With the announcement that the houses on Moore Street where the 1916 leaders surrendered are to be restored, the Heritage Collections thought of another reason why this row of houses should be saved. In number 20 Moore Street Dr. William Wallace (1791-1837) opened the first hospital to investigate and treat the numerous skin diseases afflicting the poor in Dublin. The first of it's kind in the whole British Empire. Dr. William Wallace (1791-1837) William Wallace was born in 1791 in Downpatrick, Co. Down to James Wallace and Elizabeth Ledlie. Little is known about Wallace's childhood. At the age of 17 decided to study medicine and was indentured to Dr. Charles Bowden of the Apothecaries Hall in Dublin. Two years later in 1810 he enrolled in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland as a medical student. Wallace worked as an apprentice to Charles Hawkes Todd, lecturer in Anatomy. Todd was also surgeon to the Richmond and Lock Hospitals, both had large numbers of patients w...