RCSI Heritage Collections

With the arrival of the sunny weather, the growth in strawberry consumption and tennis racquets at the ready for Wimbledon next week, it is time to crack the Pimm's open. But how do all these elements relate to RCSI you ask? Through the man below, Dr. Joshua Pim. Dr. Joshua Pim with the Wimbledon Singles trophy Dr. Joshua Pim was not only a descendent of James Tee Pimm , the celebrated creator of the drink Pimm's , but also a holder of the Singles and Doubles Irish Championships and Wimbledon titles in 1893 and 1894. Pim burst onto the tennis scene with his first major win at the tender age of 21. Pim along with his partner Frank Stoker (a relative of the author Bram Stoker and the RCSI surgeon William Thornley Stoker ) won both the English and Irish doubles championship in 1890. But he had been playing since the age of eleven and was coached at the Lansdowne Lawn Tennis Club by the great Irish player Thomas Burke. At this time the Irish Championships was one of the mo

William Butler Years was born 150 years ago today in Sandymount, Dublin. Yeats was to become an internationally recognised Irish poet, playwright, author and one of the most influential figures of 20th century literature. Throughout his life he suffered illnesses including fever, pneumonia and a broken heart from his unrequited love of Maud Gonne. W.B. Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty in Dublin in 1924 taken from The New York Times March 1964 Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty were close friends despite their age difference. They wrote to each other, attended various literary and political gatherings across the globe and sat in the Senate together. Gogarty was not only interested in literature he was a highly qualified surgeon. When Yeats fell ill at the end of 1929 his fever charts were passed to Gogarty, who confirmed the seriousness of Yeats illness. These fever charts were donated to the RCSI Heritage Collections by Prof. J.B. Lyons many years ago and can be seen below

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) military surgeons carried a book with them through the battlefields and army hospitals. This book was adopted by the Surgeon-General of the United States Army soon after it's publication in Dublin in 1860. It was a 'bible' to army surgeons. The book was Anatomy of the Arteries of the Human Body, Descriptive and Surgical with the Descriptive Anatomy of the Heart by one John Hatch Power FRCSI. Power's Anatomy of the Arteries of the Human Body published in 1860 John Hatch Power was born on 24 November 1806 in Dublin. From a young age he showed an interest and aptitude in surgery. So after receiving some instruction in surgery he was apprenticed to Robert Adams at the age of 19. On 7 May 1831 Power received his licence from the College and soon afterwards became Demonstrator in the Richmond Medical School. In 1838 he graduated M.D. from Glasgow University and in December 1844 Power became a Fellow of the College. Powe