The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland had an
Officer Training Corps (OTC) garrison stationed in it's main building on Stephen's Green in the early 1900s, much the same as Trinity College did. This RCSI OTC provided military training to students in the College. As the members of the OTC were full-time students they were not expected to serve on operations.
In the RCSI Heritage Collections we have a number of items relating to the College's OTC. Below you will see the official handbook and regulations that were issued to the OTC stationed in the College.
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| RCSI OTC Handbook 1912 |
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| RCSI OTC Regulations 1912 |
Members of the College OTC would have been in the band who played at events, processions and ceremonies that took place in the College. The drums were a military instrument used to keep time while marching and also transmit signals across the battlefield. The RCSI band can be seen in the photograph below which was taken just before the outbreak of the First World War, on 9th December 1913.
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| RCSI Band on 9th December 1913 |
The band has long since disappeared from College life as have the boys and men in this photograph. But recently when cleaning out a storage room in the College a discovery was made. The wooden cover of the large drum in the centre of the photograph was found and can be seen below with the College crest still resplendent and vibrant despite the passing of time.
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Detail of drum from black
and white photograph |
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| Wooden cover from the RCSI band's large drum today |
The College recently acquired another historic piece that relates to the OTC. On 24th March 1916 2nd Lieutenant F.L. Power of the RCSI OTC sat at his desk and wrote a letter to Major J.A. Harris of the British Army stationed in Dublin. He wished to inform the Major that he feared there was going to be trouble in the city and an attempt was going to be made by volunteers on the College stores. The 'stores' Power refers to were the gun and ammunition stores that the College had tucked away in a safe hold in the basement.
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| RCSI OTC letter dated 24th March 1916 |
Did Power empty these stores before the Rising took place or were they a nice addition to the volunteers meagre supply of arms when they took possession of the College in April 1916?
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy
