as it anticipated and reacted to new Health and Safety Legislation emerging from Europe. The Faculty also developed the Licentiate and Membership Examinations which became sought after qualifications at home and abroad. Annual examinations have been held in Ireland since 1983, in Malaysia since 1995 and most recently in the United Arab Emirates.

The book gives a chronological account of the activities of the Faculty, moving through the terms of office of the various Deans of the Faculty from 1976-2010, drawing heavily on the archive of the Faculty. It covers that period of change that affected many disciplines involved in occupational health, i.e. nurses, hygienists, toxicologists, safety officers, psychologists and others, as well as the changes that the factory doctor underwent as they became a 21^st century occupational physician. The fractions and frictions that arose are not omitted, as these are a real part of the events recorded.

Occupations Health in Ireland – A History is available from the RCPI Heritage Centre at a price of €30. All profits from the sale of the book will go to The Samaritans. To order a copy please email heritagecentre@rcpi.ie

Dr John Gilbert Kirker

2011-11-21T10:10:00.002Z

The College was saddened to hear of the death of Dr John Gilbert Kirker, former President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, earlier this month.

Dr Kirker was born in Norfolk in 1922. He studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin in the 1940s, and while there was a resident student at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital. Dr Kirker returned to Dun's Hospital as consultant physician, with a special interest in Neurology. He was also consultant physician at St. Patrick's Hospital Dublin, as well as lecturing in pharmacology at Trinity College Dublin.

PDH/6/3/56 - Dun's Hospital Resident Students and Staff, 1943
Dr Kirker is 3rd from left in back row

Dr Kirker had a major interest in Epilepsy. He helped to found the Irish Epilepsy Association, which later became known as Brainwave, at RCPI, 6 Kildare Street on 4 October 1966. Up to his death, he was President of Brainwave. His immense contribution to Irish, and indeed European, epileptology has been widely acknowledged. He was directly responsible for the development of electroencephalographic (EEG) services in Ireland and was Director of the EEG Department of the National Neurosurgery Centre at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. He remained at the forefront of EEG reading and epilepsy practice for more than half a century, up to his retirement in the late 1990s. In 2007 he was awarded the Social Achievement award at the 27th International Epilepsy Conference, Singapore.

Dr Kirker was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1956. He was an active member of the College, serving at the first ever Director of Examinations (1975-1982), as Vice-President (1981) and as President (1983-5). Dr Kirker took up the position of RCPI President for a second time in January 1989 following the death in office of Dr Ivo Drury. On this occasion Dr Kirker served for nine months to complete Dr Drury's three year term.

European Antibiotics Awareness Day 2011

2011-11-18T10:08:00.000Z

Today, 18^th November, is European Antibiotics Awareness Day. The day is a European public health initiative, which aims to raise awareness about the threats to public health of antibiotic resistance and to promote the prudent use of antibiotics. In Ireland the campaign, launched today in the RCPI building, is focusing on the topic 'When you have cold or flu, antibiotics just won't do'. The campaign aims to raise awareness of what antibiotics can do; treat infections caused by bacteria (germs), and what they can't; treat infections caused by viruses. The campaign highlights that it is not just ineffective to take antibiotics for viral infections but can be dangerous; causing unpleasant side effects and allowing the development of antibiotic resistance. Further details of the Irish campaign can be found here.

RCPI's archive holds a small collection of papers relating to two important bacteriologist and immunologist of the early twentieth century; Sir Almroth Wright (1861-1947) and one of his students Leonard Colebrook (1883-1967).

Including in the collection are a series of letters written by Almroth Wright to Leonard Colebrook during the First World War, when the former was running a research unit studying the bacteriology of wound infection at the British Army Hospital in Boulogne. Wright's work in Boulogne challenged the traditional dependence of the medical profession on antiseptics in wound treatment, as they could not reach deeply into infected wounds. His views were vehemently attacked by many in the medical profession, but later research vindicated many of Wright's findings and his ideas on wound healing were put into practice during the Second World War.

Wright was assisted in Boulogne by Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) who, in 1928, would revolutionise medicine with his discovery of penicillin. In the 1930s Colebrook would again advance the use of antibiotics in treating diseases when he proved the effectiveness of Prontosil (one of the first commercial available antibiotics) in the treatment of Puerperal Fever. Puerperal, or child bed fever, is a bacterial infection contracted by women during childbirth, mainly as a result of poor hygiene. Up to the late nineteenth century it was a major cause of death in childbirth, with rates only beginning to fall when physicians began to understand the link between hygiene, contagion and puerperal fever. Colebrook's finding with Prontosil meant that the decreasing number of those affected by puerperal fever could be successfully treated.

New Accession: The Book of Saint Ultan

2011-11-15T10:23:00.000Z

The Heritage Centre was delighted to receive a new accession this week; The Book of Saint Ultan, which was donated by one of the College's Fellows. We were particularly pleased to receive this donation as, although the archive holds the records of Saint Ultan's hospital, we don't have a copy of this work, and I had only ever seen reproductions of it.

BMS/37 - Front Cover

Leabar Ultáin, or The Book of Saint Ultan is a collections of pictures and poems by Irish artists and writers. Compiled and arranged by Katherine MacCormack the volume was published by the Candle Press in 1920, and sold in aid of Saint Ultan's Hospital. Priced at 5 shillings, the volume proved to be a financial success for the hospital, with the annual reports showing it made over £90, the equivalent of about £10,000 in today's money.

The contents lists of those who had contributed poems or artworks to the book contains the names of many of the leading figures in the cultural and political world of the time including Maud Gonne, Jack B Yeats, Æ (George Russell), Beatrice Elvery and Thomas Bodkin.

Beatrice Elvery's Contribution

The list also contains names which were already, or were to become, associated with Saint Ultan's Hospital. The artist Lily Williams (1874-1940) who painted a portrait of Kathleen Lynn for Saint Ultan's Hospital (now in the RCPI) contributed an image of Saint Ultan to the volume. From the dates of the two works it seems likely she worked on both at much the same time.

Alice Stopford Green

Alice Stopford Green (1847-1929) the Irish Historian and Nationalist contributed an introduction to the volume, which sings the praises of the hospital and the 'women, admitted to the great profession of Medicine, [who] have been pioneers in a work of mercy and science'. Seven years later Alice Stopford Green, by then a Senator, would lay the first stone of a new building for the hospital. Her niece, Dorothy Stopford Price, would later work at Saint Ultan's Hospital, where much of her research into tuberculosis would be carried out.

Another link to the medical profession can be found in the contribution of Estella Solomons (1882-1968), the sister of Bethel Solomons, a leading obstetrician, who would become Master of the Rotunda and President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Estella had trained at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, before carrying out further studies in London and Paris. She joined Cumann na mBan about 1918 and was active in the nationalist cause during the War of Independence. Her future husband, the poet Seamus O'Sullivan (1879-1958), also contributed to The Book of Saint Ultan. The marriage had been opposed by Solomons' parents, as O'Sullivan was not Jewish, and the couple did not marry until 1929, after the death of her parents.

Estella Solomons' Contribution

RCPI History of Medicine Research Award

2011-11-10T11:40:00.000Z

First of all, thanks to everyone who came to the Heritage Centre Lectures last Thursday and made the event such a success. It was fantastic to see so many people with an interest in the history of medicine in Ireland.

As part of the Heritage Centre Lectures, the inaugural RCPI History of Medicine Research Award was held. Researchers in the field of the history of medicine were invited to submit 800 word abstracts based on their recent research. The judging panel, comprising representatives from UCD, Trinity, Ulster University, the Wellcome Trust and RPCI, short listed four of the applicants to give a twenty minute presentation on their research at the Heritage Centre Lectures last Thursday.

The four shortlisted candidates were;

Jack Carter, '… that one of these little ones should perish': an analysis of the role of health in the provision of welfare in Miss Carr's Homes for Destitute Children, 1898-1902.

David Durnin, War and Medicine: Irish Medical Involvement in the First World War.

Dr Benjamin Hazard, 'A very necessarie instrumente': Irish physicians, apothecaries and surgeons in the Spanish Netherlands, 1586-1686.

Dr Ian Miller, Dietary knowledge and the public in Ireland, c.1845-1914.

The standard of all the presentations was exceptionally high and the judges faced a difficult decision. After some deliberation David Durnin was announced as the winner.

David Durnin is Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences doctoral scholar at the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland, at University College Dublin. His current research project explores the role of Irish Medical personnel in the First World War. It uncovers the extent of Irish medical participation in the conflict by analysing the migration patterns of Irish medical personnel during the course of the war. Drawing on various records, this study also explores Irish medical personnel's wartime experiences and the effect that wartime participation had on the development of their subsequent medical careers.

St Luke’s Symposium 2011

2011-10-27T11:43:00.000+01:00

Saint Luke is perhaps best known as the author of one of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, but he is also patron saint of physicians. It seems likely that Luke, a Greek speaker and probably native of Antioch, in Ancient Syria, was himself a physician. Scholars have identified him as 'Luke, the beloved physician' mentioned by St. Paul in Colossians 4:14.

As the patron saint of physicians, the feast day of St Luke has always been an important date in the College Calendar, with the College's annual stated meeting still being held on 18^th October. The College also holds an annual St. Luke's symposium at the beginning on November, which blends social, scientific and celebratory events. This year the St. Luke's Symposium has been extended to run over five days, with two new events which are open to the public.

Tuesday, 1 November, 18.30
Public Meeting on Perspectives on Medical Error: Understanding Uncertainty in Medicine - Understanding the context in which clinical judgements are made. Open to the public and all Trainees, Members and Fellows. Approved for 2 CPD credits

Thursday, 3 November, 15.30
RCPI Heritage Centre Lectures will explore the importance of the RCPI archive collections to the study of the history of medicine in Ireland. The RCPI History of Medicine Research Award will also be awarded for the first time. Four medical history researchers will present their recent research in the field. This event is free and open to the public and all Trainees, Members and Fellows. Approved for 2 CPD credits. Further details of the speakers can be found here, and the programme and booking form downloaded here.

Friday, 4 November, 09.30
Advanced Masterclass – Keynote lecture, Advances in Cardiology, delivered by Prof David Holmes, Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic USA. Open to all Trainees, Members and Fellows. Approved for 5 CPD credits

Friday, 4 November, 15.45
Collegiate Members Committee Awards – Presentations from Trainees who have been shortlisted for the Corrigan Medal and the William Stokes Award. Open to all Trainees, Members and Fellows. Approved for 2 CPD credits

Saturday, 5 November, 09.30
Medicine in Changing Times – Keynote lecture: The importance of trust in medical care, delivered by Prof Onora O'Neill, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. Open to all Trainees, Members and Fellows. Approved for 3 CPD credits

Saturday, 5 November, 16.30
St Luke's Admission Ceremony and Dinner – The College will welcome its newest Honorary Fellows: Mícheál Ó Muricheartaigh, Prof David Holmes and Bob Geldof.

For a full programme of events and registration details please click here.

RCPI Public Meeting on Medical Errors, Tuesday 1 November 2011

2011-10-24T12:46:00.000+01:00

The next RCPI public meeting - 'Perspectives in Medical Error: Understanding Uncertainty in Medicine', which will be held on Tuesday 1 November 2011 at 6.30pm at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

This meeting is presented jointly by RCPI, the Faculty of Pathology and the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) and will be chaired by the broadcaster Sharon Ní Bheoláin.

The aim of this meeting is to help the general public understand the context in which clinical judgements are made. It will look at perspectives on medical error from the point of view of the patient, doctors and other health professionals.

Topics that will be covered at this meeting include learning from adverse events, what happens if concerns are raised about a doctor's performance, the role of quality assurance programmes in reducing errors, and what the specialties of radiology, histopathology and gastroenterology are doing to reduce errors.

The meeting is open to all members of the public and there is no charge for attendance. The meeting will also be broadcast as a live webcast.

You can view the full programme for this meeting, including a registration form, here.

If you would like to attend, please let us know whether you wish to attend in person, or view the live webcast. If you are attending in person, please provide your full name and email address, and let us know how many tickets you require.

RCPI Heritage Centre Lectures and History of Medicine Research Award

2011-10-19T10:09:00.000+01:00

This year, for the first time, the Heritage Centre will be taking part in RCPI's St. Luke's Symposium, which is the College's biggest annual academic event, running from the 1^st to 5^th November.

The Heritage Centre's event will be taking place on the afternoon of Thursday 3 November, full programme available here. The event will celebrate the history of medicine in Ireland, and mark the completion of the Wellcome Trust funded archive cataloguing project.

The first part of the afternoon will review the recent archive cataloguing project, and explore the value of RCPI's archival holdings to researchers in the history of medicine field. Dr Susan Mullaney will present a paper on her research into apothecaries in Ireland, and especially the value of new material found in the RCPI's archive during the cataloguing process. Ms Anne MacLellan will present a paper on her recently submitted Phd research into Dr Dorothy Price and the eradication of TB in Ireland, research which again drew on many of RCPI's archival holdings.

The second part of the afternoon will be given over to the final of the RCPI History of Medicine Research Award. Four finalists have been shortlisted from the very strong field of competitors who submitted abstracts. The four finalists will be presenting 20 minute papers on their research in the field of medical history, followed by question and answers. The judging panel, made up of representatives from University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Ulster, the Wellcome Trust and RCPI, will then select this year's winner.

The four shortlisted finalists are;

* David Durnin, War and Medicine: Irish Medical Involvement in the First World War.

* Dr Benjamin Hazard, 'A very necessarie instrumente': Irish physicians, apothecaries and surgeons in the Spanish Netherlands, 1586-1686.

* Dr Ian Miller, Dietary knowledge and the public in Ireland, c.1845-1914.

* Jack Carter, '… that one of these little ones should perish': an analysis of the role of health in the provision of welfare in Miss Carr's Homes for Destitute Children, 1898-1908.

There is free entry to this event for all. We are asking those interested in attending to register by contacting college@rcpi.ie or telephoning (01) 863 9700. A full programme of the event can be downloaded here.

William Withering and the foxglove

2011-10-12T14:10:00.000+01:00

This month's library items of the month, selected by the RCPI librarian, is William Withering's An account of the foxglove, and some of its medical uses: with practical remarks on dropsy, and other diseases. (Birmingham, 1785).

