RCSI Heritage Collections

This week saw the unveiling of a commemorative plaque in honour of Dr Kathleen Lynn and her partner Madeleine ffrench-Mullen for their services to paediatric care in Ireland.  In addition to their contribution to Irish healthcare and society, both women have extensive links to RCSI. Lynn was a student in RCSI during the 1890s, and was awarded the prestigious Barker Prize in Anatomy in 1898. She later became a fellow of RCSI in 1913. ffrench-Mullen was a member of the Irish Citizen Army Stephen's Green garrison stationed in RCSI during the 1916 Rising. Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen were heavily involved in the Irish nationalist movement and both played key roles in the events of Easter Week 1916. As a trained doctor, Lynn was Chief Medical Officer of the Irish Citizen Army during 1916 and taught first-aid to Cumann na mBan members. ffrench-Mullen was a lieutenant in the Irish Citizen Army and was in charge of the first-aid station at the RCSI garrison.  Interior o...

This year is the year of celebrating the rebellion and what those few hoped to achieve. So with this theme of rebellion in mind, who should be found amongst the early giants of Irish surgery and the history of RCSI but a rebel so rebellious he is expelled! Enter the aptly named William Lawless There is a little confusion over the exact year that Lawless was born in Dublin, some sources say it was 1772 while others say it was a little earlier in 1764. Either way we know he had completed his surgical studies and received his Letters Testimonial from RCSI on 11th June 1788. How can we be so exact? It is written in the RCSI Roll of Licentiates from that time, see below William Lawless' name is the first listed above (RCSI/Lic/01/02) In 1790 Lawless was elected a Member of the College and on 1st September he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. Lawless was an avowed nationalist and along with his fellow surgeon, William Dease, was an active member of the Unit...

Accompanying the College's commemoration exhibition Surgeons & Insurgents: RCSI and the Easter Rising was a lively, informative and free public lecture series. All nine lectures were booked out which meant that some visitors were disappointed in not being able to hear such learned speakers discuss topics such as Michael Mallin, military tactics used by the British army and the rebels and what life was like in Dublin, the second city of the British Empire, before the Rising. Never fear! These lectures are now available to view on the RCSI YouTube Channel. Click on the lecture you wish to watch below and enjoy! 'Surgeons & Insurgents: RCSI and the Easter Rising' - Dr Mary McAuliffe 'The Easter Rising: Fighting for the Crown or Half Crown?' - Padraig Yeates 'Blood and Bandages: Medicine of the Easter Rising' - Anthony Kinsella 'Stuff Matters: The material cul;ture of 1916' - Lisa Godson and Dr Joanna Bruck 'Th...

UPDATE UPDATE READ ALL ABOUT IT! Thank the megabytes for the virtual community as they have taken the story of James Duncan, his wife Catherine Lucy and their son George to heart. Progress has been made into what happened the Duncan's after James lost his job as College Porter in 1916.  The following information has been uncovered, but with the passage of time it is hard to say with certainty that these are the Duncan's we are looking for but... James Duncan may not have lived long after submitting his request for compensation in November 1916. From the 1911 census we know James was 59 years old. The James Duncan in the following death record died aged 64, but his birth date is estimated. So is it James Duncan the College Porter? James Duncan Death Record Catherine Lucy Duncan was living with George in Pembroke Road until the 1940s and then this death record appears Catherine Duncan Death Record George was born in 1902 and his birth record with his fu...

After the success of RCSI Heritage Collections last appeal for help with an unsolved mystery , we are again asking for you, the virtual community, to help locate a relative of James Duncan, College Porter in 1916 .  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While researching for the College's 2016 exhibition Surgeons & Insurgents: RCSI and the Easter Rising   we stumbled across the eye-witness account of how the insurgents gained entry into the College. What a discovery! But unfortunately the discovery was soon tinged with sadness. Letter accompanying James Duncan's petition The College Porter at the time, James Duncan wrote this eye-witness account, had it signed and witnessed by a solicitor then sent it to the President and Council of the College. The reason being that after the dust had settled on the 1916 Easter Rising, Duncan was fired from his job of 27 years. James Duncan, who had served...

Having entered the poignant week of the executions of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, RCSI Heritage Collections wanted to look at an item that illustrates the emotions of one rebel who had fought in the Rising. A colleague in Royal College of Physicians of Ireland contacted recently with the image below. This was found by a man in a corporation flat that was being emptied out. The author had given this, amongst other things to the owner who was now passing them on. Poem written by Little Tommy Keenan So who was Thomas P. Keenan, the 12 year old, who took part in the Rising and left such a beautiful poem encapsulating that historic week? There is reference to Tommy in Michael Foy and Brian Barton's book The Easter Rising and it is as follows Whilst 12-year-old Tommy Keenan fetched food and medicine for Mallin's garrison in the College of Surgeons, his tiny size deceiving British Soldiers who never suspected that the smiling schoolboy was wearing a green Fia...

If you strike us down now we shall rise again and renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland; you cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom then our children will win it by a better deed.  - Pádraig Pearse This day 100 years ago men, women and children gathered at Liberty Hall to take part in the 1916 Easter Rising and the fight for Ireland to rule herself and be declared a Republic. Just after midday Pádraig Pearse stood outside the General Post Office (GPO), Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) and read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic to a bewildered crowd.  Proclamation of the Irish Republic Courtesy of TCD Unaware of what has to take place surgical, medical and nursing staff treated those who had been brought back injured from the battlefields of World War I. Within hours soldiers, rebels and civilians wounded from the intense fighting on the streets of Dublin would begin to pass throu...

On Sunday 17th April the exhibition Surgeons & Insurgents: RCSI and the Easter Rising closed after a triumphant, yet short, run of just over three weeks. But the closing of the College's front door does not mean the end of the exhibition. We are delighted to announce that it will be travelling to the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Lexicon Library situated on Haigh Terrace in Dún Laoghaire. RCSI exhibition Surgeons & Insurgents heads out to Dun Laoghaire next month The entwined lives of the nine surgeons and nine insurgents featured in the exhibition will continue to enthral and intrigue audiences from 2nd May until 3rd June 2016.   Visitors will also be able to attend two talks that relate to these surgeons and the ambulance staff that risked their lives to save soldier, rebel and civilians alike during that historic week. These talks will be delivered by Meadhbh Murphy, RCSI Archivist, and Padraig Allen, archivist in St John Ambulance. Dates and times for these talks c...

One of the many treats of RCSI's Surgeons & Insurgents exhibition is the remarkably detailed scale model of St Stephen's Green in Easter Week 1916. To add to the re-creation, Mary O'Doherty, Special Collections Librarian of the RCSI Library, has looked at Thom's Dublin City Directory 1916  to see who was living and working on the Green and surrounding streets 100 years ago. Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland building in the scale model created for ' Surgeons & Insurgents: RCSI and the Easter Rising ' exhibition, open to the public until 17th April 2016. Free entry, book place here . Image credit: Billy Cahill. St. Stephen's Green in 1916 was a fairly well-to-do part of the city having received a proper facelift in the 1870s from the gift of Sir Arthur Edward Guinness (later known as Lord Ardilaun), whose statue faces RCSI today. Sir Arthur purchased the Green, paid off its debts, returned it to the public and took an active part in the lan...

Well the Easter weekend is over and what a weekend! Numerous exhibitions, events, talks, re-enactments etc took place all over Dublin city. Below are just a few photos to show what was happening in RCSI. Detail of the full scale model of St Stephens Green and surrounding buildings in 1916 which greets visitors to the Surgeons & Insurgents: RCSI and the Easter Rising exhibition on in the College Capt. Christopher Poole stands to attention at the bottom of the stairs in RCSI Surgeons & Insurgents exhibition in College Hall, the same room the insurgents slept in in 1916 Dublin Brigade Irish Volunteers Commemorative Organisation pay the College a visit Two visitors to the exhibition engrossed in completing their activity sheets oblivious to who is watching! The lads take up position behind the barricades in Front Hall ready for a rising! RCSI President Declan Magee addressing the relatives at the wreath laying ceremony,...

 "We always talked of having a Rising, but, although we talked of it,  we never realised that it was so near...For little more than a week before the Rising there was tremendous excitement - a sort of seething undercurrent. You felt that something was going to happen. But what it was, you did not know." Mary Josephine Ryan As we prepare for the launch of Surgeons & Insurgents , the RCSI's 1916 exhibition and lecture series, we are looking at statements from contemporary witnesses on what they remembered about the lead up to the Rising.  To book your ticket for the exhibition and lecture series, see www.rcsi.ie/2016 . Free Entry, but booking required. From our school history books, we know that the Rebels took the British administration in Ireland and many Dublin citizens by surprise with their actions in Easter Week. But delving into the Bureau of Military History's online collection of witness statements about the months, weeks and days before...

Today is International Women's Day so we decided to have a look at two women whose links to the College are very different but both equally significant.  The first woman we will look at is Mary Emily Dowson. Mary is very important in the break through of women into the world of education. In 1884 the College met to decide whether they would admit women students and the motion was passed nine votes to three. Mary became the first women to receive a licence from RCSI on 4th June 1886. Her signature in the College's Roll of Licentiates can be seen below.  Mary Emily Dowson's signature RCSI/LIC/02 The Medical Press of the time wrote an article entitled 'The First Lady Surgeon' which gives details about how well Mary performed during her four days of examinations.  Medical Press article about Mary Emily Dowson dated June 1886 The second woman we will look at is Moira Elizabeth Connolly, daughter of the 1916 Easter Rising signatory and socialist...