RCSI Heritage Collections

If you are one for a little light reading, why not visit the RCSI Heritage Collections webpage where you can now find a transcription of the entire charter granted to the College by George III in 1784. In 1765   Sylvester O'Halloran , a surgeon from   Limerick , had proposed a College of Surgeons in Ireland along the lines of the College de St. Cosme in Paris, which had been regulating French surgery since its creation by royal charter by   Louis IX   in 1255. The Dublin Society of Surgeons was founded in 1780 at The Elephant public house on Essex Street (now Parliament Street).  Surgery in Ireland was without regulation. Top page of the RCSI Charter The main goals of the society were to separate from the barbers and provide surgical education in Ireland. They lobbied for a royal charter in 1781 and presented the   Lord Lieutenant  with their  petition. Finally a   charter   was granted by  King George III   on 11 Febr...

He went as far as the clock of the College of Surgeons: it was on the stroke of ten. He set off briskly along the northern side of the Green, hurrying for fear of Corley....  - James Joyce; 'Dubliners' With the release of the Central Bank of Ireland's commemorative medal to James Joyce a few months back the above quote from 'Two Gallants' has been in my mind. The clock above the front entrance to the College is a beautiful eye-catching sky blue colour, much like Dublin's sky these last few sunny days. It was made by James Booth and Sons who were prominent watch and clock makers based in Dublin. James had his workshop near Stephen's Green North from 1823 and he is registered in the Dublin Street Directory 1862 as a 'foreign and English watch and clock maker' . His son James Jnr. worked on Nassau Street in 1868 and the business continued up until the 1950s. Booth was popular among the fashionable and wealthy in Dublin and he received a large sh...