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| William Dease (1752-1798) |
The impressive, whole-length seated statue facing the entrance door in the front hall of the College, represents William Dease (1752-1798) one of the founders of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was the College's first Professor of Surgery and it's President in 1789. The sculptor was Sir Thomas Farrell, RHA. It was presented by the subject's grandson, Matthew O'Reilly Dease. It was unveiled by the Countess of Aberdeen at an afternoon ceremony on 27th April 1886.
William Dease was born in Lisney, Co. Cavan, in 1752 to a landed family which had suffered through support of the Stuart cause. He received his professional education in Dublin and Paris, settling in Dublin he soon attained a good practice. He was surgeon to the United Hospitals of St. Nicolas and St. Catherine, in Francis Street, which in 1766 had forty beds and 5 elected surgeons. Dease was an original member of the Dublin Society for Surgeons. A successful practitioner, he could afford to live in Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) which was also home to 12 noblemen and 14 members of Parliament. He contributed liberally towards the expenses incurred in procuring the College Charter. As Professor of Surgery in the College, Dease became ex-officio Surgeon of the Lock Hospital and was elected Surgeon to the Meath Hospital in 1793. Dease published works of enduring quality on midwifery and diseases of women and children, wounds of the head, cure of hydrocele and other diseases of the testicles, venereal diseases and medical jurisprudence.
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| William Dease |
Dease died suddenly in January 1798 at the age of 46. There are three different accounts as to how Dease died. The first account states that Solomon Richards, a colleague at the Meath Hospital, misdiagnosed a suppurated aneurysm as an abscess which Dease subsequently opened. The patient died and Dease is said to have mortally wounded himself in a fit of remorse. The second was reported in the Hibernian Magazine for June 1798. It refers to Dease being ill for two days from a bilious attack, an affection to which he was liable for some years. During the act of vomiting it claims Dease burst a blood-vessel and died immediately. The third and final account comes from Dr. Madden, writing the lives of the United Irishmen. Madden states that Dease was warned by the Surgeon-General to the Forces George Stewart (a member of the College and it's President in 1792) of his imminent arrest. With that Dease "went home from the College, where the intelligence was given to him, opened the femoral artery and died of haemorrhage".
If you look closely at Dease's left leg in the seated statue above you will notice a dark line running the length of his thigh. Rumour has it that this wasn't present when the statue was given to the College. But that it has gradually appeared over the years. Is it an indication of how Dease died, by severing his femoral artery? If so was his reasoning to escape arrest for being a United Irishman or out of remorse over the death of a patient. Will we ever know?
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy