RCSI Heritage Collections

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...

Today, 23 February, in 1685 George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany. Handel was a composer who became known for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. He is linked to Dublin because it was in the Musick Hall on Fishamble Street that Handel first performed his oratorio Messiah   on 23 December 1741 .   George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) by Balthasar Denner Handel arrived in Dublin in November 1741 and, luckily for him, it was only a month or so later that the Musick Hall opened. In John Thomas Gilbert's A History of the City of Dublin he recalls that Handel advertised his up and coming oratorio as follows ' At the new Musick Hall in Fishamble-street, on Wednesday next, being the 23rd day of Dec., (1741). Mr. Handel’s Musical Entertainments will be opened, in which will be performed L’Allegro il Penseroso, il Moderato, with two Concertos for several instruments, and a Concerto on the Organ.  To begin at 7 o’Clock.  Tickets for that n...

Fully aware that the moment he died [John] Hunter would come for his body, [Charles] Byrne had concocted a plan designed to thwart him. As his friends leaned forward to hear his dying words, Byrne made them vow to seal his body in a lead coffin, ship it to the middle of the English Channel and plunge it to the bottom of the sea, far from the reach of even the most resourceful anatomist.  - The Knife Man ; Wendy Moore pg.313 Or so Charles Byrne thought!! Byrne was an Irish giant who had arrived in London in April 1782 to earn a living from showcasing his remarkable height of seven foot eight inches. But in doing so he caught the eye of the most renowned surgeon and anatomist of the time, John Hunter .  John Hunter (1728- 1793) painted by Sir Joshua Reynold in 1786. Note the long shin and foot bones in the top right corner! John Hunter was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in and around 13 February 1728, his exact birth date isn't known. Hunter did...

In 1849 this call could be heard through the streets of Dublin and, believe it or not, there were twelve men who answered. These gentlemen with a love for all things microscopic gathered together and formed the Dublin Microscopical Club. Members of the Dublin Microscopical Club dated 1865 Some of it's members can be seen in the photo above. Among this group are the following prominent Irish naturalists Edward Percival Wright  (Club's Honorary Secretary) second from right David Moore (first Curator of Dublin's Botanic Gardens) second from left, slightly blurred William Archer  (one of the Club's 12 founding members) third from right George James Allman  second from left, seated James Townsend Mackay  a Scottish botanist who lived in Ireland William Thompson Ross type microscops Powell & Lealand type microscope There are a variety of microscopes on the table, two of which have been named as the Ross and Powell ...

Please welcome the second item to take the spotlight in our 'Intriguing Heritage Items' series...... The Surgeons' Mate or Military and Domestique Surgery  by John Woodall   The Surgeon's Mate by John Woodall dated 1639 Woodall himself can be seen in the bottom middle portrait This copy of John Woodall's book is housed in the RCSI Mercer Library and dates from 1639. Woodall was an English surgeon born in 1570 who lived for long periods in Germany, Poland, Holland and mainland Europe. In 1604 when King James I of England sent an embassy to Poland and Russia, Woodall was included because of his knowledge of these countries and their languages. The man leading this embassy was Sir Thomas Smith was Governor of the East India Company and soon to be employer of Woodall. In 1612 Woodall was appointed Surgeon General of the East India Company.  Woodall's career continued upwards and he was appointed surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1616...