RCSI Heritage Collections

The Crampton Memorial Fountain This drinking fountain, which was located on the junction of College, D'Olier and Pearse Street, was erected in Sir Philip Crampton's honour in 1862. It was designed by Joseph Kirk, RHA, and was constructed of bronze, Aberdeen and Irish granite and black marble. It was 25 foot high and featured Indian water lillies, abacus (the water plant), dolphin's mouths, shells, a serpent, a saw, a heron, a pelican and a bust of Crampton himself. It was warmly referred to as 'The Cauliflower' or 'The Pineapple' by Dubliners. Quite a unique design and not to everyone's liking, as Sir Charles Cameron makes known in his History of the Royal College of Surgeon in Ireland  'A marble statue of Crampton from the master chisel of Foley, placed in the College Hall, would have been a more suitable memorial of him than the inartistic structure in College Street'. Why was Crampton given a memorial fountain, be it a weird looking o...

Thomas Heazle Parke was the first Irishman to cross Africa. He accompanied the explorer Henry Morton Stanley in 1887 on his expedition to reach and free the besieged Emin Pasha. People in Dublin pass his statute everyday, which stands outside the Natural History Museum on Merrion Square and the majority would not know the achievements of this revered and extraordinary man from Leitrim. Statue of Thomas Heazle Parke outside the Natural History Museum, Dublin Parke was born in Clogher House, Kilmore, Co. Roscommon in 1857 and was the second son of William Parke and his wide Henrietta Holmes. He entered the RCSI in 1875 and took the LRCSI in 1878. He took the LKQCPI (Kings and Queen's College) the following year. He joined the Army Medical Department in 1881 when 23 years old and continued in service until the time of his death.  Parke was posted to Egypt in 1882 and served in all the Egyptian and Soudan campaigns; Tel-el-Kebir campaign 1882; Nile campaign 1884-1885; Metemnh; ...

Another 3 decades of the RCSI Roll of Licentiates have been made available on our website . They are the years 1890 up to 1920, so feature those who received their licence before, during and after the First World War. One such person was John Cecil Lynmore Day from Limerick whose signature can be seen below, fourth name from the top. RCSI Roll of Licentiates 1910-1911 RCSI/LIC/02 Day received his licence from the College on the 10th February 1910. He then features in the RCSI Roll of Honour 1914-1918, an honours list that was produced by the College to remember and celebrate all those staff and students that played their part in the Great War. Day's name can be seen in the image below, fifth from the bottom. RCSI Roll of Honour 1914-1918  Browse these newly added years and who knows you may find the name of that long lost relative you were told tales about when younger! - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the RCSI Heritage Collections Photo of a snow covered St Stephens Green taken in the winter of 1910.  The College can just about be seen in the background.  (RCSI/News/01)

Last week the RCSI Heritage Collections were involved in the recording of the brilliant The Book Show on RTÉ Radio 1  which will be aired this Saturday 20th December. The show is about the rise of Gothic novels and ghost stories. Sinead Gleeson, The Book Show presenter, discusses Edith Wharton's novel The Eyes with Dr. Ian Flitcroft, an eye surgeon at Temple Street Hospital and author of the short-listed People's Book Prize 2013 The Reluctant Cannibals .     To set the scene for The Eyes  the RCSI Heritage Collections pulled out a number of antique eye instruments and gave a brief description on how they were used. RCSI/MI/964 The instrument on the left is an eye retractor (RCSI/MI/964). This would have been used to pull and hold the overlying tissue out of the operating field. RCSI/MI/942 is an eye scoop. This would have been used after the removal of an eye to scoop out any of the remaining tissue. The instrument below is an eye speculum (RCSI/MI/...

In these dark, damp and deeply cold evenings it is nice to gaze at a beautifully crafted stained glass window with its magnificent array of colours. And what better way to to do so then while keeping warm indoors! The RCSI is very fortunate to have a number of stained glass windows in it's historic building on Stephens Green. Two of which come from the internationally revered and highly sought after Harry Clarke Studios. Harry Clarke took over his father's stained glass studios in Dublin in 1921 and soon became synonymous with unique and exceptionally crafted stained glass. Despite his untimely death in January 1931, the Harry Clarke Studios continued to produce stunning pieces of art for all over the world. In 1930 Terence Clarke, a nephew of Harry, entered the family studios as an apprentice quickly learning and honing his skill as a stained glass artist.     Detail of 'Mother and Child' stained glass panel in the RCSI Chapel of Meditation  Terence Cla...

The RCSI Heritage Collections has recently digitised the RCSI Examinations Register from 1784 to 1803 (RCSI/LIC/01/02). The 12 folios list alphabetically the names of those who have been examined in the RCSI for Letters Testimonial, Mateship, Army Surgeon, Surgeoncy, Army Mate, Navy Mate, Assistant Surgeon and to be a ranked mate to a ranked officer. Find the full register on our website. RCSI/LIC/01/02 pg.1 RCSI/LIC/01/02 pg.2 - Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy