Lives of the Presidents
President: 1667 - 18 November 1669
John Stearne
1624 - 1669
John Stearne, Professor of Medicine in Trinity College, founded the Fraternity of Physicians of Trinity Hall in 1654. In 1667 Stearne's Fraternity was incorporated as the College of Physicians of Dublin by Royal Charter and the Charter named Stearne as President for life.
Read the full biography of John Stearne
President: 15 Feb 1672-1674
Sir Abraham Yarner
1622-1677
Abraham Yarner arrived in Ireland as a Royalist soldier and he ended his career as a Knight of the Realm, Freeman of Dublin, ‘Doctor of Physick’ and the first elected President of the College.
Read the full biography of Sir Abraham Yarner
President: 1674-1675, 1695-1696, 1701-1702, 1707-1708
Ralph Howard
1638-1710
Ralph Howard was one of the fourteen Fellows named in the 1667 Charter, and one of Stearne's successors as Regius Professor of Physic in Trinity College. In 1693 Howard fought a duel with Sir Patrick Dun, another College President. The dispute is believed to have been over an appointment.
Read the full biography of Ralph Howard
Portrait of Ralph Howard, 1710, by Hugh Howard. Image courtesy of The Board of Trinity College Dublin
President: 1675-1677
Charles Willoughby
c.1630 -1694
Charles Willoughby was one of the fourteen founding Fellows of the College named in the 1667 Charter. A physician and scientist, he was a founder and effectively the first President of the Dublin Philosophical Society to which he contributed papers on mathematics and physics.
Read the full biography of Charles Willoughby
President: 1677-1681
Robert Waller
c.1619-Unknown
Robert Waller was one of the founding Fellows of the College named in the 1667 Royal Charter. He was also State Physician to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a position he filled ‘very faithfully & with good success’.
Read the full biography of Robert Waller
President: 1681-1686, 1690-1693, 1696-1697, 1698-1699, 1706-1707
Sir Patrick Dun
1642-1713
Patrick Dun was physician to King William III's armies in Ireland, and used his influence with the King to lobby for a second Royal Charter for the College, granted in 1692. Upon his death, Dun left a substantial trust to support the development of medical education in Ireland.
Read the full biography of Sir Patrick Dun
President: 1687-1690 (election not confirmed)
John Crosby
Unknown - [1692]
John Crosby was elected as President by the College of Physicians, but the election was not ratified by Trinity College probably because of Crosby's Catholicism. The College of Physicians refused to elect another President for three years.
Read the full biography of John Crosby
President: 1694-1695, 1697-1698, 1700-1701
John Madden
1649-1703
John Madden was named as a Fellow of the College in the 1692 Royal Charter and worked hard to expand the power of the College. He was also an antiquarian and collector of books and manuscripts.
Read the full biography of John Madden
President: 1699-1700
Duncan Cumings
1656-1724
Duncan Cumings served as Physician to the Williamite armies in Ireland, and was named as one of the Fellows of the College in the 1692 Royal Charter.
Read the full biography of Duncan Cumings
President: 1702-1703, 1709-1710, 1713-1714, 1720-1721
Sir Thomas Molyneux
1661-1733
Physician, natural historian and antiquarian, Molyneux made many diverse contributions to knowledge during his lifetime, including a discussion of the formation of the Giant's Causeway. In 1730 he became Ireland's first medical baronet.
Read the full biography of Sir Thomas Molyneux
President: 1703-1704, 1710 (died in office)
Richard Steevens
c.1654-1710
Steevens was named a Fellow of the College in the 1692 Charter, and was also Professor of Physic in Trinity College. He is now remembered for the hospital founded in his name and at his bequest, by his twin sister Grizell.
Read the full biography of Richard Steevens
President: 1704-1705, 1708-1709, 19 Dec 1710-1711, 1719-1720, 1721-1722
William Smyth
Unknown-1732
William Smyth was one of the 12 Fellows named in the 1692 Royal Charter granted to the College. He is probably best remember for his friendship with Jonathan Swift.
Read the full biography of William Smyth
President: 1705-1706, 1711-1712
Robert Griffith
1663-1719
Robert Griffith was the first Professor of Chemistry and first King's Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the School of Physic in Trinity College. He is credited with establishing the study of chemistry in Trinity College.
Read the full biography of Robert Griffith
President: 1712-1713, 1723-1724
Patrick Mitchell
c.1671-1750
Patrick Mitchell was a nephew of Sir Patrick Dun, whose influence probably brought Mitchell to Ireland. After his uncle's death in 1713 Mitchell was involved in the lengthy and acrimonious dispute over Sir Patrick's will.
Read the full biography of Patrick Mitchell.
President: 1714-1715, 1722-1723, 1738-1739
James Grattan
1673-1749
James Grattan was King's Professor of Physic in Trinity, who campaigned to reform and modernise medical teaching in Dublin. A member of a prominent family in eighteenth century Ireland, he was also a friend of Jonathan Swift.
Read the full biography of James Grattan
President: 1715-1716, 1724-1725
Richard Hoyle
1681-1730
Richard Hoyle was a proponent of the study of anatomy and carried out at least one dissection on warrant of the College, whose right to perform dissections was granted by the 1692 Charter. Hoyle became the first Lecturer in Anatomy and Surgery in the new medical school of Trinity which opened in 1711.
Read the full biography of Richard Hoyle
President: 1728-1729, 1740-1741
Richard Helsham
c.1682-1738
Richard Helsham lectured in natural philosophy at Trinity College, publishing Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy which remained in use as a textbook for a century. He was physician to Jonathan Swift who described him as 'an ingenious good-humoured physician, a fine gentleman, an excellent scholar’.
Read the full biography of Richard Helsham
President: 1717-1718, 1726-1727
Samuel Jemmat
c.1675-1752
Samuel Jemmat was involved in one of the strangest legal cases of the early eighteenth century, that of James Annesley. The life story of James Annesley is said to have been the inspiration behind the novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stephenson.
Read the full biography of Samuel Jemmat
President: 1718-1719, 1727-1728, 1739-1740
Bryan Robinson
c.1680-1754
Bryan Robinson was Lecturer in Anatomy and, later, Public Professor of Physic at Trinity College Dublin. He made a significant contribution to medical literature both by virtue of his own writings and by collecting and publishing the lectures of his friend and colleague Richard Helsham
Read the full biography of Bryan Robinson
Image courtesy of the Trustees of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin
President: 1728-1729, 1740-1741
Henry Cope
1686-1743
Henry Cope was State Physician, Governor and Physician of Dr Steevens' Hospital and Professor of Physic, Trinity College. His daughter's scandalous elopement was recorded in the correspondence of Jonathan Swift.
Read the full biography of Henry Cope
President: 1729-1730, 1741-1742
Francis LeHunte
1686-1750
Francis LeHunte was one of the founders, and first Physician, at Mary Mercer's Hospital. When he inherited a fortune from his brother he 'retired from the business of his profession and enjoyed his friends with a cheerfulness and good nature’.
Read the full biography of Francis LeHunte
President: 1730-1731
Samuel Arnoldi
1687-1736
Samuel Arnoldi was a physician in private practice in Dublin who seems to have some connection to Matthew and Letitia Pilkington.
Read the full biography of Samuel Arnoldi
President: 1731-1732
Thomas Madden
1691-1734
Thomas Madden was probably the son of John Madden, President of the College on three occasions in the 1690s. Thomas Madden was educated in Trinity and practised in Dublin. During his presidency the College awarded their Licentiate in Midwifery to a Mrs Cormack, the first woman to receive a qualification from the College.
Read the full biography of Thomas Madden
President: 1732-1733
Alexander McNaughten
1686-1736
Alexander McNaughten was Medical Officer to the Blue Coat School in Dublin, a philanthropist, MP and founding member of the Royal Dublin Society.
Read the full biography of Alexander McNaughten
President: 1733-1734, 1742-1743, 1759-June 1760
William Stephens
1696-1760
William Stephens was Physician to Mercer's and Dr Steevens' Hospitals. Of extensive intellectual interests he lectured in botany and chemistry in Trinity College and was a founder member of the Royal Dublin Society.
Read the full biography of William Stephens
Image courtesy of the Trustees of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin
President: 1734-1735
John Van Lewen
1684-1737
John Van Lewen was Dublin's leading 'man-midwife' in the early decades of the eighteenth century. He was the father of celebrated authoress Laetitia Pilkington.
Read the full biography of John Van Lewen
President: 1735-1736, 1743-1744
John Hemsworth
1703-1745
John Hemsworth was born in Birr, County Offaly, and educated at Trinity College Dublin. Little is know of his professional life.
Read the full biography of John Hemsworth
President: 1736-1737, 1744-1745
Thomas Kingsbury
1688-1747
Thomas Kingsbury was physician to several leading Irish families and 'typified the style and habits of a prosperous practitioner'. His great great grandson was Oscar Wilde.
Read the full biography of Thomas Kingsbury
President: 1737-1738
Francis Foreside
1695-1745
Born in Berwick-upon-Tweed Francis Foreside studied medicine in Trinity College Dublin and he would go on to lecture in anatomy and medicine at the same univerisity.
Read the full biography of Francis Foreside
President: 1745-1746, 1761-1762
Patrick Hewetson
1699-1783
Patrick Hewetson studied at Trinity College Dublin and Leiden University, before setting up in practice in Dublin. In his will he left a bequest to establish a charitable school, which is still in existence.
Read the full biography of Patrick Hewetson
President: 1746-1747
Edward Aston
1705-1747
A graduate of Trinity College, Aston spent his working life in Dublin and was closely associated with the College of Physicians.
Read the full biography of Edward Aston
President: 1747-1748
Edward Smyth
1709-1778
Born in Limerick, Edward Smyth studied and worked in Dublin, where he was a governor of Dr Steevens' Hospital. At his death he was described as 'a gentleman whose abilities in his profession was only excelled by the eminent virtues of his mind’.
Read the full biography of Edward Smyth
President: 1748-1749, 1760-1761
Robert Robinson
1713-1770
Robert Robinson was Lecturer in Anatomy in Trinity College, when he carried out the dissection of the Irish giant Cornelius Magrath. Robinson was dismissed from this post in Trinity following a dispute between Trinity and the College of Physicians during his second term as President.
Read the full biography of Robert Robinson
President: 1749-1750
Sir Edward Barry
1698-1776
Sir Edward Barry was born in Cork, a county he later represented as MP. A dispute in the 1750s led Barry to resign his Trinity professorship and Fellowship of the College of Physicians, he moved to London where he established a new practice.
Read the full biography of Sir Edward Barry
President: 1750-1751
Thomas Lloyd
1707-1758
Thomas Lloyd studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, becoming a Fellow of the College of Physicians in 1740. As Censor of the College he examined candidates in surgery and obstetrics.
Read the full biography of Thomas Lloyd
President: 1751-1752
John Anderson
1708-1762
John Anderson was physician to Mercer's Hospital, an examiner for the College of Physicians and was commissioned to complete the first catalogue of the books bequeathed to the College by Sir Patrick Dun.
Read the full biography of John Anderson
President: 1752-1753, 1762-1763, 1770-1771, 1773-1774, 1778-1779 (died in office)
John Ferrall
1708-1779
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, little is know of Ferrall's career beyond his election as President of the College on five occasions.
Read the full biography of John Ferrall
President: 1753-1754, 1763-1764
Ezekiel Nesbitt
1711-1779
Ezekiel Nesbitt was physician to the Dublin Lying-in (Rotunda) Hospital until he left Ireland in the 1760s and settled in Bath.
Read the full biography of Ezekiel Nesbitt
President: 1754-1755, 1764-1765, 1769-1770
Constantine Barbor
1712-1783
Constantine Barbor was born in Dublin, the son of the poetess Mary Barber. Barbor held a number of appointments to Dublin hospitals and was King's Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy in Trinity College.
Read the full biography of Constantine Barbor
President: 1755-1756
Anthony Relhan
1712-1776
Born in Ireland Anthony Relhan studied at Trinity, and initially practised medicine in Dublin. Interested in hydrotherapy and alternative medicine, he is remembered not for his work in Ireland, but for popularising Brighton as a health resort.
Read the full biography of Anthony Relhan
President: 1756-1757, 1765-1766
Richard Wood
Unknown-[1780]
Little is known of Richard Wood beyond his education at Trinity College, and his election as President of the College on two occasions.
Read the full biography of Richard Wood
President: 1757-1758
Adam Humble
1716-1762
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Humble spent most of his career as physician to Dr Steevens' Hospital.
Read the full biography of Adam Humble
President: 1758-1759, 1766-1767, 1771-1772, 1774-1775, 20 Sep 1779-1780, 1781-1782
Henry Quin
1717-1791
Henry Quin was King's Professor of Physic in Trinity College and had an extensive private practice. Quin was an accomplished musician and a generous patron of the arts.
Read the full biography of Henry Quin
President: 1767-1768, 1772-1773, 1775-1776
Sir Nathaniel Barry
c.1725-1785
Nathaniel Barry was the son of Sir Edward Barry another President of the College. Nathaniel was the first King's Professor of Chirurgery and Midwifery in Trinity College, and held the joint appointment as Physician General to the forces in Ireland with his father.
Read the full biography of Sir Nathaniel Barry
President: 1768-1769, 1776-1777
Clement Archer
1726-1796
A graduate of Trinity College, Clement Archer was physician to Dr Steevens' Hospital for nearly 20 years. His namesake and contemporary was President of the College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the two were probably related.
Read the full biography of Clement Archer
President: 1777-1778, 1780-1781
Francis Hutcheson
c.1722-1784
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Hutcheson taught chemistry at the university as well as acting as physician to the Rotunda, Meath and Westmoreland Lock Hospital. Outside of medicine Hutcheson was a noted musical performer and composer.
Read the full biography of Francis Hutcheson
President: 1782-1783, 1789-1790, 1795-1796, 1801-1802, 1808-1809, 1813-1814
Edward Hill
1741-1830
Edward Hill was Lecturer in Botany and Regius Professor of Physic in Trinity College who campaigned, unsuccessfully, for the income from the Dun's Trust to be spent on a Physic Garden. Hill compiled one of the earliest surviving catalogues of Dun's Library.
Read the full biography of Edward Hill
President: 1783-1784, 1790-1791, 1796-1797
Arthur Saunders
1786-Unknown
Arthur Saunders was educated in Trinity College, becoming a Fellow of the College of Physicians in 1777. Little else is known of his career.
Read the full biography of Arthur Saunders
President: 1784-1785, 1791-1792, 1797-1798, 4 August 1800-18 October 1800, 1802-1803, 1809-1810, 1814-1815
William Harvey
1751-1819
William Harvey was Physician General to the Army and Consultant Physician to Dr Steevens’ and the Rotunda Hospitals. As President, Harvey led the College's programme to introduce smallpox vaccination to Ireland
Read the full biography of William Harvey
President: 1785-1786, 1792-1793, 1798-1799, 1803-1804, 1810-1811, 1815-1816
Francis Hopkins
1752-1819
Francis Hopkins was Master of the Rotunda Hospital, whose Mastership was dominated by a lack of trained midwives and patient overcrowding.
Read the full biography of Francis Hopkins
President: 1786-1787, 1793-1794, 1800-1801
Patrick Plunket
1752-Unknown
Born in Enniskillen, Patrick Plunket was educated at Trinity College Dublin and Edinburgh University. He practised in Dublin, where his younger brother was Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Read the full biography of Patrick Plunket
President: 1787-1788, 1794-1795, 1799 – 23 Oct 1799 (resigned)
Edmund Cullen
Unknown-1804
Edmund Cullen was a scholar and physician who used his knowledge of chemistry and physics to translate Torbern Bergman’s Physical and Chemical Essays into English.
Read the full biography of Edmund Cullen
President: 1788-1789
Charles William Quin
Unknown-1819
Charles William Quin was the son of former College President Henry Quin. Charles William was Physician to the Army and to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Read the full biography of Charles William Quin
President: 4 Nov 1799 – 4 August 1800
Robert Perceval
1756-1839
Robert Perceval was a tireless campaigner for improvements in medical education in Ireland. He was instrumental in the passing of the 1800 School of Physic Act which provided funding for a clinical teaching hospital in Dublin - Sir Patrick's Dun's Hospital.
Read the full biography of Robert Perceval
President: 1804-1805
Alexander Pelissier
c.1760-1817
Alexander Pelissier studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, before graduating from Edinburgh University. Little is known of his professional career.
Read the full biography of Alexander Pelissier
President: 1805-1806, 1806-1807, 1811-1812, 1816-1817
James Cleghorn
Unknown- 1826
James Cleghorn was Professor of Anatomy in Trinity College and also State Physician and physician to St Patrick's Hospital. He championed gentler, more humane treatments for patients with mental illness.
Read the full biography of James Cleghorn
President: 1807-1808
Daniel Mills
c.1770-Unknown
Daniel Mills was President of the College at a time when Dublin was suffering from an outbreak of contagious fevers. Mills worked on a number of initiatives to address the outbreaks.
Read the full biography of Daniel Mills
President: 1812-1813, 1818-1819
Thomas Herbert Orpen
1775-1845
Thomas Orpen was a physician and philanthropist who was a member of a number of charitable societies. He was a member of the committee which drew up the first Dublin Pharmacopeia.
Read the full biography of Thomas Herbert Orpen
President: 1817-1818
Anthony Gilholy
c.1763-1821
Anthony Gilholy was born in Tipperary. He studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and seems to have specialised as a practitioner in midwifery.
Read the full biography of Anthony Gilholy
President: 1819-1820, 1827-1828, 1831-1834
Hugh Ferguson
1796-1844
Interested in infectious diseases, Hugh Ferguson worked at the Hardwicke Fever Hospital, where he helped convince the board to establish a School of Medicine.
Read the full biography of Hugh Ferguson
President: 1821-1822
George Francis Todderick
1782-1848
George Francis Todderick was a popular and successful Dublin physician, who strongly believed that the spread of diseases was due to poor ventilation.
Read the full biography of George Francis Todderick
President: 1822-1823
Robert Bredin
c.1772-Unknown
Robert Bredin was educated at Trinity College Dublin and Edinburgh University. He was elected President of the College in 1822.
Read the full biography of Robert Bredin
President: 1823-1824, 1829-1831
Samuel Litton
1781-1847
Samuel Litton was greatly interested in botany, he was Librarian and Professor of Botany at the Royal Dublin Society and promoted the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin.
Read the full biography of Samuel Litton
Image Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland
President: 1824-1825
John O'Brien
1786-1845
John O'Brien was physician at the Cork Street Fever Hospital and lecturer in medicine in the Moore Street School.
Read the full biography of John O'Brien
President: 1825- 28 Jan 1826
James John Leahy
c.1779-1832
James John Leahy was Professor of Medicine in Trinity College, as well as lecturing in chemistry, pharmacy and medicine at two private medical schools. He died in Sligo in 1832, one of five doctors to die from an outbreak of cholera there.
Read the full biography of James John Leahy
President: 20 Feb 1826 -1827
William Brooke
1769-1829
William Brooke founded the Association of Licentiates and Fellows of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland ‘for the purpose of more intimately uniting the members of the College, and for the advancement of Medical Science’.
Read the full biography of William Brooke
President: 1828-1829
Charles Lendrick
c.1792-1841
Charles Lendrick was involved in a number of protracted disputes over medical teaching appointments in Dublin in the early decades of the nineteenth century, proceedings described as 'only calculated to depreciate the College in the estimation of the public'.
Read the full biography of Charles Lendrick
President: 1834-1836
Jonathan Osborne
1794-1864
Jonathan Osborne was a leading nephrologist and excellent lecturer. Osborne suffered from chronic rheumatism, in his will he requested to be buried standing up, so as not to be at a disadvantage on the day of judgement.
Read the full biography of Jonathan Osborne
President: 1836-1838
Charles Philip Croker
1793-1870
Croker was Physician and governor of Dr Steevens' Hospital, he was also physician to the Rotunda, the Hospital for Incurables and St Patrick's Hospital.
Read the full biography of Charles Philips Croker
President: 1838-1841
George Alexander Kennedy
1794-1865
George Kennedy was Physician to Cork Street Fever Hospital and the Sick Poor Dispensary, Meath Street. As Registrar, Kennedy undertook the Herculean task of indexing the early minute books of the College.
Read the full biography of George Kennedy
President: 1841-1843, 1845-1847, 1857-1859
Sir Henry Marsh
1790-1860
Sir Henry Marsh was one of the founders of a hospital for sick children, which became the National Children's Hospital.
Read the full biography of Sir Henry Marsh
President: 1843-1845
Robert Graves
1796- 1853
Robert Graves was Physician to the Meath Hospital and King’s Professor in the Institute of Medicine in Trinity. Graves co-founded the Dublin Journal of Medical Science and was an early describer of the eponymous Graves' disease.
Read the full biography of Robert Graves
President: 1849-1851, 1866-1867
William Stokes
1804-1878
William Stokes published the first book in English on the use of the stethoscope. Physician to the Meath Hospital and Regius Professor of Physic in Trinity, he published on heart and chest diseases and advocated for the recognition of public health as a medical specialty.
Read the full biography of William Stokes
Portrait of William Stokes by Sir Frederic William Burton. Image courtesy of The Board of Trinity College Dublin.
President: 1851-1853
William Fetherston-Haugh Montgomery
c.1797-1859
Professor of Midwifery for nearly thirty years, a contemporary publication said of him that his is a 'name which is known and honored wherever midwifery is practiced'. He also gave his name to Montgomery follicles, which he described in 1837.
Read the full biography of William Montgomery
President: 1853-1855
Evory Kennedy
1806-1886
Evory Kennedy was an obstetrician and Master of the Rotunda, whose work on reducing deaths from puerperal fever was recognised by Ignaz Semmelweis.
Read the full biography of Evory Kennedy
President: 1855-1857
John Mollan
1790-1877
John Mollan was Physician Extraordinary at the Richmond Asylum in Grangegorman and was especially interested in the wellbeing and education of asylum patients.
Read the full biography of John Mollan
President: 1859-1864
Sir Dominic Corrigan
1802-1880
Sir Dominic Corrigan was one of the outstanding Irish physicians, particularly remembered for his studies of haemodynamics. Corrigan was the President who oversaw the College's move to 6 Kildare Street.
Read the full biography of Sir Dominic Corrigan
President: 1864-1866
Thomas Edward Beatty
1799/1800-1872
Thomas Edward Beatty, obstetrician and gynaecologist, is the only man to have been President of both the Irish College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Read the full biography of Thomas Beatty
President: 1867-1869
Fleetwood Churchill
1808-1878
Fleetwood Churchill was a leading obstetrician and King’s Professor of Midwifery in Trinity. A prolific lecturer and writer, Churchill was also a pioneer of sanitary reform and founder of the Dublin Sanitary Association.
Read the full biography of Fleetwood Churchill
President: 1869-1871
Sir John Thomas Banks
1811-1908
Sir John Thomas Banks was Visiting Physician to the Richmond Lunatic Asylum and Regius Professor of Physic in Trinity College. He was retrospectively credited with promoting the teaching of modern psychiatry.
Read the full biography of Sir John Thomas Banks
President: 1871-1873
Alfred Hudson
1808-1880
Alfred Hudson was Physician to the Adelaide and Meath Hospitals, Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen in Ireland and Regius Professor of Physic at Trinity College. Hudson was the first President of the Dublin Branch of the British Medical Association.
Read the full biography of Alfred Hudson
President: 1875-1878
Samuel Gordon
1816-1898
Samuel Gordon was a physician and lecturer. He was President of the College when the decision to allow women to take the College's exams was made.
Read the full biography of Samuel Gordon
President: 1878-1880
Henry Haswell Head
1820-1910
Henry Haswell Head was physician to the South Dublin General Dispensary and the Adelaide Hospital in Dublin. He published papers on fatty degeneration of the heart and the use of auscultation in diagnosis.
Read the full biography of Henry Haswell Head
President: 1882-1883
William Moore
1827-1901
William Moore was King’s Professor of the Practice of Medicine in Trinity and Physician to Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital. Moore was actively involved with the BMA, and was Ireland's representative of the General Medical Council for 10 years.
Read the full biography of William Moore
President: 1884-1886
Sir Francis Richard Cruise
1834-1912
Sir Francis Richard Cruise is best remembered as the inventor of the endoscope. Outside of medicine he was a talent cellist and a biographer of Thomas à Kempis
Read the full biography of Sir Francis Richard Cruise
President: 1886-1888
James Little
1837-1916
James Little was a dedicated lecturer at the Ledwich School and then as Professor of the Practice of Medicine in RCSI. He was the Crown's representative for Ireland on the General Medical Council and Honorary Physician to three successive sovereigns in Ireland. Preferring to be known by his professional title, he declined the honour of a knighthood.
Read the full biography of James Little
President: 1888-1890
Lombe Atthill
1827-1910
Lombe Atthill was the Master of the Rotunda who introduced blood transfusion in the treatment of post-partum haemorrhage.
Read the full biography of Lombe Atthill
President: 1890-1892
John Magee Finny
1841-1922
John Magee Finny held a number of appointments in Dublin, including physician to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital and King's Professor of Medicine in Trinity where he was a popular lecturer.
Read the full biography of John Magee Finny
President: 1892-1895
Walter George Smith
1844-1932
Smith had a special interest in dermatology, and established a clinic for skin diseases at the Adelaide Hospital in Dublin. Described as having a simple and genuine humanity, Smith was popular with his patients and students, who learnt from his enthusiasm for the knowledge and hatred of sham.
Read the full biography of Walter George Smith
President: 1895-1896
Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw
1839-1900
Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw held a number of posts in Dublin hospitals as well as Registrar General for Ireland. He carried out much research into the spread of respiratory diseases, and advocated new methods of treatment,
Read the full biography of Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw
President: 1896-1898
Sir George Frederick Duffey
1843-1903
Sir George Duffey was founder of the Irish Hospital Gazette and was Physician to Mercer's and City of Dublin Hospitals. He was actively involved in the reform of Dublin's medical schools.
Read the full biography of Sir George Frederick Duffey
President: 1900-1902
Sir Christopher John Nixon
1849-1914
Sir Christopher Nixon was Physician to the Mater Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the Cecilia Street School. Nixon was instrumental in the development of the School and its eventual incorporation into University College Dublin.
Read the full biography of Sir Christopher John Nixon
President: 1902-1904
Sir Arthur Vernon Macan
1843-1908
Sir Arthur Macan was Master of the Rotunda, he championed the Listerian principles of anti-sepsis and further developed the system of nursing. In his last year at the Rotunda he reported the first successful case of Caesarean section in Ireland.
Read the full biography of Sir Arthur Vernon Macan
President: 1904-1906
Sir William Josiah Smyly
1850-1941
Sir William Smyly was a member of a prominent Dublin medical family. He was an obstetrician and gynaecologist, as Master of the Rotunda he promoted patient care and on the education of midwives.
Read the full biography of Sir William Smyly
President: 1906-1908
Sir Joseph Michael Redmond
c.1853-1921
Joseph Michael Redmond was Senior Physician at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, where he spent most of his career. He was knighted by George V on 23 February 1911, and the following year was made a member of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in 1912.
Read the full biography of Sir Joseph Michael Redmond
President: 1908-1910
Sir Andrew Horne
1856-1924
Sir Andrew Horne was one of the first joint Masters of the National Maternity Hospital. He and the hospital are mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses.
Read the full biography of Sir Andrew Horne
President: 1914-1916
Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave
1853-1925
Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave was Professor of Botany at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and published a popular first aid book for the St John Ambulance Association. Amongst his other achievements he is reputed to be the first person in Ireland to play chess with living pieces.
Read the full biography of Ephraim MacDowel Cosgrave
President: 1916-1919
Joseph Francis O'Carroll
1856-1942
Joseph O'Carroll was Professor of Medicine at University College Dublin, and one of the Visiting Physicians of the Richmond, Whitworth and Hardwicke Hospitals. O'Carroll was a Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and Consulting Physician to the British Forces in Ireland during World War One.
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President: 1919-1922
Sir James Craig
1861-1933
Sir James Craig was Physician to the Meath and Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, King's Professor of Medicine in Trinity and Physician-in-Ordinary to the Lord Lieutenant. An MP, and later TD, for Dublin University, he was active in Dáil in public health-matters and sponsored legislation on the Irish Hospital Sweepstake.
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President: 1922-1924
Michael Francis Cox
1852-1926
Michael Francis Cox held appointments at many Dublin hospitals including St. Vincent's Hospital, where he treated casualties during the 1916 Rising. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1911, the first Irish doctor to serve on the body, but resigned in 1920 in protest over the failure to implement Home Rule in Ireland and over the actions of the Black and Tans.
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President: 1924-1925
Sir William John Thompson
1861-1929
William John Thompson left a successful career in medicine in 1909 on his appointment as Registrar General for Ireland. In this post he oversaw the preparation of statistics from the 1911 and 1926 censuses, and the impact of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919.
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President: 1925-1927
Thomas Henry Wilson
1865-1941
Thomas Wilson was Gynaecologist to the Richmond Hospital and Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital, and King’s Professor in Midwifery at Trinity College. Described as ‘a rational man ... his skill as a surgeon won for him a good gynaecological practice. He was a charming companion, his friends found him kindly, humorous and tolerant’.
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President: 1927-1930
William Arthur Winter
1868-1935
William Winter was Physician to Dr Steevens' Hospital and he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War. He was so unassuming that his capacity and dignity as President of the College 'exceeded the anticipations even of his friends'.
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President: 1933-28 February 1934
Francis Carmichael Purser
1877-1934
Francis Carmichael Purser represented Ireland at rugby while a medical student. He served in the British Army in World War I, before returning to civilian practice and professorships in RCSI and Trinity College Dublin.
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President: 1934 - 1937
John Agar Matson
1864-1945
John Agar Matson was consulting physician to the Richmond Hospital in Dublin. As President of the College he worked to preserve the identity and educational function of the College within the nascent health service of the new State.
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President: 1937-1940
William Boxwell
1875-1943
William Boxwell was the first pathologist to be elected President having earlier been appointed Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology in RCSI. Boxwell and his cousin Henry Stokes were Presidents of the two Irish Colleges at the same time and both were grandsons of William Stokes.
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President: 1940-1943
Robert Rowlette
1873-1944
Robert Rowlette was a physician, author, athlete and politician. He was the first Deputy to enter the Dáil without taking the Oath of Allegiance to the King.
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President: 1943-1946
William Geoffrey Harvey
1876-1958
Following an early interest in diagnostic radiology William Harvey followed a career in dermatology. He was dermatologist to the Adelaide and National Children's Hospital, and had an extensive private practice.
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President: 1946-1949
Bethel Solomons
1885-1965
Bethel Solomons gave up his international rugby career for obstetrics and gynaecology, becoming the first Jewish Master of the Rotunda. He knew many of the literary figures of his day, and is referenced by Joyce in Finnegans Wake.
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President: 1949-1952
Leonard Abrahamson
1896-1961
Leonard Abrahamson was nearly expelled from Trinity for inviting Patrick Pearse to speak at a student event. He went on to become a leading cardiologist and founded the Jewish Representative Council.
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President: 1952-1955
Edward Thomas Freeman
1890-1974
Edward Freeman was physician to the Mater Hospital, where he devoted his energies to the institution’s therapeutic and academic development.
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President: 1958-1960
Patrick Theodore Joseph O'Farrell
1889-1968
Patrick O'Farrell specialised in cardiology, and was the founder and first President of the Irish Cardiac Society. Early in his career O'Farrell was one of the doctors who signed a certificate stating James Connolly was mentally fit to stand trial.
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President: 1960-1963
Robert Steen
1902-1981
Robert Steen was a renowned paediatrician, sportsman and musician. Steen performed the first cardiac catheterisation and angiocardiogram in Ireland in 1950. Along with Dorothy Price he pioneered BCG inoculation in Ireland.
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President: 1963-1966
Robert Brian Pringle
1905-1987
Robert Brian Pringle was a physician and occupational health pioneer. He was Chief Medical Officer at Guinness’s Brewery, lecturer in occupational medicine at Trinity College and founded the Association of Industrial Medical Officers of Ireland.
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President: 1966-1969
Albert Herbert Thompson
1909-1974
Albert Thompson was Professor of Medicine in RCSI and Physician to St Laurence's Hospital Dublin. During World War II Thompson helped establish a Red Cross Hospital at Sainte Lô, Normandy.
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President: 1969-1972
David Mitchell
1909-1995
Specialising in dermatology, David Mitchell held appointments at many Dublin hospitals. He helped reform medical education and the Membership exam in the College. He summarised ‘the hallmarks of a profession are learning, integrity, self-imposed discipline and independence’.
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President: 1972-1974
William John Edward Jessop
1902-1980
William John Edward Jessop was Professor of Physiology at RCSI, and then Dean of the School of Physic in Trinity. He provided leadership to reorganise hospital services, aiming to improve the quality of patient care and of clinical teaching.
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President: 1974-1977
Bryan Gerald Alton
1919-1991
Bryan Alton specialised in gastroenterology and devoted much of his professional career to the Mater Hospital. A member of Seanad Eireann, he was involved in the 1960s Fitzgerald Report, Outlining the Future Hospital System.
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President: 1977-1980
Alan Proctor Grant
1918-2004
Alan Proctor Grant was the first Ulster-based President in the College's history. He worked hard to foster closer relationships between physicians from the North and the South, both through the College and the Corrigan Club. Grant volunteered to provide consultant care for the Maze Prison hunger strikers.
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President: 1980-1983
Dermot Holland
1915-2006
Dermot Holland was Professor of Pathology and Dean of Medicine in RCSI and was an engaging and succinct lecturer and was always most gracious and understanding when interacting with medical students.
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President: 1983-1986, January - 18 October 1989
John Kirker
1922-2011
John Kirker pioneered the development of EEG services throughout Ireland, and was a founding member of the Irish Epilepsy Association, later Brainwave. Throughout his life he was actively involved in the development of epilepsy care and research.
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President: 1986-30 Dec 1988
Michael Ivo Francis Drury
1920-1988
As a general physician to the Mater Hospital, Ivo Drury developed the endocrine and diabetes unit and was instrumental in setting up the hospital’s diabetic day case centre. He co-founded the Corrigan Club to encourage cross-border collaboration between doctors.
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President: 1989-25 May 1991
Ciaran Barry
1928 -1991
Ciaran Barry’s career had three major strands, rheumatology at the Mater, rehabilitation, particularly for children with cerebral palsy, at the Central Remedial Clinic, and as Registrar and President of the College of Physicians of Ireland.
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President: May 1991-1994
John Stephen Doyle
1929-2004
John Stephen Doyle was a leading gastroenterologist and pioneer of modern-day endoscopy in Ireland. He worked at St Lawrence’s, later Beaumont, Hospital and served on several Boards, including Comhairle na nOspidéal and the Eastern Health Board.
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President 1994-1997
Stanley Roberts
1932-2023
Stanley Roberts was a leading rheumatologist in Belfast, working at the Royal Victoria and Musgrave Park Hosptials. He worked hard to foster cross-border collaborations through the Corrigan Club and Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
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President:1997-2000
Brian Keogh
President: 2000-2003
Desmond Canavan
1938-2004
Des Canavan specialised in infectious diseases, working at various Belfast hospitals and driving developments in that city. He was an active member of the Corrigan Club, fostering cross-border medical collaboration. His presidency saw the development of comprehensive training programmes and the project to refurbish 6 Kildare Street.
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President: 2003-2006
T J McKenna
President: 2006-February 2007
John F Murphy
President: July 2007-2011
John Donohoe
President: 2011-2014
John Crowe
President: 2014-2017
Frank Murray
President: 2017-2023
Mary Horgan