The use of plants in medicinal preparations has a history as long as that of medicine itself. Galen listed over 300 herbal medicines in the first century AD and the cultivation of plants for medical use in special gardens has been practised since ancient times. In the 17th and 18th centuries, most of the important teaching centres in Europe had botanic gardens attached. Indeed, in the latter years of the 18th century, the College of Physicians in Ireland was rocked by a major controversy over whether the income from Sir Patrick Dun's estate should be used to create a botanic garden or to establish a clinical hospital. Despite the vigorous championing of the garden by Dr. Edward Hill, one of the College's finest Librarians, the College eventually decided in favour of the hospital. For more details of this dispute click here.

William Withering

William Withering (1741-1799) was recognised as the greatest English medical botanist of his time. He was born in Wellington, Shropshire, and graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1765, before going on to be appointed physician to Birmingham General Hospital. He was interested in botany from an early age and had his own botanical garden. In 1776, he published The botanical arrangement of all the vegetables naturally growing in Great Britain, one of the earliest and most influential British floras.

The foxglove plant, digitalis purpurea, had been known for centuries as a folk remedy and its use in the treatment of dropsy, or congestive heart failure, and other conditions, had been recognised since the 16th century.

Withering first learnt of the value of digitalis from a female patient and herbalist, a Mrs. Hutton from Shropshire, and tried it on patients from around 1770. For the next ten years, he carefully tried out different preparations of various parts of the plant until he had determined the most effective and safest way of using it. Finally, in 1785, he published his classic work An account of the foxglove, and some of its medical uses: with practical remarks on dropsy, and other diseases.

Illustration of a foxglove from Withering's work

The work made Withering's reputation and he was acclaimed throughout Europe as "The English Linnaeus". He was elected to numerous learned societies in England and abroad. The plant Witheringia Solanacea (a Central American shrub with antidiabetic properties) was named after him, as is a Chair of Medicine and an annual lecture at the University of Birmingham Medical School. He has also achieved the unusual distinction for a doctor of having a pub named after him, The William Withering in his birthplace at Wellington in Shropshire.

Robert Mills, RCPI Librarian

Witheringia Solanacea

Women in Medicine III: ‘The Turning Point in the Whole Struggle’

2011-10-04T15:07:00.001+01:00

This is the third and final post in this series looking at the admittance of women to the medical profession in the late nineteenth century. Click here for the first and second posts. The posts are all based on the exhibitions looking at diversity in Irish Medicine which were created for this year's Heritage Week Open Day.

In 1876 the British government gave in to the mounting pressure to allow women to qualify as doctors, and passed the Enabling Act. This act allowed the medical licensing bodes to allow candidates holding degrees from foreign universities to sit their examinations. As women could study medicine at some foreign universities this opened the way for women to enter the medical profession in Britain.

Dr Aquilla Smith

In October 1876 the London School of Medicine wrote to the King and Queen's College of Physicians of Ireland again asking them to recognise their course. The College took this request much more seriously than they had two years earlier. They established a committee to consider the request, and send Dr Aquilla Smith to visit the school. Smith wrote a very positive report on the school, its teaching and facilities, he recommended that the College should recognise their courses.

The following January the College's examinations committee decided to issue their licentiate in medicine to Miss Eliza Dunbar, despite a last minute attempt to block the decision. By doing so the College became the first institution in the UK to allow a woman to qualify in medicine. Four months later, Sophia Jex-Blake receive her licentiate from the College, Jex-Blake describes the King and Queen's College of Physicians of Ireland's decision as 'the turning point in the whole struggle'.

In a recent thesis on the subject, Dr Laura Kelly has identified four key reasons why the College took such a liberal attitude, and became the first to admit women. Firstly, she identifies a liberality towards the education of women in Ireland. Secondly, there were financial incentives. The College was short of money and fees were a crucial source of income, admitting women offered a new income stream. Thirdly, admitting women offered no direct threat to their own member's medical practices, as most of the women applying had no intention of practicing in Ireland.

Dr Samuel Gordon

Finally, the personalities on the College's council at the time were important in pushing this decision through. Important council members were Dr Aquilla Smith, who showed himself to be very favourable to the London School of Medicine for Women. Rev. Dr. Haughton, both a protestant divine and a doctor, had long supported the access of women to medicine; in 1874 he had proposed admitting Louisa Atkins to the College. His religious views may have influenced his position, as he seems to have viewed medicine as a vocation not a profession, and so would not have wanted to prevent women following their 'call'. Finally, the President at the time was Dr Samuel Gordon, described as 'paternal and kindly in manner', he also had 9 daughters!

Dr Mary Hearne

In the decades following other medical licensing bodies followed the College's lead, with Trinity finally admitting women in 1904. The number of women applying to the College fell steadily as other opportunities opened to them, partly as the College's License was not valued as highly as a university degree. In 1915 the College changed its by-laws to allow women to become Fellows; Mary Ellice Thorne Hearne was the first female to be elected Fellow in 1924.

If you are interested in finding out more about this topic Dr Laura Kelly's thesis is available here.

Open House Dublin 2011

2011-09-30T11:01:00.000+01:00

This year the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland's building on Kildare Street will be opening its doors to the public on Sunday 9th October as part of Open House Dublin. Run by the Irish Architectural Foundation, the aim of Open House Dublin is to open up the architectural history of Dublin to the public for free.

Number 6 Kildare Street will be open from 10am to 5pm, with tours on the hours. Tours will be filled on a first come first served basis, and the last tour will start at 4pm. All the main rooms of the building will be open to the public, and there will be a small exhibition of archive items relating to the construction and renovation of the building.

For more information please contact harrietwheelock@rcpi.ie or phone 01 6698817

To find out about other events taking place over the Open House Dublin weekend visit http://www.architecturefoundation.ie/

Women in Medicine II: Sophia Jex-Blake and the London School of Medicine for Women

2011-09-28T10:29:00.000+01:00

This is the second in a series of posts looking at the history of the admittance of women into medicine, based on the Heritage Week Open Day exhibitions. Click here for first post in the series.

Dr Sophia Jex-Blake

Sophia Jex-Blake was one of the most vocal, and best known, advocates for the medical education of women. The daughter of a lawyer, Jex-Blake had studied medicine in America and at Edinburgh University. However, as women were not able to receive degrees from British universities she could not qualify and register as a medical practitioner. In 1874 Jex-Blake published 'The Medical Education of Women', a pamphlet expressing the case for the medical education of women. In the same year she helped to found the London School of Medicine for Women, the first medical school in the British Isles to train women.

The London School of Medicine for Women was founded in 1874 by a group of medical practitioners and campaigners for women's rights. The aim was to provide a school where women, excluded from the teaching hospitals and universities could study medicine. Financed entirely by private subscription the school opened on 12 October 1874 on Henrietta Street in London. In its first year it had 23 students.

The London School of Medicine for Women

The London School of Medicine for Women faced two major drawbacks. Firstly, none of the 19 medical examining bodies in the British Isles would grant the school's request for official recognition of its courses. The importance of this official recognition can be seen in one of the very first acts of the School, which was to write to all the examining bodies on this point. The letter to the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland was written on 13^th October 1874, the day after the School opened. There is no record in the archive of the College of Physicians' response but it must have been negative as they were to receive another letter on the same subject four years later. The second difficulty facing the school was the problem of persuading any hospital to allow the female students to train on their wards. Eventually the Royal Free Hospital decided to allow female to train on their wards.

RCPI/2/3/3/5 - Letter from the London School of Medicine for Women

However, the major breakthrough for women wanting to study medicine came in 1876 with the Enabling Act, which allowed the 19 medical examining bodes to decide if they wanted to accept female applicants. The response to the Enabling Act, especially by the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, will be the focus of the next post in this series.

Women in Irish Medicine. Part I: Background

2011-09-23T09:50:00.000+01:00

Following on from last weeks' posts looking at the role in Catholics in Irish medicine, this post is the first in a series looking at the role of women in medicine. Again this post is based on one of the exhibitions staged as part of this year's National Heritage Week Open Day.

In 1858 the UK parliament passed the Medical Act which, for the first time, regulated which medical qualifications were valid in the UK. All those who held one of these recognised medical qualifications were to be entered into the Medical Register. The Medical Act only recognised medical degrees from universities in the British Isles, and as women were not allowed to study at these universities, it officially excluded women from the medical profession. The following decades saw an increasingly vocal campaign to allow women access to the medical profession.

The main arguments against women's involvement in medicine were based on contemporary views of women, which saw them as physically, mentally and emotionally weak. In October 1873 The Irish Times commented that women lacked the 'firmness, promptness of decision, and muscular strength' needed to be doctors.[1]

Women practicing as doctors also went against the Victorian domestic ideal, as it would allow women to leave their home, husband and children to pursue a career.

'A man's home should be to him also a rest. Will it be much of this with his wife in and out all day, called up at night, neglecting the household management and leaving the little one to the care of the servants? I think not.'[2]

Florence Nightingale

Within the medical profession there was opposition from doctors who feared additional professional competition. This was especially the case with obstetricians, as this was the area where women were expected to specialise. Many also thought that if women must insist on a career in medicine, it should be restricted to the traditional role of nurse.

Those in favour of the medical education for women countered these arguments claiming that women's nature in fact made them more suited to being doctors, as women were by nature caring and compassionate. Examples of medical women from Ancient Greece to Europe in the Middle Ages were also put forward.

Thomas and Anna Haslam

A major argument put forward was the demand amongst women for female doctors, who could better understand and empathise with their problems. Thomas Haslam, an Irish suffragist, wrote that

'It is a melancholy fact that sensitive women often lose their health, sometimes even their lives, through an invincible repugnance to confide their aliments to a male physician, and that many valuable lives might be saved to the community if such persons had had skilled practitioners of their own sex to whom they could speak without a breach of their instinctive delicacy'.[3]

I am extremely grateful to Dr Laura Kelly, National University of Ireland, Galway, for sharing her research in this area with me.

[1] Irish Times, 16^th October 1873
[2] 'A lady on lady doctors', Lancet, 7 May 1870
[3] Thomas Haslam, Letter to the Editor, Freeman's Journal, 2^nd February 1871

RCPI History of Medicine Research Award 2011 Reminder

2011-09-21T09:18:00.002+01:00

A gentle reminder that the closing date for applications for the 2011 RCPI History of Medicine Award in Friday 30th September.

Applicants are asked to submit an abstract on their research (maximum 800 words) with the application form, which can be downloaded here. A judging process will commence in October 2010 which will conclude with four finalists presenting their 20 minute research papers to an adjudication panel during the annual St. Luke’s Symposium on Thursday 3 November 2011.

The RCPI History of Medicine Research Award is open to all researchers in the field of the history of medicine in Ireland, as well as related social and cultural history fields. The purpose of the award is to support and develop the study of the history of medicine in Ireland, and to promote the use of the library, archive and heritage item collections held by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The research must be unpublished.

Click here to download the guidelines and applications form.

For further information on the RCPI History of Medicine Research Award, please contact Harriet Wheelock at harrietwheelock@rcpi.ie

Archive Item of the Month; Casebook and Diary of Dr Joseph Doyle

2011-09-16T11:56:00.000+01:00

This month's item of the month is a combined dairy and case book from January 1814 to August 1816 kept by a Dr Joseph Doyle.

It is not clear who this Dr Doyle was but there are some indications from the diary. Although he practiced in Dublin, he was originally from Kilkenny and frequently visited that town. He was married to a Frances Purcell, and they had a least one son born in 1815. Dr Doyle records the baptism of his son on 2^nd June,

'Our son was baptised today and received the names of John Joseph – Sponsors, my father & Mrs Purcell. Present Mrs Hartford, Joanna Purcell and Catherine Doyle & the sacrament was conferred by the Revd. Mr Corn of Mary's Lane Chapel'.

BMS/18 - Diary of Joseph Doyle, 2nd June 1815

Statue of Our Lady of Dublin

Dr Doyle and his family lived in a house on Blessington Street in Dublin, and the Mary's Lane Chapel referred to in the diary may well have been a small Jesuit chapel just of Church Street in Dublin, which was converted to a School in 1816. The chapel was also the place where the statue of Our Lady of Dublin, now in the Carmelite church on Whitefriar's Street, was first recorded. In 1749, an unnamed author stated that

'In Mary's Lane is a parochial church whose jurisdiction extends from one side of Boot Lane to one side of Church Street. It is a large and irregular building. On the Epistle side of the altar stands a large image of the Blessed Virgin with Jesus in her arms, carved in wood; which statue at the dissolution belonged to St. Mary's Abbey'.

St. Mary's Abbey was a Cistercian Abbey situated on the north bank of the Liffey. When the Chapel was converted to a school in 1816 the statue was discarded, and in 1824 a Father Spratt of Whitefriar's purchased it from a second hand shop on Capel Street. [1]

A View from Capel Street, from Malton's Views of the City of Dublin, 1794

Aside from this reference to family affairs the remainder of the diary contains a fairly brief summary of daily events and visitors. The entries for each day start with a description of the weather, such as 'fair and open' or 'Hazy and Dark', and this is, in some cases, followed by a brief note on other events that occurred that day. A look at the record for 16^th September 1814 shows that it was a much nicer day in Dublin 197 years ago, with Dr Doyle recording the weather as 'Fair and Warm.' For Dr Doyle the chief concern of the diary seems to be to record daily observations on the weather. In May 1815 Dr Doyle records that the weather was 'Stormy and cool', and that he dined 'at the Island with Mrs Purcell and Joanna Purcell'. Almost as an afterthought and tucked into the bottom corner of the page he notes the rather more interesting occurrence that 'on our way home our carriage was attacked in College Green by a mob', thankfully 'no mischief [was] caused'.

BMS/18 - Casebook of Dr Doyle, January 1814

The back of the book contains a completely different type of information, as Dr Doyle has used it to record notes of some of the cases he saw as part of his private practice. The case notes begin with the slightly startling line 'Opened the head of a child of a Piedmontese'. It seems that the child of an Italian family living in Exchequer Street had died after a short illness, and the parents were keen for Dr Doyle to investigate if the death was a result of Hydrocephalus. The case notes give an insight into the kind of cases that an early nineteenth century doctor would have seen in Dublin, including fevers, childhood illnesses and problems with joints. It seems that Dr Doyle, as with many medics then and now, had trouble with his patients not following his advice. In February 1814 Dr Doyle treated a Mrs B for a venereal disease contracted from her husband. Dr Doyle notes rather acerbically that 'This women's symptoms having disappeared after about a fortnight's employment of the specific, she thought it proper to abandon the further use of it without asking my approbation!' The result being that she later had to return to Dr Doyle for further advice as only the symptoms, not the underlying cause, had been cured.

Footnotes
[1] The Shrine of Our Lady of Dublin Whitefriar Street Church, http://www.carmelites.ie/ireland/Whitefriar%20St/ladydublin.htm

Catholics in Irish Medicine. Part II: Breaking down the barriers

2011-09-13T10:13:00.000+01:00

Following on from last week's post which traced the exclusion of Catholics from access to medical training and appointments in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, this post will look at the nineteenth century and the individuals and Acts of Parliament which broke down these barriers.

The Catholic Relief Acts of 1791 and 1793 removed many of the political, educational and economic disabilities which had restricted Catholics during the eighteenth century. The 1793 Act also opened Trinity College up to Catholic students. For medics this was followed in 1800 by the School of Physic Act, which allowed Catholics to become Fellows and Officers of the College of Physicians, if they took an oath of allegiance to the King. Interestingly the oaths against popery and transubstantiation were still required of Protestant medics, and were not finally phased out until the 1840s.

EOB/1

The election of the College of Physicians' first Catholic President, Sir Dominic Corrigan, in 1859 represented the advancement of the Catholic middle classes in Ireland at the time. Born in Dublin in 1802, the son of a dealer in agricultural tools, Corrigan was educated at the Lay College at Maynooth, taking his medical degree from Edinburgh in 1825. Corrigan returned to Dublin, establishing a practice on Ormond Quay, and by 1837 he had moved to Merrion Square, the centre of the elite medical profession in Ireland. In 1847 Corrigan was appointed Physician-in-Ordinary to Her Majesty in Ireland; the first Catholic to hold the post, the appointment was in recognition of Corrigan's work, especially during the Irish Famine.

Corrigan was a loud proponent of non-denominational education in Ireland. In 1870 he was elected Liberal MP for Dublin, and was actively involved in campaigning for reform of the education system. He corresponded with Prime Minister William Gladstone on the university question in Ireland, and many of Corrigan's views would shape Gladstone ill-fated University Education (Ireland) Bill. Corrigan's support of non-denominational education brought him into conflict with the Catholic hierarchy, who felt he was betraying his religion. Corrigan did not stand for re-election in 1874, and as a draft letter in the archive makes clear, if he had, many within the Catholic Church would have actively opposed his candidature.

DC/4/2/14 - Draft letter by Sir Dominic Corrigan, relating to the attitude of the Catholic Church to his support of non-denominational education.

In 1867 the last religious exclusion relating to the College of Physicians was removed. In 1713 Sir Patrick Dun had bequeathed money to the College to establish a King's Professorship of Physic. An Act of 1741 had extended this to three professorships, and included the stipulations 'that all Papists and persons professing the Popish religion … shall be utterly incapable of being elected into any of the Professorships', something not stipulated by Dun's Will.

RCPI/4/5/1/5 - Haughton's Act

This exclusion remained in force until 1867 when Haughton's Act was passed. Rev. Dr. Samuel Haughton studied at Trinity, was ordained in 1847 and gained his MB in 1862. He did much to reform the practices at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital where he worked, and where the King's Professors taught. The act which bore his name stipulated that the King's Professorships were 'open to persons of all Nations, and … shall not be subject to any Disability on account of Religion'.

William Saunders Hallaran – Practical Observations on Insanity

2011-09-09T10:03:00.000+01:00

This month's library item of the month, selected by the RCPI Librarian, is William Saunders Hallaran's 1810 work, An Enquiry into the Causes producing the Extraordinary addition to the Numbers of Insane.

The new RTE documentary programme Behind the Walls charts the history of Ireland's psychiatric hospitals and also highlights the pioneering work carried out by Dr. William Saunders Hallaran in Cork in the early 19th century.

Cork District Asylum

Hallaran was born around 1765 and received his medical education in Edinburgh. He was physician superintendant at the County and City of Cork Lunatic Asylum for 40 years and established a benign regime of active treatment for those suffering from mental illness.

In 1810, he published the first Irish textbook of psychiatry, with the full title of An enquiry into the causes producing the extraordinary addition to the number of insane, together with extended observations on the cure of insanity: with hints as to the better management of public asylums for insane persons. This short book of 111 pages was printed in Cork by the firm of Edwards & Savage and sold throughout the British Isles. A second extended edition of the work, under the title Practical observations on the causes and cure of insanity was published by the same firm in 1818.

Title page of 1810 edition

Hallaran's work shows evidence of his study of psychiatric illness and the beginnings of a scientific approach to the treatment of mental illness. He recognised that there were various forms of insanity of which only some admitted of a cure. Among the cures recommended by Hallaran were bleeding, emetics, purgatives, opium, camphor, blistering, mercury, baths and the circulating swing.

Hallaran's Chair

It is for this last apparatus that Hallaran is best remembered today. It owed its origin to a "circulating chair" devised by a Dr. Cox at the beginning of the 19th century, which was modified by Hallaran to become a swing capable of rotating a patient 100 times per minute. The device enjoyed considerable vogue for a time and favourable results from its use were claimed.

Whatever the success of his methods, Hallaran deserves his reputation as the first physician to advocate and carry out the humane treatment of the mentally disabled. He died in 1825 and, in 1830, the Cork Asylum was described as "one of the best and most extensive in Ireland and its success was attributed to the ability and benevolence of its excellent physician, Dr. Hallaran" (Cummins, p.27).

Robert Mills, RCPI Librarian

Further reading, all available in Dun's Library:

* Breathnach, C. S., 'Hallaran's circulating swing' in History of Psychiatry, 21(1), 2010, pp.74-81

* Cummins, N. M., Some chapters in Cork medical history (Cork, 1957)

* Fleetwood, J. F., The history of medicine in Ireland (2nd ed. Dublin, 1983)

* Hallaran, W. S., An enquiry into the cases producing the extraordinary addition to the number on insane (Cork, 1810)

* Hallaran, W.S., Practical Observations on the causes and cure of insanity (Cork, 1818)

* Kelly, B. D., 'Dr. William Saunders Hallaran and psychiatric practice in nineteenth century Ireland' in the Irish Journal of Medical Science 177(1), March 2008, pp.79-84.

Behind the Walls – the history of Ireland’s psychiatric hospitals

2011-09-07T10:27:00.001+01:00

Monday night saw the airing of the first part of RTE's new documentary 'Behind the Walls', which explores the history of Ireland's psychiatric hospitals during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The former Connaught Asylum, founded 1833

One of the key questions explored in the first episode was why Ireland had the highest per-capita rate of population in psychiatric hospitals in Europe in the mid-twentieth century, with numbers peaking at over 20,000. It looks at the social and economic factors, unique to Ireland, which help to understand this phenomenon.

The episode also traced the development of treatments for psychiatric patients from moral management, pioneered by the Tuke family at The York Retreat, and brought to Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, to some of the more horrific treatments of the early and mid twentieth century. These included insulin coma therapy, electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomy. The documentary includes footage of Walter Freeman, one of the pioneers of lobotomy, carrying out a transorbital lobotomy.

Freeman performing a labotomy

As well as looking at the history and treatments, the documentary also explores the, often silent, voice of the patient through the writings of Hanna Greally. Greally was training to be a nurse in London in the 1940s. She returned to Ireland suffering from shock as a result of the Blitz. Admitted to her local psychiatric hospital for 'a rest', she spent the next 18 years incarcerated and, as her writings shows, suffered horrifically as the result of the treatment in Irish psychiatric hospitals at the time. Following her release Hanna Greally published an account of her experiences, Bird's Nest Soup, followed by the posthumous Flown the Nest.

Behind the Walls continues next Monday on RTE1, with the second episode looking in more depth at the experiences of those in Irish psychiatric hospitals in the twentieth century. If you missed the first episode you can catch up now on RTE Player.

Catholics in Irish Medicine. Part I: Exclusion, 1654-1792

2011-09-05T10:36:00.001+01:00

Following on from this year's successful Heritage Week Open Day, this is the first in a series of posts which explore some of the themes covered on the day. This first post looks at part of the exhibition on diversity, and the part played by the College in the exclusion of Catholics from Irish medicine during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To a large extent this exclusion of Catholics was not the aim of the members of the College, but was a result of the political situation and persons in power when key decisions were made.

RCPI 27 - Dr John Stearne

In 1654 Dr John Stearne founded the Fraternity of Physicians of Trinity Hall, with the aim of regulating the medical profession and improving standards. Although part of the staunchly Protestant Trinity College Dublin, in its early years the Fraternity does not seem to have excluded Catholics. In 1667 the Fraternity received its first Royal Charter, which contained no religious discrimination. Perhaps not surprising, as it was granted by King Charles II, who was secretly considering converting to Catholicism, and was attempting to introduce religious freedom.

The test of the new College's attitude to Catholics came in 1687. As stipulated under the Royal Charter the College had to receive confirmation of their choice of President from Trinity College. In 1687 the College of Physicians proposed Dr John Crosby, a physician who had been a Fellow since 1674. Unusually Trinity refused to confirm the appointment, although they sighted administrative irregularity as the reason, the real cause seems to have been Crosby's Catholicism. Catholic influence in the College of Physicians at this time seems to have been very high, possibly as the result of the flight of many Protestant physicians to England. The College of Physicians decided to cut its links with Trinity, establish itself as an independent organisation and apply for a new Royal Charter.

RCPI/1/1/2 - Detail from 1692 Royal Charter

Unfortunately for Catholic medics, this new Charter was not granted until 1692, when the Protestant King William and Queen Mary had replaced the Catholic King James II. This second Royal Charter, which is still largely in force today, was the first to exclude Catholics, a reflection of the strong anti-Catholic feeling in the government at the time. Under the 1692 Charter all Fellows and Officers of the College were required to take the 'oaths, and subscribe to the declarations contained in an Act lately made in the Parliament of England'. This required the taker to deny the supremacy of the Pope, as well as Catholic doctrines including transubstantiation.

RCPI/5/5/1/1 - Roll of Officers and Fellows, 1692-1790

What was not clear in the Charter was whether the College could grant its licences to practice medicine to Catholic medics. The College raised and discussed this question in 1700, and again in 1732, but on neither occasion was a conclusion reached.

VM/1/2/B/25 - Boerhaave

With access to medical education at Trinity College, and advancement through the College of Physicians, closed, the only options for those Catholics wishing to study medicine in the eighteenth century were the continental universities. One of the most popular choices was the University of Leiden, where Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) had revolutionised medical teaching. 122 Irish students attended Leiden during the 30 year period when Boerhaave lectured. Another popular choice for Irish Catholics was Reims University, which saw 542 Irish students between 1620 and 1753. Although the teaching was not considered to be as good as at Leiden, the local religion was Catholic, which was a draw for many. Similarly Montpellier University saw at least 72 Irish students studying medicine during the eighteenth century.

New Archive Collections for August

2011-08-30T10:27:00.000+01:00

I realise the month is nearly over, but I just have time to give some details of the new archive collections which have been made available in August. As with all the archive collections details can be found in our online catalogue, and complete collection lists can be downloaded from the archive's webpage. This month I have completed cataloguing of four collections.

Royal National Hospital for Consumption for Ireland

In 1891, at the instigation of Miss Florence Wynn, a provisional committee meet in Dublin with the aim of founding a national sanatorium to treat tuberculosis. The hospital was opened by Lady Zetland in May 1896, with 24 beds, the numbers rising to 125 by the outbreak of World War One. X-ray facilities were added in 1935 and a modern operating block in 1936. In the early years of the hospital's existence there were strained relationships between the medical staff and the Board of governors, with the medical staff feeling that the board were interfering unnecessarily in the methods of treatment. This came to a head in 1912 when Dr Crofton was appointed visiting physician causing the rest of the medical staff to resign. When Crofton left in 1927, the former medical staff returned on condition they were given representation on the board of governors.

The Royal National Hospital for Consumption for Ireland

By the 1930s the narrow terms of the hospital's original aim, the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis only, was limiting the effectiveness of the hospital. In 1932 the memorandum of association was changed to allow the hospital to treat all forms of tuberculosis. In the 1950s as the treatment of tuberculosis changed, and fewer sanatorium beds were needed, the hospital again had to consider its aims, the name was changed to the Newcastle Hospital and the types of patients that could be accepted were reviewed. In 1963 the Newcastle Hospital closed.

The archive holds administrative, financial and patient records, as well as plans and documents relating to the building and maintenance of the hospital, and newspaper cuttings.

Major-General Francis Joseph O'Meara

Major-General O'Meara

Francis Joseph O'Meara was born in County Cork in July 1900 to a medical family. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College and Trinity College Dublin, where he received his MB in 1923. O'Meara joined the British Army in 1918 in the Officer Training Corps. He left to study medicine, rejoining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1923, serving in Egypt and India. On the outbreak of the Second World War O'Meara was with a casualty clearing station in France, where he established an Ambulance Corp. In June 1940 he was captured by German soldiers and spent the next four years in captivity in various internment camps in France and Germany. Following his release and recovery O'Meara returned to Germany as the consulting physician to the British Army of the Rhine from 1945-1950. From 1950 onwards he held positions in the near and far East. In 1954 he was appointed as director of the medical services for the Middle East Land Forces and from 1956-1959 he was director of medical services, Western Command. O'Meara retired to Herefordshire where he died in 1967.

The archive holds papers covering O'Meara's time in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War as well as a small number of personal and family papers, and some family photographs.

RAMC training Camp

Individual Manuscripts and Individual Bound Manuscripts

BMS/34

These two lists contain details of all the individual bound and loose manuscript items held by the archive, amounting to over 110 items. Included in the lists are case books, diaries, certificates, letters, essays, flyers, agreements, minute books, notes and ephemera relating to a variety of aspect of the history of medicine and medical education in Ireland. These lists include some of the archive's least used items, including many items which were re-discovered during the cataloguing process.

As with all collections held by the archive, these records can be consulted by appointment, the reading room is open from 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday, closing between 1pm and 2pm for lunch.

RCPI Open Day 2011

2011-08-25T13:49:00.000+01:00

First of all a big thank you to everyone who came in to see us on Tuesday this week for the RCPI Open Day, and made the day such a success. The College's home at Number 6 Kildare Street was open to the public all day, and we had over 350 visitors in though the doors.

The theme of the event this year was Art and Diversity in Irish Medicine. The Heritage Centre put on exhibitions looking at how art has been used to illustrate medicine, how physicians have acted as patrons of the arts, and also how over the 350 years of the College's history it has influenced access to the medical profession in Ireland, including Catholics, women and non-nationals. Also on display were the results of a science and arts collaborative research project, supported by RCPI, which looked at youth suicide in Ireland. The Dun's Library was the setting for the Lost Portrait Gallery, an installation of 36 woven portraits of individuals lost to suicide created by the artist Seamus McGuinness.

If you weren't able to make it in on the day, then don't worry, as I will be writing a series of posts based on some of the exhibits on display over the next couple of months. Until then here are some images of the event itself.

One of the very popular reading desks were members of the public could handle items from the collections, here RCPI Expert Megan shows visitors Jones Quain's Anatomical Atlas

Visitors exploring the role of women in Irish Medicine

Yours truly leading one of the guided tours

Napoleon's Toothbrush - always a crowd pleaser!

Seamus McGuinness and the Lost Portrait Gallery

Goodbye and thanks for visiting!

National Heritage Week and Archives Awareness Campaign

2011-08-19T10:18:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow sees the start of Ireland’s National Heritage Week, which runs from 20th -29th August. The week is co-ordinated by the Heritage Council, with the aim of raising awareness about our shared heritage. Over the ten days, hundreds of events will take place across the country exploring Ireland’s nature and wildlife, folklore, and built heritage. It is a great opportunity to discover hidden treasures in your area.

As part of Heritage Week the Archives & Records Association, Ireland, will be launching its annual Archives Awareness Campaign, which aims to showcase the rich and diverse collections held by public and private archives across the country, and encourage more people to explore their contents. The Campaign runs from tomorrow until the end of September, and numerous events will be taking place in archive services around the country.

To find out more about Heritage Week and the events being organised across their country visit their website. You can find out more about the Archives Awareness Campaign here.

As part of Heritage Week and the Archives Awareness Campaign RCPI’s Heritage Centre will be holding an open day on Tuesday 23th August, on the theme of Art and Diversity in Irish Medicine. RCPI’s home at Number 6 Kildare Street will be open to the public from 11am to 8pm, with exhibitions of material from our extensive library, archive and heritage collections on display. For more details of this event click here.

William Harvey’s “On the Movement of the Heart and Blood”

2011-08-17T16:55:00.001+01:00

This is the second in a series of posts from RCPI’s Librarian looking at key items within Dun’s Library.

Galen

European medical knowledge and teaching in the 17th century was still dominated, as it had been for the previous 15 centuries, by the system of medicine expounded by the great Roman physician Galen, who had died in AD 200.

The Galenic system was based on the need to maintain a balance of the bodily fluids called humours, specifically blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. The ideal was to allow these fluids to circulate freely. The lungs were seen as being responsible for moving the blood around throughout the body.

Sir William Harvey

This belief was beginning to be questioned by a few doctors in the late 16th century but few dared to challenge the teachings of Galen until the appearance of William Harvey. Harvey was born in 1578 in Folkestone, England. He received a BA degree from Cambridge in 1597 and then studied medicine at Padua in Italy, receiving his doctorate in 1602. He practised at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and was appointed Court Physician to King James I in 1618 and then to Charles I in 1640.

Harvey started investigating the role of the heart in the circulation of the blood as early as 1615 and published his findings in 1628 in his work Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus or, On the movement of the heart and blood in animals. The book caused great controversy and Harvey’s theory was not to be fully accepted for another 20 years but, eventually, his classic work became the foundation for all modern research on the heart and cardiovascular medicine.

Title Page of the 1661 edition

Illustrations from 1661 edition

The College Library holds several editions of Harvey’s work. The earliest is a small, duodecimo edition, published by Arnold Leers in Rotterdam in 1661. It is listed in the earliest extant catalogue of the Library, that of 1794, and may have formed part of Sir Patrick Dun’s original bequest.

William Harvey became the greatest name in English medicine through his epoch-making discovery and he is commemorated as one of the founding fathers of medicine depicted on the College mace.

Robert Mills

Re-launch of Dun’s Library’s online catalogue

2011-08-15T13:38:00.000+01:00

I am delighted to announce the re-launch of its online library catalogue. The online catalogue has been unavailable in recent months, as it was undergoing some essential maintenance work, but it now fully functional again.

Dun's Library contains about 30,000 book and journals, and is an important resource for research into the history of medicine and medical education in Ireland. Dun's Library is currently undertaking an e-cataloguing project to provide, for the first time, a complete catalogue of the library's holdings, which will be available online. At the present over 8,000 books have been catalogued, including some of Dun's Library's oldest and most valuable works. It is hoped that e-cataloguing of Dun's Library will be completed by 2013, to mark the 300^th anniversary of death of Sir Patrick Dun, the founder of the library.

The online library catalogue can be accessed here. The online catalogue of RCPI's archive collections can be accessed here. The Wellcome Trust funded project to catalogue RCPI's entire archival holdings will be finishing in December 2011, by which time catalogues of the entire collection will be available.

RCPI History of Medicine Research Award 2011

2011-08-09T14:49:00.000+01:00

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland is delighted to announce the launch of an annual RCPI History of Medicine Research Award. The first award will be made as part of the St Luke's Day Symposium, to be held in November 2011.

The RCPI History of Medicine Research Award is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate researchers in the field of the history of medicine in Ireland, as well as related social and cultural history fields. The purpose of the award is to support and develop the study of the history of medicine in Ireland, and to promote the use of the library, archive and heritage item collections held by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The research must be unpublished.

Applicants are asked to submit an abstract on their research (maximum 800 words) with the application form, by Friday 30 September 2011. A judging process will commence in October 2011 that will conclude with four finalists presenting their 20 minute research papers to an adjudication panel during the annual St. Luke's Symposium on Thursday 3 November 2011.

Click here to download the guidelines and applications form.

For further information on the RCPI History of Medicine Research Award, please contact Harriet Wheelock at harrietwheelock@rcpi.ie.

Heritage Open Day at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland

2011-08-02T09:56:00.001+01:00

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) will be holding its annual heritage open day on Tuesday 23^rd August 2011. This year the theme of the day is art and diversity in Irish medicine. The day is an opportunity for individuals to interact with items from RCPI's extensive library, archive and art collections. RCPI's home at No. 6 Kildare Street will be open to the public from 11:00 am to 8:00pm, and there will also be a number of tours and events will take place across the day.

Tours of the building and exhibitions will take place at 11.30am, 1.00pm, 2.30pm, 4.00pm, 5.30pm and 7.00pm. Numbers on the tours are limited, places can be booked in advance by contacting Andy Holly at andyholly@rcpi.ie or on 01 8639779

A display of library and archive items will explore the traditional link between art and medicine, in the celebration of the 'great men' of medicine, and how art has been used to illustrate medicine.

A second exhibition will look at diversity in Irish medicine and how, during its history, the College has influence access to the medical profession in Ireland.

Taking a more contemporary look at how art and medicine can interact is the third exhibition The Lost Portrait Gallery. An installation of 36 portraits of individuals lost to suicide, created by Seamus McGuinness and Kevin Malone. The result of a collaborative Arts and Science Project, first presented in RCPI in May 2010.

Loopline Film's documentary on Dr Kathleen Lynn, which makes extensive use of material from RCPI's archives, will be screened at 1.00pm and 6.00pm. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Avicenna’s “Canon of Medicine”

2011-07-18T11:51:00.000+01:00

This post forms the first in a new series of monthly posts, contributed by the librarian Robert Mills, looking at key items within Dun's Library.

During Europe's "Dark Ages", following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the medical knowledge of the Romans and Greeks was largely kept alive in the Arabic world where it was translated and adapted to suit the religion, climate and race of the area. The rulers of Bagdad from AD 750 to 1258, in particular, helped to preserve the Greek and Roman works on medicine and other sciences.

Among the greatest of the Arab physicians was Ibn Sina, generally called Avicenna in Europe. He was born in Persia in AD 980 and had mastered medicine, philosophy, astronomy, poetry and other subjects before the age of 16 and was appointed chief physician to the celebrated hospital at Bagdad before he was 18.

He wrote over 400 treatises on a variety of subjects, the most famous of which was his Qanun, or Canon of Medicine. This is an encyclopaedia of Galenic medicine in five books and was completed in 1025. It presents a clear and organized summary of all the medical knowledge of the time. Originally written in Arabic, the book was later translated into a number of other languages, including Latin, Chinese, Hebrew, German, French and English. It became the standard textbook for medical education in the schools of Europe for over six centuries, being still used in the medical schools at Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650.

Sir William Osler

In the early 20^th century, the great Canadian physician, Sir William Osler, described the Canon as "the most famous medical textbook ever written".

The Canon was first translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the late 12^th century. Within the collections in Dun's Library is a later edition of this translation, published in Basle in 1556. It is one of the oldest books in the entire Library, is listed in the earliest manuscript catalogue of the Library (1800) and may well have formed part of Dun's original bequest.

Images of physical therapy from Avicenna's Canon

Avicenna is also honoured by the College with the inclusion of a small statuette of him as one of the three "fathers of medicine" (along with Hippocrates and William Harvey) on the College mace.

Avicenna on the College's mace

The mace, commissioned by the College in the 1850s, was designed by the Irish artist Sir Frederick William Burton, and made by the Dublin firm of Silversmiths West and Sons.

Robert Mills

New Archive Catalogues for July

2011-07-14T12:18:00.000+01:00

This month there are a small collection of archive catalogues ready for release, partly as I have been on my summer hols. This month three small collections of personal and research papers of medics have been completed and are ready for readers to access. All the catalogued material in the archive can be accessed via the online archive catalogue, and collection lists can be downloaded here.

The Papers of Edward Hill (1741-1830)

Edward Hill

Edward Hill was born in County Tipperary in 1741; he studied at Trinity College Dublin graduating MB in 1771 and MD in 1773. An active member of the King and Queen's College of Physicians of Ireland he served as President, Censor, Treasurer, Registrar and Librarian. At Trinity he was Professor of Botany (1785-1800) and physic (1781-1830). At the end of the eighteenth century Hill was involved in a major controversy which split the College of Physicians. Hill led the faction that wanted the additional funds created by the Dun's Estate to fund the establishment of a herb garden, whereas others, led by Robert Perceval, wanted the money to go to a clinical teaching hospital. The dispute was resolved in 1800 with the School of Physic Act which established Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, not a medical herb garden. Hill was an accomplished scholar with knowledge of Greek, Latin, French and Italian. His own personal library contained over 1,800 books, and he also completed one of the earliest catalogues of the College of Physicians' library.

Title page of Hill's Library Catalogue

The small collection of papers relating to Hill includes letters, invitation cards, papers relating to his education and the School of Physic Act (1800), as well as three notebooks. Within the College's own archive there is also Hill's beautifully written catalogue of the Dun's Library, which he completed when he was nearly 80.

The Colebrook/Wright Papers

Sir Almroth Wright

This interesting little collection contains papers relating to two eminent immunologists; Leonard Colebrook and Sir Almroth Wright. Wright was born in Yorkshire in 1861, the son of an Irish clergyman. He studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, taking his degree in 1883. Wright worked as Professor of Pathology at Netley between 1892 and 1902, before moving to St. Mary's Hospital where he founded the research laboratory. In both institutions he researched extensively into bacteriology and immunology. During the First World War he established a research unit to study the bacteriology of wound infection, attached to the British Army Hospital at Boulogne. As well as his research work, Wright wrote vehemently against the campaign for Women's Suffrage. He was also the inspiration for the central character in Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma.

Leonard Colebrook

After the War Wright returned to St. Mary's, and continued working until the age of 85 in 1946. At St. Mary's Wright taught many of the leading immunologists and bacteriologists of the twentieth century including Sir Alexander Fleming and Leonard Colebrook. Colebrook was born in 1883 and studied medicine at St. Mary's Hospital, where attended lectures by Wright, who became a friend and research partner. In the RAMC during the First World War he researched into wound infections at St. Mary's and in Wright's laboratory in France. Following the war he worked on the prevention of puerperal fever, establishing the effectiveness of Prontosil. During the Second World War he worked on burn injuries, and from 1942-1948 was director of the Burns Investigation Unit of the Medical Research Council.

The collection in the archive contains letters between Colebrook and Wright written during the First World War discussing their work, some of Wright's notes and publications relating to his views on women, and material relating to the publication of biographies of both men.

Eoin O'Brien Research Papers

Sir Dominic Corrigan

This collection of papers relates to research carried out by Dr Eoin O'Brien on Sir Dominic Corrigan, and the biography of Corrigan published in 1983. It includes a number of articles written by O'Brien, on others, on Corrigan, correspondence and newspaper cuttings relating to the research and publication of O'Brien's biography of Corrigan, and draft scripts for proposed TV and radio productions.

Archive Item of the Month – Essay on the Pathology & Diagnosis of Diseases of the Ovary

2011-07-12T12:23:00.000+01:00

BMS/34

July's archive item of the month if a beautifully bound and illustrated manuscript essay on The Pathology and Disease of the Ovary. Although on the cover and title page the author gives himself a pseudonym 'de Graaf' we know from the accession record that this essay was written by Austin Meldon and that it won the Pathological Society's gold medal in the 1863/4 session.

Plate I from BMS/34

The manuscript essay covers over 460 pages (I couldn't spot a single crossing out) and is accompanied by illustrations, tables and cases. The essay looks at the history of diseases of the ovary, and deals at length with their classification, diagnosis, symptoms and treatment. The essay is supported by cases 'noted by de Graaf' as well as the works of others. He includes a table of 'All the cases of Ovariotomy ever performed', giving the name of operator, age of patient, date of operation (the earliest is 1782), result, kind of tumour and marital status of patient.

Austin Meldon

Austin Meldon was born in 1844 in Milltown, county Dublin. He studied medicine at the Catholic University (now University College Dublin) where he had a brilliant career winning gold medals in Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children, Surgery and the Practice of Medicine, as well as first prizes in the same subjects. It was while he was a student at the Catholic University that he won the Pathological Society's gold medal for this essay. His career after leaving medical school was just as successful; he worked at the Jervis Street Hospital and Holles Street Hospital, published numerous work on gout, rheumatism and skin disease, and was President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Irish Medical Association. In a printed testimonial preserved in the Kirkpatrick Index Meldon included testimonials from some of the leading men of mid-late nineteenth century Irish Medicine, including William Stokes and Sir Dominic Corrigan who wrote that;

'Doctor Austin Meldon obtained the Gold Medal of the Pathological Society of Ireland last year (1864). I feel that, with this evidence of Doctor Austin Meldon's professional knowledge, any testimonial of mine is unnecessary as to his competency, as the prize he won was open to all competitors, and could only be obtained on superior merit.'

Katherine Pugin

Dr Meldon married twice, his second wife Katherine Pugin was the daughter of the famous architect and designer Augustus Pugin (1812-1852). Pugin is best remembered for his work on the UK Houses of Parliament, but in 1838 Pugin was invited to Ireland by the Redmond family of Wexford, and he produced a number of works in Ireland, mainly catholic churches and convents. Meldon and his second wife had a son and daughter, the son George Edgar Pugin Meldon (1875-1950) followed his father into medicine, and in 1930 presented his father's prize winning essay to the College's archive.

Sources:
* Meldon, Austin, in the Kirkpatrick Index, RCPI
* Essays on the Pathology & Diagnosis of Disease of the Ovary, BMS/34
* Meldon, George Edgar Pugin, in the Kirkpatick Index, RCPI

* Moore, John William, 'In Memoriam – Austin Meldon', Dublin Journal of Medical Science, June 1904, pp.471-472

* Pugin Society web site - http://www.pugin-society.1to1.org/index.html

Sir Frederick Conway Dwyer

2011-07-06T09:28:00.000+01:00

As part of the current cataloguing of the Dun's Library, a number of bound manuscript items, which really form part of the archive, have been found on the library shelves. Amongst these bound volumes is a small leather bound volume with gold edges, containing newspaper cuttings relating to the death, funeral and Will of Sir Conway Dwyer.

Sir Frederick Conway Dwyer - BMS/24

Conway Dwyer was born in 1860 in Dublin; he was educated at Trinity College and worked as a surgeon at several of the leading hospitals in Dublin. He was actively involved with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, serving on their council for many years, and acting as Professor of Surgery and President of the College. Conway Dwyer died on 10 October 1935 at the Pembroke Nursing Home in Dublin.

Page from BMS/24

Given Dwyer's obvious association with the College of Surgeons, it is perhaps surprising that the College of Physicians holds this item, but events following his death led to a posthumous connection with the College of Physicians. As the Irish Independent and Irish Times both reported, Conway Dwyer left the majority of his fortune (over £36,000, the equivalent of over £1.5 million in today's money) to his friend Mrs Mary Tyrell. She is described in the articles as the daughter of his great friend Thomas O'Kearney White and also the owner of the nursing home in which Conway Dwyer died. His Will seems to have caused a bit of a stir, and there was a certain amount of speculation about Mrs Tyrell. Within the volume of cuttings there is a printed apology from one newspaper;

'We are informed that Mrs Tyrrell is not and never was a nurse and that she did not nurse Sir Frederick either during his last illness or at any time … We apologise to Mrs Tyrrell for the inaccuracies which occurred in the reports of our Dublin correspondent'

Napoleon - VM/1/2/N/1

Amongst the possessions that passed to Mary Tyrell was Conway Dwyer's collection of Napoleonic artefacts. This collection, which includes Napoleon's toothbrush and snuff box, had been put together by another Irish Surgeon Barry Edward O'Meara (1789-1836). O'Meara acted as Napoleon's doctor while he was on St. Helena, and also published an account of his experience Napoleon in Exile. A Voice from St. Helena (1822). Mrs Tyrell presented this collection to the College of Physicians following Dwyer's death. Why she decided to give them to the College of Physicians rather than the College of Surgeons is unclear. The tradition within the College of Physicians is that during Dwyer's life the College of Surgeons had disapproved of his friendship with Mrs Tyrell and she had not been invited to attend College of Surgeons' events. Meaning that after his death she was not very well disposed towards them! Whatever the reason Conway Dwyer's Napoleonic collection was presented to the College of Physicians, where it remains one of our more unusual collections, and it seems likely that the volume of newspaper cuttings dates from the same time.

Francis Joseph O’Meara – an army doctor’s life in photographs

2011-07-01T14:34:00.002+01:00

This week I have been sorting out a small collection of the personal papers of Francis Joseph O'Meara. O'Meara was born in Cork in 1900, he studies medicine at Trinity before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1923 serving in Egypt and India. In 1940 he was on active service in France when he was capture by German soldiers; he remained a prisoner of war for four years. O'Meara remained in the RAMC through the late 1940s and 1950s, serving as director of medical service to the Middle East Land Forces, and later to Western Command. He retired to Herefordshire, where he died in 1967. With O'Meara's papers a selection of photographs which provide snap shots of O'Meara throughout his life.

c.1900s – On a seaside holiday with his family

c.1910s – Tennis at Clongowes Wood College

early 1920s – high jinks as a Trinity medical student

c.1930s – on duty with the RAMC

c.1950s – O'Meara in later life

New Archive Collections for June – Part II

2011-06-24T10:38:00.000+01:00

This post will look at the three collections of personal papers that have been catalogued in June, following on for the last post looking at the institutional records. The collections are the personal papers of Charles Sibthorpe, Margaret Stokes and T P C Kirkpatrick.

VM/1/2/S/10
Charles Sibthorpe

Surgeon-General Charles Sibthorpe was born in Dublin in 1847 and served in the Indian Army Medical Service from 1870 to 1900. The collection contains nine case books created by Sibthorpe during his time in India. You can read more about Surgeon-General Sibthorpe here, and the collection list is available here.

The second collection is not a collection of papers of a medic but of an artist. Margaret Stokes (1832-1900) was the daughter of William Stokes (1804-1878) a leading Irish physician and President of the College. William Stokes was very interested in archaeology and antiquities, and he shared this interest with his daughter.

MSA/2/1/7 - Shire of St. Patrick's Bell

Margaret Stokes' interest in antiquities and her abilities as an artist combined in the production of a number of works on Irish Christian art and architecture during the 1870s and 1880s, both of her own authorship and editions of the works of her father's friends, Edwin, 3^rd Earl Dunraven and George Petrie. During the 1890s Margaret Stokes undertook long visits to France and Italy where she researched into the lives and relics of early Irish Saints, this resulted in two book; Six Months in the Apennines (1892) and Three Months in the Forests of France (1895). The material held by the archive contains original works, prints and photographs relating to these two publications, as well as Strokes' interest in Irish Christian art and architecture and religious art. The Margaret Stokes Archive collection list can be downloaded here.

RCPI 39 - T P C Kirkpatrick

The third collection is one the largest donated collections in the archive, the papers of Dr Thomas Percy Claude Kirkpatrick. T P C Kirkpatrick was born in Dublin in 1869 the son of Dr John Rutherford Kirkpatrick. He followed his father into medicine graduating from Trinity College in 1895. Kirkpatrick worked at Dr Steevens' and the Westmoreland Lock Hospitals, specialising in anaesthetics and venereal diseases. You can read more about his medical career here. Aside from his medical career Kirkpatrick was also a prolific author on medical history, publishing numerous articles, pamphlets and books on Irish hospitals, medical men and medical history. He was also a veracious collector, amassing over his life time a large medical history archive and library, both of which he bequeathed to the College.

TPCK/2/5/3

The contents of the Kirkpatrick archive can be roughly split into three main groups. Firstly, the personal and professional papers of Dr Kirkpatrick, as well as some relating to his father. Secondly, the papers of Dr Kirkpatrick as a medical historian – these include drafts of his works, and well as extensive research notes for these works and his research for the Kirkpatrick Newspaper archive, which is an very important resource for tracing Irish medics from the earliest times up to the 1950s. The final main section is Kirkpatrick's own collection of manuscripts, including case books, letters from doctors, lecture notes, documents relating to Irish hospitals and medical institutions, as well as a collection of visual material. You can read more about some of the items in the Kirkpatrick collection here, and the full collection list can be downloaded here.

New Archive Collections for June – Part I

2011-06-21T14:36:00.001+01:00

This month sees the release of the catalogues of another five collections within the archive, the records of two medical institutions and three sets of personal papers. This post will look at the records of the two medical instructions and a later post will deal with the personal papers.

VM./1/2/G/11
Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw,
founding member of the DSA

The Dublin Sanitary Association was founded in 1872 to improve the 'very defective sanitary arrangements in Dublin'. The Association had four main objectives; to educate the public about sanitary matters, direct attention to areas where existing powers were not fully exercised, monitor the course of sanitary legislation and to form a body in which the public would have confidence, which could act on behalf of the public. The Association was run by a committee, with a treasurer, secretary and President. The Association lasted into the 1910s, and was actively involved in raising awareness of, and improving, sanitary conditions in Dublin. The archive holds a handful of records relating to the Association, including three minute books (1883-1912), a letter book (1892-1892) mainly dealing with the sanitary arrangements in Dublin properties, and two volumes of newspaper cuttings (1879-1911). The Dublin Sanitary Association catalogue can be downloaded here; in addition Dun's Library also holds copies of the Association's printed reports.

John Fane, 10th Earl Westmoreland

The origins of the Westmoreland Lock Hospital are in the foundation of a hospital for venereal diseases (sexually transmitted diseases) in 1755 by George Doyle. In 1792 the hospital moved from its original location on Rainsford Street in Dublin to Townsend Street, where it was renamed the Westmoreland Lock Hospital in honour of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time. From 1819 men were no longer admitted to the hospital, receiving treatment at Sir Patrick Dun's or Dr Steevens' Hospital instead. The hospital continued to treat women, many of whom were prostitutes, partly a result of the large British Army garrisons in Dublin in the Nineteenth Century.

Westmoreland Lock Hospital

In 1946 the hospital was renamed St Margaret of Cortona, but it closed ten years later as its services were no longer needed and the building was in a bad state of disrepair. On the closure of the hospital most of the twentieth century records were destroyed, the older records were transferred to the RCPI archive. These comprise patient records (1814-1894) including registers of admission and discharge; administrative papers (1792-1922) including minute books, letter books and a visitors' book; financial records (1792-1913) and a small collection of chaplaincy records (1861-1887). The catalogue of the Westmoreland Lock Hospital papers can be downloaded here.

My Dear Mich …

2011-06-13T10:01:00.000+01:00

TPCK/6/3/5 - Letter from Dr Mills

This month's archive item of the month is a series of letters from Dr Thomas Mills to his brother Michael. They form part of Dr Kirkpatrick's collections of manuscript material which he bequeathed to the College. The full list of Dr Kirkpatrick's collection can be downloaded here.

Thomas Mills was born c.1773, he graduated as a doctor of Medicine from Edinburgh University in 1797, and four years later he passed the licentiate exam of the King and Queen's College of Physicians. One of Dr Mills' first positions following his qualification was in Loughbrickland in County Down. It was following his arrival here that Dr Mills wrote this series of over 40 letters to his brother Michael in Dublin. The letters contain a mixture of family news, descriptions of the locality, customs and traditions, and some reports of his medical practice.

Loughbrickland Lake, County Down

At the beginning of July 1805 Dr Mills sent his brother a series of letters were detailed descriptions of the type of land and cultivation around his new home. The poor quality of the soil in the area is clear in his description of the agriculture,

'Potatoes are everywhere planted, we see them in almost every garden, and, perhaps, one fifth or one sixth part of the land is applied to the cultivation of this useful vegetable – there is little pasture ground and little meadow, not more than is barely sufficient to supply the domestic cattle.'

Despite these hardships, Dr Mills admires both the fairness of the landlords and the spirit of the tenants

'they are all anxious to give their children instruction, & the poorest cottager never fails to send his child to school'.

The religious differences of the people are also discussed in the letters

'I find with sorrow that a great diversity of opinion, and, I fear, some degree of jealousy and hatred, still subsists between people of different persuasions in this neighbourhood – and what may appear, still more extraordinary, that schism are taking place, between the professors of the same religion.'

Despite these differences, Dr Mills reports that 'the twelfth of July has passed away and without riot or disturbance', going on to report on the Orange marches in the local towns and other celebrations that took place.

As well as describing his new home, the letters also deal with practical family matters, such as whether the Mills brother's mother and sisters would be better to settle in Dublin or Loughbrickland. Dr Mills is of the opinion that Dublin offers the best value in terms of provisions and supplies, and that Dublin would also be better for their sisters.

'The girls ought to have every fair opportunity of being settled – they are good and amiable – and will make most excellent wives – but in this place, they cannot get husbands – they cannot become wives – for there are no young men here'.

RCPI 5 - Portrait of Thomas Mills

Dr Mills did not remain long in Loughbrickland, he soon returned to Dublin where he worked in St. George's Fever Hospital and the Cork Street Fever Hospital. He published a number of works on medicine, which are available in the Dun's Library, including An Essay on the Utility of Blood-Letting in Fever (1813) illustrated with cases and results from his own practice.

Thomas Mills died in Nice on 6^th November 1830, and was buried there. There is a memorial to him in Clondalkin Churchyard which records

'This monument is erected to the memory of Thomas Mills Esq. MD, who died at Nice on the 6^th of November 1830 at the age of fifty seven. For nearly 30 years he had been an eminent physician of the City of Dublin, and contributed greatly to the improvement of the profession of which he was so conspicuous an ornament'.

Heritage Centre launches online book shop

2011-06-07T10:19:00.000+01:00

As part of the continuing improvement of the Heritage Centre's online presence and services, we have launched an online book shop. The book shop forms part of the Heritage Centre's web pages and can be accessed here. The online book shop sells publications relating to the history of RCPI as well as history of medicine works written by College Fellows.

The main work relating to the history of the College is Widdess' History of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. John Widdess (1906-1982) was a historian, librarian and biologist, his love of books led him to be appointed to positions at many of the main medical libraries in Dublin, including the Royal College of Physicians. He wrote a number of works on the history of medicine in Ireland, including his work on RCPI. Published in 1963 this volume remains the definitive history of the College from its foundation to the mid-twentieth century. The book shop also sells Dr David Mitchell's short memoire on 25 years of the College's activities, which brings Widdess' narrative up to 1988.

There are also a small number of publications relating to the history of medicine in Ireland more generally, including two works by Dr Davis Coakley, a Fellow of the College, and medical historian. These are his biography of Robert Graves (1796-1853) a leading figure in the golden age of Irish medicine, who revolutionised clinical teaching. The volume also includes the text of four of Graves' lectures. Also on sale is Dr Coakley's Irish Masters of Medicine which celebrates the lives of 42 Irish Medical men, from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, who have left their mark on international medicine.

Finally there are also a small number of Dr Edward Martin's A Dictionary of Bookplates of Irish Medical Doctors with short biographies. In this volume Martin introduces the history of bookplates, before looking in detail at the bookplates of Irish doctors from the sixteenth to the twentieth century and providing informative biographical sketches of his subjects.

Details of all the works on sale, including prices and postage, can be found on the Heritage Centre's Online Book Shop.

Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital Roll of Honour

2011-06-02T10:00:00.004+01:00

There was an exciting event in the archive earlier in the week, when one of the archive items which had been sent out for conservation treatment came back to the archive.

The item is question is a Roll of Honour of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, which contains the names of the 421 members of staff and students of the hospital who served in the First World War. The conservation project was part funded by the Heritage Council, under their 2010 heritage grant scheme

Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital Roll of Honour, before treatment

As you can see from this image, the item was in quite a bad state of repair, with the paper wrinkled and creased where it had been mounted onto a wooden board, in addition the board was causing staining to leach through on to the paper. The first task undertaken by the conservator was to remove the item from backing board, so it could be cleaned and treated. The paper was then flattened between blotting paper before being inlaid into archival paper to provide support and to help keep the shape of the item.

Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital Roll of Honour, after treatment

As well as listing the names, date of qualification and rank of the men who served, the roll gives some additional information about the 31 who lost their lives, the 60 who were wounded and the 322 honours received. This information was originally written in red ink next to the name of each soldier, but this ink has faded badly and the writing is now almost indistinguishable. However, with the use of digital cameras and some photo editing, it is possible to rediscover this lost information.

Detail from Roll of Honour

This example shows the entry for H R Griffith, who died in May 1916 in a Military Hospital and David Hadden who received the Military Cross in 1917, with a Bar added on 1917. Using the Kirkpatrick Index I was able to find out a little more about these two men.

Lieutenant Harry Rathbone Griffith was born in 1866 the fourth son of a rector on Anglesey. He studied medicine in Trinity College graduating BA in 1889 and MD in 1893, while a student in Dublin he worked at Dun's Hospital. Following his graduation he practiced in PortmadocRAMC and was a temporary Lieutenant at Prees Heath Army Training Camp when he died of heart failure.

In contrast David Hamilton Hadden had only been qualified for a year when the First World War broke out. Also a graduate of Trinity, Hadden had distinguished himself as a student winning a clinical and surgical prize from Dun's Hospital. He left his position at the York County Hospital and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in September 1914. As a temporary Captain in January 1917 he received the Military Cross as 'under extremely adverse weather conditions he worked without rest for three nights and two days attending wounded. Throughout he showed the utmost indifference to heavy shell and machine gun fire'. Hadden remained in military service after the end of the War and was awarded an OBE for his services in the field at Waziristan, India, between 1922 and 1923. In May 1924 Captain Hadden was founded shot dead in his room in the Omagh Barracks 'a revolver, containing one live and one spent round, was lying next to his body'.

Detail from Roll of Honour

The Roll of Honour, as well as all the other records relating to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, can be viewed in the reading room, please contact us to make an appointment. Follow these links for more information on the hospital and it's roll in World War I. The collection list for the Dun's Hospital archive can be downloaded here or the records can be searched using the online catalogue.

Surgeon-General Charles Sibthorpe

2011-05-30T12:20:00.000+01:00

VM/1/2/S/10 - Charles Sibthorpe

Charles Sibthorpe was born in Dublin in 1847, he studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and at the Meath Hospital. In 1870 he joined the Indian Medical Service as Assistant-Surgeon. Following some years of official work in the civilian and military departments, he was appointed Civil Surgeon and Superintendent of the Gaol at Banda, in the Central Provinces (Uttra Pradesh). In 1875 Sibthorpe was transferred to Madras (now Chennai) and appointed Resident Surgeon to the General Hospital and Professor of Pathology at the Madras Medical College. Established in 1835 the Madras Medical College is the oldest medical college in India. It was attached to the General Hospital which had been founded in 1664, and the two were used as an example of how medical care and education should be provided in India.

Madras, c.1880s

Sibthorpe remained at the College and Hopsital in Madras until 1890, serving successively as Professor of Pathology, Opthalmology, Anatomy and Surgery. In 1894 he was appointed Surgeon-General with the Government of Madras, a post he held until 1900.Twice during his time in India Sibthorpe volunteered for actice service with the Indian Medical Service. In 1878 he served with the Peshawar Valley Field Forces in Afganistan and in 1885 he saw active service in Burma and staff surgeon to Sir Harry Prendergast (1834-1913), the officer in command of the British foces in Upper Burma.

Peshwar Vally Field Forces, Afganistan 1878

British Forces in Burma, 1885

As with many who served with the British in India, Sibthorpe's health was damaged by his service. In August 1900 he returned from the India Medical Service and returned to Dublin, where he lived with his unmarried sisters. Plagued by ill health he died in 1906, at the age of only 59. Despite spending the majority of his working life in India, Sibthorpe retained close ties with Ireland, and his contributions to medicine were recognised by the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland in 1880 when he was elected a Fellow of the College. In 1897 his contribution to the British forces in India recived greater recognition when he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

But why the sudden interest in Charles Sibthorpe? Well, over the last number of weeks I have been cataloguing a number of small collections and individual bound items, which have been donated to the College archive. These include a range of items such as case books, lecture notes and manucript essays. Amongst these items was a series of case books from hospitals in India, althought it was known they were held by the archive there was no additional information about where they had come from or who has written them.

Page from Case Book, CS/2

During cataloguing I found a number of copy letters in one of the case books, which indicated that they might have belong to doctor named Sibthorpe. Recognising the name from a portrait of him which hangs in the College, I looked up his service record and found that it matched the dates, locations and case types covered by the case books. In addition Sibthorpe was the only Fellow of the College practicing in Madras at the time. The portait of Sibthorpe which hangs in the College, as well as several books in Dun's Library, were presented by Sibthorpe's sisters following his death, and it seems likely that, either at the same time or slightly after, they also presented his case books.

Item of the Month – Medicine and Philately

2011-05-25T11:16:00.000+01:00

At the moment I am cataloguing a series of individual items donated to the College archive, covering a range of different record types and medical subject. This month's item of the month was donated to the College in 1947 by Dr Stephen Frederick Bourke an Irish medic and Fellow of the College – it represents a synthesis of two areas of interest to Dr Bourke, Medicine and Philately (the study of stamps). Bourke's album of stamps, meticulously arranged by country of origin, provides a fascinating glimpse into the use of medical subjects and personalities on stamps across the globe during the first half of the twentieth century.

Unsurprisingly the Red Cross features heavily, with examples from many European countries, especially in 1939 when the Red Cross celebrated its 75^th anniversary.

Finland Red Cross Stamps, 1940

Stamps were also issued to support a number of public health campaigns including leprosy research (Egypt 1938), anti-cancer (Ecuador 1938, Danzig 1939, France 1941-6) and most frequently anti-tuberculosis (Belgium 1934-9, Cuba 1938-1942, Finland 1946, France 1934 and 1945, Spanish Morocco 1946).

Ecudor Anti-Cancer Stamp, 1938

Spanish Morocco, Anti-Tuberculosis Stamps, 1946

Belgium Stamp, 1939

Many familiar faces from the history of Medicine also appear on the stamps, including Florence Nightingale (Belgium 1939) and Louis Pasteur (France 1920s-1930s), as well as individuals with a medical background who are primarily remembered for other reasons. One such example is Sun-Yat-Sen (1867-1925) the first nominated President of the Republic of China, who was also the first graduate from the new medical school of Hong-Kong. Living in exile in London, Sun-Yat-Sen was kidnapped and held at the Chinese Legation until released on the intervention of his former Surgery Professor Sir James Cantile.

San-Yat-Sen Stamp, 1931

As well as Bourke's album the archive also holds a number of other philately related items, including a further collection of stamps donated by Bourke in the 1950s (which are waiting to be sorted), a small book on Medicine and Science in Postage Stamps and first day cover stamps from the first meeting of the WHO in 1948 and a stamp issued in Ireland in 1978 to mark the expected eradication of smallpox.

First Day Cover - The Eradication of Small Pox, 1978

History of Medicine Conference in Belfast, 26th-27th May

2011-05-23T09:26:00.000+01:00

The Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland will be holding a conference this week at the Belfast campus of the University of Ulster. The two day conference (26^th – 27^th May) will being together scholars to discuss a range of topics and themes, covering the diversity of research in the history of medicine in Ireland.

As well as looking at new areas of research in the history of medicine in Ireland, the conference will also be celebrating the development of new resources for history of medicine scholars, with papers on the UCD run project to recreate the library of the Royal College of Science, Ireland, and on the ongoing project to catalogue the archival holdings of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (given by yours truly).
The conference hosted by the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland and funded by the Wellcome Trust is free. For more information on the conference, and to register for attendance, click here.

News from the Archive – Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland, April 1900

2011-05-18T10:50:00.001+01:00

To mark the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II's historic visit to Ireland, I thought it might be interesting to look in the archive to see what the College did the last time a reigning British Queen came to Ireland – Queen Victoria's visit in April 1900, captured on film by Pathé News:

QUEEN VICTORIA IN DUBLIN, 1900

As a Royal College there had always been a strong tradition of support within the College for the British monarchy, which is expressed in the design of the College's building on Kildare Street. Built in the 1860s the interior design includes a stained glass window showing the Royal Coat of Arms, and plaster work moulding with the Queen's monogram VR.

Stained glass window with Royal coat of arms, Graves Hall, RCPI

The College's loyalty to the British monarchy in the nineteenth century can also be traced in the archive, which contains a number of draft loyal addresses to various Royals and Lord Lieutenants of Ireland, including an address to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her son's marriage (RCPI/2/3/4/2) and letter from the Queen's household thanking the College for their loyal address after an attempt on the life of another son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (RCPI/2/3/4/4).

In 1900 the College again offered a loyal address to Queen Victoria, on the occasion of her visit to Dublin, the full text of which is recorded in the College Journals (or minute books). Having opened with an eloquent flourish of titles and congratulations the address went on to state that;

'As physicians we recognise with grateful appreciation the favour which your Majesty has ever extended to our Profession, and the kindly interest you have taken in its efforts for the advancement of Medical Science as well as the preservation and improvement of the Health of the Nation. On our part, we have on all occasions striven to further these great interests, which have been entrusted to us both by your Royal Predecessors and by your Gracious Majesty, in the successive Charters of our College.'

'We are deeply and gratefully sensible of the generous impulse which has prompted your Majesty at this time to visit Ireland, and its capital – a gracious recognition of the heroic and conspicuous part which your Majesty's Irish troops have played in the War in South Africa. In this season of trouble you have – as you have ever done – made the trials and sorrows of your people your own, thus drawing their thoughts and hearts ever closer to your Royal Person by ties of affectionate regard.'[1]

The Irish medical profession had made its own contributions to the war in South Africa, with several Irish medics serving with the British Army. Most notably the Irish surgeon Sir William Stokes, son of a former President of the College of Physicians, who at the age of 60 had gone out as consulting surgeon to the British forces. While in South Africa, Stokes contracted pleurisy, he died in August 1900 and was buried at Fort Napier, Natal.

Sir William Stokes (1839-1900) and his grave in South Africa, MSA/6/2

As well as presenting their address to Queen Victoria, the College also honoured her personal physician Sir James Reid. Sir John Banks a Fellow of the College nominated Reid for an Honorary Fellowship, a decision which was passed unanimously by the College Fellows. Reid was awarded his Honorary Fellowship on 6^th April.

Sir James Reid, 1901

Reid had been a member of Queen Victoria's household for almost twenty years, starting in 1881 as Resident Medical Attendant and eventually rising to Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen. Following Queen Victoria's death in 1901, at which he was in attendance, Reid remain Physician-in-Ordinary to her son Edward VII, whose death he also witnessed, and her grandson George V. Reid himself died in 1923 at the age of 73.[2]

References:

[1] College Journal - Vol. XXII, RCPI/2/1/1/24

[2] Sir James Reid - Royal Apothecary by Michaela Reid, Joural of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2001, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1281397/

New Archive Catalogues for May – Part II

2011-05-16T11:29:00.000+01:00

This post looks at two of the new archive catalogues available in May, for details of the other collections released in May see this earlier post. Full catalogues of all the completed archive collections can be found on the archive webpage, as well as on the online catalogue. The new collections for May will be available on the online catalogue shortly, but are already available on the archive webpage. The final two collections released in May are of two Dublin based scientific clubs.

VM/1/2/S/19 - Dr Charles Smith

The Medico-Philosophical Society was established in 1756 by Dr John Rutty, Charles Smith and others, as a private society which meet once a month is discuss scientific papers, followed by a dinner. Under the rules of the Society the papers presented could cover natural history, natural philosophy or medicine, as well as politics and ethical subjects. There was an especial focus on bringing papers on a 'new discovery or observation made by the writer, or by some other person whose works may have fallen in his way, & not generally be know by other members.' The collection contains the memoirs of the society from its foundation up until 1784. These memoirs record the meeting of the society, who attended and what was discussed, often with beautiful illustrations, they also contain a history of why the society was established.

MPS/1 - Page from the first volume of the Medico-Philosophical Society's Memoirs

The society seems to have continued in some form until 1831, although the memoirs stop in 1784. In 1856, attempts were made to reform the Medico-Philosophical Society on the centenary of its original foundation. The second incarnation of the society ran from 1856 to at least 1939. Unlike the first society the minutes show less of a focus on the sharing of new ideas and research and more on the social aspects. One of the chief concerns of the early years was the collection of photographs of all the members! For this second incarnation the archive holds the minute book and the members photograph album.

DBC/4 - Members Roll

The Dublin Biological Club was founded in January 1872 at a meeting called to 'consider the expediency of forming a scientific club'. Membership of the club was by election, a subscription was to be paid by all members, who could present papers, specimens and cases on 'the morbid and healthy conditions of animals and vegetable life'. Members were also allowed to bring visitors to the meetings, who could also present papers. The club originally met in rooms in Trinity College Dublin, before hiring a room of Great Brunswick Street (1874-1881) and finally moving to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The club met weekly for the presentation of papers between October and June, although over the years the frequency of the meeting was reduced as attendance fell off. From the beginnings the press were excluded from the meetings, which meant that doctors were able to talk about unsuccessful testaments, as well as those cases that had succeeded. The collection contains a full set of minute books from 1872 to 1974, as well as a small number of other documents including a roll of members, a collection of glass slides of early members and some documents on the history and finances of the club.

Glass lantern slides from the Dublin Biological Club's collection (DBC/9/2 and DBC/9/32) showing Sir Charles Ball (1851-1916) with a freshly caught Jewfish on Catalina Island, California and John Alfred Scott (1856-1926) with a monkey.

The historical links between Trinity and RCPI

2011-05-11T11:55:00.000+01:00

As Trinity College Dublin are currently celebrating the 300th anniversary of their medical school it seems a good time to look at the historical links between Trinity and the College of Physicians. The two institutions have been linked since the foundation in 1654 of the Fraternity of Physicians of Trinity Hall by John Stearne, a Trinity Professor.

VM/1/S/31 - John Stearne

Trinity Hall comprised a building and a piece of land on College Green given to Trinity College in 1616 by Dublin Corporation to be used as a Free School or Hall of Residence. By 1654 the building had not been in use for over eleven years, and Trinity College were unable to afford the repairs needed. Stearne objected to the College's proposal to lease the building to two Dublin citizens. Instead Stearne suggested that he would pay from 'his own purse above a hundred pounds in repairing the said Hall, and procured disbursements from others for accommodating Physicians with a convenient place to meet in, in order to the erection of a College of Physicians'. Following the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Stearne's Fraternity was given Royal recognition in a charter of 1667 which established it as the College of Physicians in Dublin, and Trinity Hall was vested in two trustees for the use of the College of Physicians. The aim of Stearne's College was, as it is today, the regulation of the medical profession and improvement of medical standards.

RCPI 37 - Sir Patrick Dun

The close early connections between Trinity College and the College of Physicians were broken in 1692, when Sir Patrick Dun, as President of the College of Physicians, successfully petitioned King William and Queen Mary for a second royal charter. Disharmony between the two colleges had been growing during the 1680s, especially when Trinity exercised their right to block the appointment of Dr Crosby as President of the College. Although the reason they gave was a technicality over the proper notification, the real issue seems to have been Crosby's catholic religion.

RCPI/1/1/2 - Royal Charter of 1692

The 1692 charter split the physicians from Trinity College, creating the independent King and Queen's College of Physicians of Ireland. Under this second charter the College of Physicians lost the use of Trinity Hall, and would remain a peripatetic College for over 150 years, until 1864 when they finally moved into their permanent home on Kildare Street.

Although Sir Patrick Dun may have severed one link between the two Colleges, he created another. Dun died in 1713 and under his will left his money and estates in Trust to the College of Physicians for the establishment of a King's Professor of Physic in the City of Dublin, an attempt to create a medical school completely separate from Trinity College.

RCPI 8 - Dr Robert Perceval

RCPI 28 - Dr Edward Hill

During the eighteenth century, as the income from the Dun's estate increased, questions were asked of the College relating to the expenditure of the monies. The feeling being too much was going on good food and wines, and not enough on improvements in medical education. A dispute arose in the medical professions as to the best use of Dun's money. Dr Robert Perceval, Professor of Chemistry in Trinity, believed in the importance of clinical lectures and wanted the Dun's estate to fund a clinical teaching hospital. On the other side Dr Edward Hill, Professor of Botany and Regius Professor of Physic at Trinity, was anxious that a botanical garden be established, which he believed would be of much greater use. Eventually, after much political manoeuvring, financial investigations, and some false starts, Dr Perceval was successful and the School of Physic Act (1800) established a clinical teaching hospital.

VM/1/4/27 - Nineteenth century engraving of Dun's Hospital

Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital opened in 1808 on Grand Canal Street, and both the King's Professors and University Professors would give clinical lectures at the hospital as part of the Dublin School of Physic. A situation which continued until the winding up of the Dun's estate in 1961, when the remaining money was split between these hospital, Trinity and RCPI.

New Archive Catalogues for May – Part I

2011-05-09T11:45:00.000+01:00

As part of the ongoing cataloguing of the archive collections, May sees the release of several new catalogues of some of the smaller collections in the archive. These catalogues can be downloaded from the archive webpage, and the descriptions will shortly also be available through the online archive catalogue. The first three of these newly catalogued collections are of the papers of three Dublin based organisations set up to improve the treatment of a specific disease or for the promotion of the medical profession as a whole.

The Dublin Branch of the British Medical Association – the BMA was founded in 1832, with the aim of promoting medical sciences and protecting the interests of the medical profession. From 1835 regional branches were established, with the Dublin branch being founded in 1877. The collection contains administrative, financial and membership papers of the branch from its foundation to 1902, the branch continued in existence until 1936 when it merged into the Irish Free State Medical Union. The collection also contains papers relating to a visit by the British Medical Association to Dublin in 1933, and a joint BMA and Irish Medical Association exhibition held in Dublin in 1952.

BMA/5/2 - BMA Fifty-fifth Annual Meeting, Dublin, 1887

The Cow-Pock Institution –In 1800, when cow-pock was one of the greatest killing and disfiguring disease of the age, the Dispensary of Infant Poor in Dublin began vaccinating children against cow-pock under their surgeon John Creighton. Within four years demand was so high that a special Cow-Pock Institution was established in Dublin to offer free inoculation and supply packets of vaccine by post. The Institution existed until 1889 when it became the Vaccine Department of the Local Government Board. The collection contains a subscription book, vaccination register, minute books and letters created by the Institution during the period 1804 to 1885.

1802 cartoon showing Edward Jenner administering his newly discovered Cow-Pock vaccination

NAPT/5 - NAPTB Poster

The Dublin Branch of the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis – at the end of the nineteenth century one of the leading causes of death in Ireland was tuberculosis. The Dublin Branch of the National Association for the prevention of Tuberculosis was founded in July 1899 at a meeting held in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. The purpose of the association to bring together the leading medical professions of the day with the aim of eradication of TB, primarily though public health information, and the relief of those suffering from the disease. The Collection contains the minute books and correspondence of the Dublin branch during the first ten years of its existence. By the later 1900s the National Association in Ireland was overshadowed by the work of the Women's National Health Association.

300 years of medicine at Trinity

2011-05-03T12:15:00.000+01:00

Throughout 2011 the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin will be celebrating its tercentenary. As part of these celebrations the TCD Long Room is hosting an exhibition entitled 'The Best Doctors in the World are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet, and Doctor Merryman: 300 Years of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin', which will run until October this year. The exhibition brings together some of the highlights of the Long Room's collections relating to medicine in Ireland. As the head curator said at the official launch last week, the combination of the huge time scale and the limited exhibition space meant that there was less than 2cm² to cover each of the 300 years.

The exhibition takes the visitor on a chronological progress through over three hundred years of medical history, from the sixteenth century Guild of Barber Surgeons, through the golden age of Irish medicine in the nineteenth century, to huge developments which have taken place in the twentieth century. Given the huge range of possible material the curators have selected a fascinating selection of material from a sixteenth century Irish language manuscript on the eye, the first book on dentistry published in Ireland (1686), the death mask of Jonathan Swift and the envelope in which Dr Dorothy Stopford-Price imported the first BCG vaccination into Ireland to be used at Saint Ultan's Hospital.

Perhaps the most interesting item on display is the skeleton of the Irish giant, Cornelius Magrath (1736-1760), loaned for the occasion by Trinity's anatomy museum. Like Charles Byrne, Cornelius Magrath suffered from acromegaly, a condition which resulted in him growing to seven feet in height. In his late adolescence and early twenties, Magrath toured England and Europe, exhibiting himself as a medical curiosity. In 1760 he died in Dublin, where his body was snatched by Trinity Students who dissected his corpse to try and understand the cause of his large size. Following the dissection Magrath's skeleton was preserved and has formed part of Trinity's anatomy museum ever since.

Late eighteenth century engraving of Cornelius Magrath

Click here for more details of the exhibition and opening times.

The Diary of Dr James Little – Medicine, Shipwreck and the Indian Mutiny

2011-04-29T16:18:00.001+01:00

TPCK/6/5/10 - Diary of James Little

This month's item of the month is the diary of Dr James Little. It is part of a small collection of the personal papers of various Irish doctors collected by Dr Kirkpatrick, and donated by Kirkpatrick to the College. Unlike many of the items in the archive it gives an insight into the private life of a doctor rather than the public view expressed through their case books and medical papers.

James Little was born in Newry in January 1837, his diary starts with a summary and retrospective of his childhood and adolescence including a description of his decision to enter medicine;

'1853 – for some years past my attention has been directed to the medical profession – I now quietly sat down and made up my mind to go to it – a family council was held & the best bargain made for me to go to Dr Cohan as an apprentice – so I went over to Armagh and was installed as his apprentice - I should certainly not have had the courage to do so were it but that it had already been agreed that he was to allow me to go to Dublin in the following November and I hope that Aunt's kindness will make the nine months bearable'.

In Dublin James Little enrolled as a student of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, becoming a Licentiate of the College in 1856. On March 20^th 1857 Little left Southampton on the 'Vera', bound for Calcutta where he had accepted a post as Surgeon to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Packet Company, a post he would retain for 3 years. Dr Little's three years service with the P&O Company are the main focus of the diary. In his diary Dr Little records his experience as a ship surgeon and also the long periods of unemployment where he lived at the officers club in Calcutta.

Calcutta, c.1860s

In February 1858, on one of his early voyages as ship's surgeon, Dr Little's ship the 'Ava' was shipwrecked on rocks 12 miles from the cost of Ceylon. In his diary, written in retrospect some month later, he describes in detail the experience. The ship having become stranded on the rocks the passengers were evacuated onto life rafts in case the ship should break up in the night, where Dr Little and his charges spent a cold and sleepless night. Before the evacuation Dr Little has risked venturing below decks to rescue his doctors bag and diploma case, the essential tools of his trade! In the morning the rafts were able to make the short journey to the shore, and all the passengers were safely landed.

P&O ship similar to the Ava

Little and some of the ship's crew spent the next few weeks living in a tent on the beach where they had landed, while the crew attempted to rescue all they could from the wreck of the Ava, which had split in half and was slowly sinking. When she was ship wrecked the Ava was sailing from Calcutta to Suez with the post, refugees from the Indian Mutiny including Julia Inglis (the wife of Colonel Inglis who commanded the British troops during the Siege of Lucknow) and a large quantity of treasure. Although no lives were lost, some of the treasure and the diaries of Colonel Inglis were never recovered. Lady Inglis later published The Siege of Lucknow- A Diary (1892) which ends with the story of the shipwreck of the Ava.

TPCK/6/5/10 - Diary of James Little

VM/1/2/L/16 - James Little

Following his adventures in India Little returned to Ireland, took his MD from Edinburgh University in 1861 and two years latter set up in practice in Dublin. Little went on to become one of the leaders of his profession, he lectured at the Ledwich School of Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, in 1898 he was appointed Regis Professor of Physic in the University of Dublin, and was an active member of numerous medical clubs and organisations. He was registrar of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and President of the same College from 1886-1888. Little died in December 1916 at the age of 79, six years latter a bronze plaque with a portrait in bas-relief was erected in the entrance Hall of the College by the Members and Fellows.

Kathleen Lynn Documentary

2011-04-27T14:46:00.000+01:00

Photograph of Kathleen Lynn at Saint Ultan's, SU/8/3/1

If you were unlucky enough to miss Loopline film's excellent documentary of Dr Kathleen Lynn on TG4 on Monday night, then all is not lost. The hour long documentary can be viewed on the TG4 website.

You can find out more about Dr Kathleen Lynn and Saint Ultan's Hospital in earlier blog posts, and all the archive material held by College can be found in our online catalogue.

Kathleen Lynn – Revolutionary Doctor

2011-04-21T10:22:00.001+01:00

Kathleen Lynn by Lily Williams

Last night the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland held the launch of a new documentary on the life of Dr Kathleen Lynn. Made by Loopline films for TG4, the documentary draws extensively on the Kathleen Lynn diaries and the Saint Ultan's Hospital papers held in the archive. The documentary uses a combination of interviews, original source materials and dramatisations of moments in Lynn's life to create an engaging and informative look at Lynn's involvement in the Irish suffrage movement, the 1916 rising, the foundation of the Irish state and the establishment of the first infant hospital in Ireland.

KL/1/1 - Diary of Kathleen Lynn, 3 May 1916

The documentary will be show on TG4 on Easter Monday, April 25^th at 9.30, so set you video/dvd recorders/sky box now. If you can't wait until then there is a clip from the documentary on loopline's website and, if your Irish is better than mine, you can listen to a piece about the documentary from BBC Ulster's Blas here.

Photograph of Kathleen Lynn at Saint Ultan's, SU/8/3/1

To find out more about Kathleen Lynn have a look at some of the earlier blog posts on her and Saint Ultan's Hospital. Or make an appointment with us to view the archive material.

Sir Dominic Corrigan and the Irish Famine

2011-04-18T10:08:00.000+01:00

Dominic Corrigan was born in 1802, the son of a dealer in agricultural tools. He studied at various Dublin medical schools before graduating from Edinburgh University in 1825. Returning to Dublin Corrigan established himself in private practice, and took up a number of hospital appointments. Working with many of the city's poorest inhabitants he specialised in fever and diseases of the heart and lungs. In June 1840 Corrigan was appointed visiting physician to the Hardwick Fever Hospital, part of the Dublin workhouse. Two of his casebooks from his time at the Hardwick survive in the College's archive. Dating from 1840 to 1846, just prior to the Great Famine, they give details of the numbers and types of cases admitted to the hospital, including cases of typhoid fever. The famine years would see a huge increase in the number of fever patients coming to the hospital.

DC/2/4/3 - Hardwick Fever Hospital Case Book

DC/6/2/2

In 1846, as reports of the potato blight reached Dublin, Corrigan published a pamphlet on Famine and Fever. By analysing fever epidemics of the previous century Corrigan showed that although contagion, poor sanitation, the climate and poverty were important factors in the spread of fever, the one outstanding common feature was famine. He went on to show that in Ireland the commonest cause of famine was the failure of the potato harvest;

'The people of Ireland are peculiarly liable to become the victims … The effect of competition among a superabundant unemployed population, has been to reduce their wages to the lowest sum on which life can be supported. Potatoes have hence become their stable food … The potato has, I believe been a curse to our country … when a bad crop occurs there is no descent for them in the scale of food: the next step is starvation'

Having published his pamphlet Corrigan did his best to have his views widely circulated, sending copies to those with influence and campaigning on the issue himself. In 1852 as the worst effects of the Irish Famine were beginning to pass Corrigan was still actively campaigning for improvements in living conditions and health care for the poor, and for lessons to be learnt from the mistakes of the past. In March 1852 he received a letter from George Villers, 4^th Earl Clarendon and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland discussing both the Irish Famine and free trade. In it Clarendon wrote that

'experience had been brought in Ireland at a painfully high price but will it avail? If the potatoes come back will not the people go more than ½ way back to them? I greatly fear it & that many landowners will be short sighted enough to encourage a return to the old system under the temptation of high rents that will not be paid'

DC/5/6 - Letter from the Earl of Clarendon, 30 March 1852

Corrigan's involvement in attempts to counter some of the worst effects of the Irish Famine led him into conflict with other member of the medical profession. In particular his involvement in the Board of Health, established in 1846, and the question of the level of pay for doctors working for the Board. This disagreement seems to have been the reasons why, in 1846, his bid to be elected an Honorary Fellow of the King and Queen's [now Royal] College of Physicians of Ireland failed. In 1855 Corrigan outflanked this opposition by sitting the licentiate exam with the newly qualified doctors, including many of his own students. The following year he was elected a Fellow and in 1859 became the first Catholic President of the College.

Dr John Fleetwood’s Papers now available

2011-04-14T12:13:00.000+01:00

As part of the ongoing cataloguing project of the archive another new collection has been made available this month, the papers of Dr John Fleetwood. The collection list can be downloaded from the archive webpage, or the records can be searched using our online catalogue.

Dr Fleetwood ran a general practice in Blackrock, County Dublin as well as specialising in gerontology (care of the elderly). He was actively involved in the founding of the Royal College of General Practitioners, was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland and was involved in the palliative care and hospice movement, being appointed in 1961 to Our Lady's Hospice, Blackrock. The collection of papers left by Dr Fleetwood to the College contains a small number relating to his medical career, especially his work in gerontology. However, the majority of the papers held by the archive relate to historical and literary work.

In 1951 Fleetwood published The History of Medicine in Ireland, one of the classic works in the field, followed in 1988 by The Irish Body Snatchers. He also wrote a number of articles and talks on a range of history of medicine topics from Irish spas to an Irish Field Ambulance in the Franco-Prussian War. The research notes and early drafts for over 20 of these articles and talks are in the archive, as are copies of many of his short history of medicine articles for Hospital Doctors of Ireland and Medicine Weekly. Outside of the history of medicine Dr Fleetwood was perhaps best known for his regular contributions to the popular RTE programme Sunday Miscellany, scripts for many of his contributions are included in the archive.

Dublin Clinical Hospitals Standing Committee Papers Available Online

2011-04-11T15:33:00.000+01:00

As part of the continuing process of cataloguing the archive holdings, the papers of the Dublin Clinical Hospitals Standing Committee are now fully catalogued and available for researchers. The full collection list can be downloaded from the archive web page or the records can be searched using the online archive catalogue.

Richard Hayes (VM/1/2/H/20)

The small collection of papers of the Dublin Clinical Hospital Standing Committee was found in the archive during the present cataloguing project, they had disappeared into the much larger archive of the College itself. The papers were collected by Richard Atkinson Hayes who was secretary of the Committee from 1881 to 1932, and were deposited by him with the college for safe keeping on his retirement. At the same time the minute books of the Committee were also given to the College until they should be needed again by the Committee. As these are no longer in the archive, it must be assumed that they were required by the Committee and withdrawn from the College's safekeeping.

The Committee originated in 1877 when ten Dublin hospitals agreed to set a standard fee for students and apprentices in Dublin. Following the success of this first cross hospital agreement, the Dublin Clinical Hospitals Standing Committee was formally established in 1880 with the aim of agreeing united action on various topics. Including fees, the types of courses to be given in hospitals, and how the hospitals' could advertise their courses. The majority of the papers in the archive are a series of files of the topics discussed by the committee, the views of the constituent hospitals and any resolutions passed.

Letter from the Mater to the secretary of the
Dublin Clinical Hospitals Standing Committee
(part of DCHC/2/7)

The archive also holds the 1877 fee agreement and a series of agreements made between the hospitals and Irish sanitary authorities in the 1920s. The ten founding hospitals of the Committee were the Adelaide Hospital, City of Dublin Hospital, Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, Jervis Street Hospital, Mater Miscericordiae Hospital, Meath Hospital, Mercer's Hospital, the House of Industry Hospitals, Dr Steevens' Hospital and St. Vincent's Hospital. The National Maternity Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital joined the committee later on.

For more information or to view these, or any other, papers in the archive please contact the archivist

The College in the Census

2011-04-08T10:00:00.003+01:00

As this weekend is census weekend in Ireland, I thought this would be a good time to look at what the census has to say about the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland in the past. The digitisation of the 1901 and 1911 census by the National Archives of Ireland, and their free access on line, has made this kind of research much easier. Browsing the 1901 census by place, it was simple to find Number 6 Kildare Street in the Trinity Ward of Dublin.

1901 Census - Household Return form for Number 6 Kildare Street

RCPI/2/5/3 - Bond of John Ludlow

The household return shows that in 1901, 37 year old John Ludlow was living at Number 6, with his wife Annie and three young sons; Charles, Ernest and David. Ludlow was the College's Beadle, having been appointed to that post in 1899. Under the terms of his appointment bond Ludlow was to 'take due care and preservation of the property of the said College committed to his care and well and faithfully perform & discharge the duties which may devolve upon him'. As security for the performance of these tasks Ludlow had to pay a bond of £50 on his appointment, the equivalent of about £5,000 in today money. As part of his role as Beadle Ludlow, and his family, were accommodated in the flat in the basement of number six Kildare Street, now converted into offices.

RCPI/9/11/1 - Part of the plans for the Basement of Number 6

As the original designs for the building show, the front basement area of the building was a two bedroom flat with a kitchen, sitting room and larder. The flat seems to have been much the same in 1901, Ludlow records on the census that his family occupied 5 rooms.

1901 Census - Form B Buidling Return Form for Kildare Street

The census form also gives details of the size of the building as a whole. The number of rooms is given as category 5, meaning there were between 10 and 12, and together with the 9 windows to the front this meant the building was classified as the first class of house. The census also shows that the college had five outside stores.

Moving on 10 years to the 1911 census John Ludlow is still the College's Beadle. He, Annie and the same three boys, all at school, are still living in the flat and the only addition to the household is John's mother Margaret Ludlow.

NLI STP_1253 RCPI, Kildare Street, c.1860-1890

RCPI Archive Part IV – Heritage Centre and Number Six, Kildare Street

2011-04-05T10:11:00.000+01:00

This is the fourth in a series of posts looking at the content of the College's own archive collections, earlier posts can be found here, here and here. Because the collection is so large the catalogue has been split into five parts. PDFs of the collection list can be downloaded from the archive webpage, and the records can also be searched using the online catalogue.

Dun's Library

Part IV of the collection list contains the records relating to the College's Heritage Centre and the College's home at Number Six Kildare Street. The majority of the papers in the Heritage Centre section relate to Dun's Library, including registers of borrows, donations, books purchased and early catalogues of the library. There is also a small collection of papers relating to the College's Museum which was housed in Number 6 Kildare Street during the late nineteenth century. This section of the archive also contains papers relating to what are now classed as the heritage collections of the College, including the portraits and furnishing of the building. Including inventories, details of accessions and receipts of items purchased or restored.

RCPI/8/3/4/1
Design for President's Chair

RCPI/8/3/4/1
Estimate for Library Furniture

As well as the records of the Heritage Centre, Part IV also contains papers relating to the building, repair, restoration and renovation of Number Six Kildare Street. Number 6 was bought by the College in 1860 from the Kildare Street Club. Shortly after it was purchased the building burnt down and the College was able to commission their own design. William Murray's design won the competition and the building was completed in 1864, financed by the insurance money and debentures from members. The archive contains a substantial amount of material relating to the building of Number 6, including architectural plans, letters, receipts, debentures and accounts.

In addition to the papers relating to the construction of Number 6, the archive also holds papers relating to the various changes it has undergone in the last 150 years including the extensions of the 1870, replacement of the façade in the 1960s and the redevelopment of the basement and cellar areas in the 1980s. For each of these projects the archive holds specifications, correspondence, bills and fundraising material, all supported by a collection of over 20 sets of architectural plans.

RCPI/9/3/9 - Building Accounts

In the late 1950s the College became aware that the facade of Number 6 was in need of urgent work. The sandstone facade was coming away from the brick front of the building, and the College was warned that the situation was so bad that there was a danger of pieces falling onto the pavement in front of the building. The architect Desmond FitzGerald was commissioned to design a replacement for the façade, and in the archive are a number of his proposed designs. Eventually the proposal to replace the entire facade in Portland Stone was accepted and the work, financed by public subscription, was completed in the 1960s.

RCPI/9/11/17 - One of the designs for a new facade

Are you going to Donnybrook Fair?

2011-03-31T09:37:00.000+01:00

While cataloguing a pile of nineteenth century medical certificates early in the week I came across a poster for 'Donnybrook Fair – Amusement for the Million!'

Donnybrook fair was established in 1204 on the orders of King John, although it is possible the site was already being used for fairs and important gatherings in the previous century. By the nineteenth century, Donnybrook Fair had lost most of its original mercantile purpose and had become an occasion for public entertainment, drunkenness and debauchery. The reputation of Donnybrook Fair for violence and drinking was such that by the early-mid nineteenth century a "donnybrook" was a slang name for a wild fight or rowdy brawl.

Attempts to ban the fair were made in the early decades of the nineteenth century, but it was not until 1850 and the death of the license holder John Madden, that any real success was achieved. In 1855, John Madden's sister Ellen sold the rights to hold the fair for £3,000 to Father Nolan and his association, which had led the campaign against the fair. Five years later the association were horrified to find signs going up announcing that the fair was to be held once again in August of 1860. The posters, as with the one in the archive here, which probably dates from a year or two later, were signed by Joseph Dillon, the nephew of John Madden and owner of the fair ground. On taking legal advice those who objected to the Dillon's fair discovered that, despite their best efforts, they were unable to prevent the fair, which was held in 1860 and for the following six years. The attempts to prevent the fair are referred to in the poster, Dillon states that ' I feel confident that no person will again interfere with my legitimate right on my own property, as I am determined to seek redress, for same'.

Despite Dillon's fighting word he was unable to maintain the fair. In 1866 the new Catholic Church in Donnybrook opened on Sunday 26^th August, the same day as the fair. The fair was unable to compete, and despite a few sporadic attempts to revived it, Donnybrook fair passed into history and the popular song 'The Humours of Donnybrook' or the 'Donnybrook Jig'

For further reading on Donnybrook Fair see Séamas Ó Maitiú Donnybrook Fair: carnival versus lent in History Ireland, Volume 4, Issue 1, 1996

Putting Irish Archives on the Map

2011-03-28T14:50:00.000+01:00

Last week learnaboutarchives.ie launched the first draft of their Irish Archives Google Map. The map provides details on the location of over 60 archive services across Ireland, with a brief summary of their holdings and a link to the learnaboutarchives entry which gives more details of the archives holdings and contact details. As a work in progress the creators are looking for assistance with corrections and revision to make sure that all the information on the map is correct and up to date.

Learnaboutarchives.ie is hosted by the Archives & Records Association, Ireland and supported by the Heritage Council Ireland. It aims to provide a practical and interesting online information service to the general public on archive material and archive services in Ireland. As well as the archive map the site contains a directory of archive services, educational resources and sample documents. As well as information on what archives are, what they do and how to make use of them.

Archive Item of the Month – the Countess of Aldborough’s Recipe Book

2011-03-22T16:07:00.000Z

The item I have chosen to highlight this month is a recipe book which belonged to Anne Elizabeth Stratford, 2^nd Countess Aldborough. As well as recipes for food the volume also contains a number of recipes for the home treatments of illnesses.

Anne Elizabeth Stratford,
2nd Countess Aldborough

Anne Elizabeth Henniker was the daughter of John Henniker, 1^st Baron Henniker, and was probably born in the 1750s or 1760s. In 1787 she became the second wife of Edward Augustus Stratford, 2^nd Earl Aldborough (c.1741-1801). The 2^nd Earl had built homes in London and Dublin; he was a member of both the Irish and British House of Commons, and from 1778 Governor of County Wicklow. The Countess's Recipe Book must date from between the time of her marriage in 1787 and her death in 1802; she died at Aldborough House in Dublin the year after he husband.

Aldborough House, Dublin

The book contains a variety of recipes for culinary dishes, details of 'experiments in artificial mineral water', lists of preserves and a list of 'sundries for our garden in Dublin', which contains a short description of the garden and lists of trees, flowers, fruits, vegetables and shrubs for the garden. Towards the back of the volume are a number of recipes for home treatments for a range of aliments from cures for tooth ache, colic and piles, to instructions 'to expel an earwig from the head'.

Page from the Countess of Albdorough's Recipe Book

On occasions a note at the end of the instructions indicates where the recipe originated from, either the name of the friend or physician who provided it or if it was taken from the newspaper. The sharing of home cures and treatments between family and friends seems to have been a fairly common practice at this time.

This volume is one of two collections of cures donated to the archive in the bequest of Dr Kirkpatrick. The other is Valuable Receipts, & various cures for many disorders. Collected by Mary Barnewall of Greenanstown in the county of Meath, Ireland, May 19^th 1752.

Page from Mary Barnewall's Recipe Book

These two items represent a rare glimpse into the ordinary person's experience of medicine, something that is generally missing from the majority of the records in the archive which tend to be dominated by the voice of the medical profession. Other items in the collections which give the patient more of a voice are a collection of over 100 letters written to Dr Kirkpatrick by his patients, and some research carried out by Dr Fleetwood into the traditional cures and remedies in county Leitrim (JF/2/1/7). The absence of the patient's voice in the archive collections is something that has been identified as a weakness in our collections, and which we hope to address in the future developments of the archival collections.