RCSI Heritage Collections

As it is the Day of Love the Heritage Collections felt it right to tell you the tale of Robert (Robin) Adair. Adair was made one of the first Honorary Fellows of this College on 11 December 1784. Adair is believed to have been a native of Ballymena, Co. Antrim, and was studying medicine in Dublin in the late 1700s. While studying he got into some sort of a scrape. But with very little money and few friends Adair decided that his only option was to flee Dublin and head towards London. Adair arrived in Holyhead with no money to pay for passage to London so he began to walk. Robert (Robin) Adair He had not walked far when he came across a carriage that had been overturned on the bad road. The owner and occupier of the carriage was a well known society lady who had been slightly injured in the accident. Adair offered to help the lady and soon had the carriage righted and road-worthy again. Adair explained that he was a surgeon and offered to inspect the lady's injuries whic...

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was established by the Charter granted by King George III on 11 February 1784. This date is the highlight of the College year and its celebration has a long tradition.This years annual RCSI Charter Day Dinner is taking place in the College this Saturday 8th of February. Shortly after their incorporation in 1784 the members of the College revived the practice of dining together, which had been instituted by the Society of Surgeons. The Society of Surgeons was a fore-runner of RCSI and had petitioned for this very charter. Over the centuries various events in RCSI were celebrated with dinners and banquets, but in 1901 the meeting of the College to dine together was formalised by a Council resolution that an annual College dinner be held. By 1910 it was decided that the annual dinner be known as the ‘Charter Day Dinner’, and that it be held on February 11, or as near that date as possible.   To have been granted a royal charter made all the...

RCSI Heritage Collections are delighted to announce that the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland came joint 2nd place in the 'Best Interactive Category' in the Heritage Week Awards 2013. During Heritage Week (19-21 August 2013) the College ran 6 public tours that were guided by our Porters and catered for over 360 members of the public. A small collection of historical material was on display during these tours.  If you want to see exactly what material was on display just follow this link to find out more. - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy