Among the antiquarian books in the RCSI Heritage Collections
are those kept together in a special collection named for the surgeons to whom
they once belonged. Their lives and their books are outlined here.
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| 'Handbook of Operative Surgery' |
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| Sir William de Courcy Wheeler (1879-1943) |
William Ireland de Courcy Wheeler (1844–99) and Sir William Ireland de Courcy Wheeler (1879-1943), father and son, both became presidents of RCSI in 1884 and 1922 respectively. William Wheeler senior was surgeon to the Royal City of Dublin Hospital in Baggot Street; he published many articles and devised instruments for the treatment of hare-lip. Richard Butcher, his contemporary and colleague, send him so much work that the students called Wheeler ‘the butcher’s boy’.
Sir William Ireland de Courcy
Wheeler (the son) was
surgeon to Mercer’s Hospital. His reputation as an operator and teacher was
such that he was referred to as ‘the man who made Mercer’s’. He published a
number of books and papers including Pillars of Surgery in 1933, Injuries and Diseases of the Bones (1928), while his Handbook of Operative Surgery first published in 1906 went on to a
fourth edition by 1925.
During World War I Sir William placed his private nursing home, 33 Upper
Fitzwilliam Street, at the disposal of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade and the
British Red Cross as a hospital for wounded officers. On April 30, 1915 eight
wounded officers were admitted from the hospital ship Oxfordshire. During the
Easter Rising he was mentioned in despatches for courage in treating wounded
soldiers under fire and on Easter Monday, ignoring snipers, he made his way
across St Stephen’s Green to Mercer’s Hospital to attend an officer with a
chest injury. At the outbreak of World War II he was appointed consulting
surgeon to the Admiralty.
Richard George Herbert Butcher (1819-1891) FRCSI was elected president of RCSI in 1866. A pioneering surgeon who devised an amputation saw and published many cases with his refined operative technique. A feature of this collection is the sets of his articles and case books which he had decoratively bound. Butcher was surgeon to Mercer’s Hospital and Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital and lecturer on Operative Surgery at Trinity College Dublin.
In May 1944 the executors of the late Sir William Ireland de Courcy Wheeler offered to RCSI the bequest of Sir William's medical books together with a large bookcase belonging to the late Surgeon Butcher. These books form the Wheeler-Butcher library in memory of Sir William's father and his master RGH Butcher.
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy
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| Cartoonist unknown |
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| 'Cases of Amputation by Use of New Saw' |
Richard George Herbert Butcher (1819-1891) FRCSI was elected president of RCSI in 1866. A pioneering surgeon who devised an amputation saw and published many cases with his refined operative technique. A feature of this collection is the sets of his articles and case books which he had decoratively bound. Butcher was surgeon to Mercer’s Hospital and Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital and lecturer on Operative Surgery at Trinity College Dublin.
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| Book plate from the Wheeler-Butcher Collection |
In May 1944 the executors of the late Sir William Ireland de Courcy Wheeler offered to RCSI the bequest of Sir William's medical books together with a large bookcase belonging to the late Surgeon Butcher. These books form the Wheeler-Butcher library in memory of Sir William's father and his master RGH Butcher.
The emphasis of these combined collections is on late nineteenth and
early twentieth century surgery. They illustrate the pioneering work of Irish
surgeons who found themselves participants in local and world events. These three surgeons feature in history and in history yet to be
written.
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy