Dr. Richard Carmichael was born on 6th February 1776 in Bishop Street in Dublin. He began his studies in the RCSI under the indenture of Robert Moore Peile in 1794. On the 15th September 1795 at the tender age of 20 he passed the College examinations qualifying him to act as a surgeon's mate. In May 1803 he became a Licentiate of the College and was elected a member that November. Carmichael became President of the College for the first time in 1813 at the age of 34.
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| Dr. Richard Carmichael (1776-1849) |
Carmichael went on to have an eminent career being appointed to such positions as Surgeon to St. George's Hospital and Dispensary in 1803; Surgeon to the House of Industry Hospitals in 1816; President of the RCSI for a second time in 1826; running his own very successful practice in Dublin; being the first Irishman to be elected as Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in France in 1835 and taking his third term as President of the College in 1845.
But this respected and revered man of medicine was to die in tragic circumstances. Carmichael lived in Portmarnock, out by the coast on the Northside of Dublin. His house is believed to be the Clubhouse of the Portmarnock Golf Club which sits across an inlet of water from Sutton. The following story has been passed down from Mrs. Jane Carmichael (his wife) to her niece, to her niece and was recounted to Anthony W. Bishop on numerous occasions by his mother, Esther Bishop.
It was the evening of 8th June 1849. Mrs. Carmichael was awaiting his arrival home to evening dinner. The room in which she sat overlooked the archway into the stable-yard of the house. On hearing a horse approaching she went to the window and saw the doctor riding into the yard; he looked up and seeing her at the window waved his riding-crop at her. She called to the maid that the master had just ridden into the yard and that she could start to serve the dinner. Mrs. Carmichael waited and waited but the doctor never appeared. Eventually she went to look for him and met, not with her husband, but the groom. He was in a very distressed state and told her that the doctor's horse had come in by itself to the stables. It was soaking wet with sea-water but there was no sign of the doctor.
Carmichael had decided to take a short cut across the inlet in between Sutton and Portmarnock that evening. But he must have misjudged the swiftness of the advancing tide. Richard Carmichael's body was found four days later with no fractures, marks or bruises on it.
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| Richard Carmichael's grave in St. George's Cemetery, Whitworth Road, Dublin 9 |
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| Richard Carmichael's grave stone |
The inscription starts 'Sacred to the memory Richard Carmichael, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in France, M.R.I.A & c. Q.c. In crossing the dangerous...between Clontarf and Howth, he wa[s] lo[st] [in] the waters of Sutton on the 8th day of June [1849], in [the 70th] year of his age.....'
If you are around the waters between Sutton and Portmarnock this evening, cast your eyes over the waters as you may catch a glimpse of Richard Carmichael trying to make his way home.
- Story provided by Anthony W. Bishop
- Photographs provided by Gary McCabe