What has an RCSI President from 1797 and a character from Father Ted have in common??
A weird fondness for cats, it seems.
Here is a quote describing a trait of William Hartigan, President of RCSI in 1797...
'William Hartigan was noted for his fondness of cats. He frequently, on his professional rounds of visits, brought a pair of kittens with him, ensconced in the deep coat-pockets worn early in the last century'.
- History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland by Sir Charles Cameron
While below is Father Ted's description of Matty Hislop from the Lent episode of Father Ted called 'Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading'...
Ted: 'God almighty, when I think of the sacrifices Matty Hislop made'
Dougal: 'Who?'
Ted: 'He was a notorious drunkard who found God and then decided to punish himself for his sins. Oh, he used to do all kinds of things. Like he had a terrible allergic reaction to cats. So instead of avoiding them, he used to carry a kitten in his pocket. He'd sniff it from time to time. His head just inflated like a balloon.'
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| William Hartigan (1756-1812) |
Uncanny! So who was William Hartigan? Hartigan was born in Dublin in 1756 and followed in his father's footsteps training as a surgeon and qualifying in 1778. In 1780 he was elected a member of the Dublin Society of Surgeons and in 1789 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy in the College. In 1797 Hartigan's fellow surgeons elected him President of RCSI and in 1798 he succeeded William Dease in the Chair of Surgery.
The following year Hartigan begins to assist the Professor of Anatomy in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and by 1803 he is listed as TCD's Professor of Anatomy and Chirurgery, He also held the position of Lecturer in Anatomy at the School of Physic, which consisted of the amalgamated medical schools of TCD and the College of Physicians, from 1804. Hartigan has a very agreeable manner and much loved by his pupils, those in RCSI twice presented him with complimentary addresses. And of course he has a fondness for cats!
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| Lieu-Col Frederick S. Heuston (1857-1914) |
Another surgeon associated with RCSI has a rather odd connection to an animal, this time of the K9 variety. Frederick Samuel Heuston was born in 1857 in Tipperary along with his twin brother Francis T. Heuston. Both qualified in medicine in the late 1870s and Frederick joined the Army Medical Department in 1884. A year later he became a Fellow of RCSI. He distinguished himself in the Hazara Expedition of 1888 and was then seconded for service under the Chinese Government from 1894 to 1898.
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| Imperial Order of the Double Dragon |
Heuston gained the affection and the gratitude of the Chinese Government and was one of the few Europeans to be awarded the coveted Imperial Order of the Double Dragon of the Third Class for his surgical services during the war between China and Japan in 1894-1895.
Heuston then became Professor of Medicine in the newly established Imperial Medical College, Tientsin and was instrumental in raising the standards of teaching.
The Pekingese dog is one of the oldest breed of dog in the world. It was unknown to the Western World until the sack of the Summer Palace in Peking in 1860 when a number of Pekingese were taken from the palace by the British army and brought back as a gift for Queen Victoria. Before that their removal from the Royal Palaces of China was punishable by death as they were exclusively reserved for the Royal family.
What does this have to do with Heuston, I hear you ask. Well Heuston was so respected by the Chinese Royal family that he was gifted a pair of Pekingese dogs, the ultimate sign of Royal favour. He was the first European ever to be honoured like this.
They were named Chang and lady Li and Heuston sent them home to his twin brother's house in Greystones, Co. Wicklow to await his eventual return. Heuston instead went on to South Africa to play his part in the Boer Wars where he was awarded the Companion in the Order of St Micheal and St George (C.M.G) He returned to Dublin and his Pekingese in 1902 and was appointed Surgeon and Physician of the Royal Infirmary in Kilmainham. He was made a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps (R.A.M.C) in 1904. Heuston retired from his post in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham in 1912 and two years later he passed away on 28th March 1914 at the young age of 57.
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| Ah the Pekingese. A great bunch of lads. |
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy