RCSI Heritage Collections

Today marks the 171st anniversary of the death of a man who despite achieving so much in the world of surgery is largely forgotten by it's population. He is recognised as introducing the microscope into Irish medicine in 1830, being Ireland's first investigator into the field of cancer research and for discovering the transverse folds of the rectum, which are also known as ' Houston's valves' . That man was one John Houston. John Houston 1802-1845 Houston was born in Northern Ireland in 1802. Little is known about his childhood before he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Dr Joseph Taylor. Taylor financed his nephew's education in medicine and in 1819 Houston was apprenticed to John Shekleton , a young dynamic surgeon and soon-to-be Curator of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Museum. Houston's apprenticeship finished in 1824, the same year that Shekleton suddenly died at the age of 29. Houston lost his teacher, mentor and friend and on the da...

Today is a day of celebration in South Africa; celebrating the life, trials, hardships and unwavering spirit of freedom embodied in the man that was Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Nelson Mandela and Tom PJ Hennessy, PRCSI 1994-1996. in Capetown at the conferring of the RCSI Honorary Fellowship on Mandela  On 27th March 1996 RCSI awarded Nelson Mandela it's highest honour, the Honorary Fellowship.  There is no point in trying to paraphrase the citation given by the RCSI Vice-President, Mr. Peter McClean, as it would be an injustice to the person, achievements and spirit of Mandela. So it is reproduced in full below.  Citation  read by Mr Peter McLean, Vice-President RCSI  on the occasion of the Conferring of the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of  Surgeons in Ireland on President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela,  in Capetown, South Africa  on Wednesday 27th March 1996 Mr President, It is indeed a ...

In this lovely, yet completely crazy, Irish summer weather, you may decide to head out and take a stroll around Dublin city. While doing so you will encounter numerous examples of Victorian and Georgian architecture, marble and red brick facades and the modern changes that are happening all over the city. But what you mightn't know is that some of the buildings you look at, pass by every day and may even go in to were once hospitals. Dublin was, and still, is a major international centre for surgical and medicinal excellence and with this development of surgical methods and practise came hospitals. So below are some examples of these long lost hospitals. Next time you are enjoying a glass of wine in The Ely Wine Bar on Ely Place here's a fact you can impress your friends with. Next door in 23 Ely Place there was the Dublin Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye and Ear from 1872-1875 Dublin Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye and Ear, 23 Ely Place All those times you were...

One hundred years ago today British Army soldiers were waiting nervously and fearfully in the trenches they had dug along the River Somme in France. At 7.30am their officers blew their whistles and over 100,000 soldiers entered the hell that would become known as the Battle of the Somme . Getting ready to go over the top Courtesy of Scott Addington Large numbers of students and staff from RCSI were at the Battle of the Somme having enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). They hoped their surgical and medical skills could help in the treatment of their fellow wounded and injured soldiers. Two RCSI students that were present at the Battle of the Somme were George Evans, born 1891 in Kerry, and John Power, born 1892 in Clare. Both Evans and Power had not completed their surgical education but felt the need to do their bit for the War Effort. Unfortunately neither lived to complete their studies as they died in the final months of the battle. Evans was buried in Delville...

Through an archive mailing list the RCSI Heritage Collections receives unusual, thought provoking, amusing and sometimes really weird articles about all things archives. Edge of your seat stuff! Recently a couple of articles have got us thinking about future generations looking back at our time on this earth. Will they be able to open the discs, USB, hard drives we currently use to store our memories, photos, thoughts? Will they be able to read the emails we have saved, the drafts of stories we have written, the letters we have typed and sent? Computers have come along way and so has the software we use on them. Just take a look below at some of the hardware used over the decades! ENIAC World War II computer  Ferranti Pegasus Computer 1950s/1960s ISC colour computer 1980s Early Microsoft laptop Apple computer 1982 Tablet used by millions today Vint Cerf, co-creator of the internet, and a group of like minded c...

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...