William Wilde Bi-Centenary Symposium
The History of Medicine Section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland is hosting a symposium to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of William Wilde. The symposium starts at 4pm on 6 May 2015, and will be held in the Winter Hall in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
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| Photograph of Sir William Wilde in 1873 (VM/1/2/W/12) |
Sir William Wilde, who was knighted for services to medicine, was one of the greatest eye and otolaryngology surgeons in these islands in the nineteenth century, and became a surgeon to the Queen. He founded and ran the first dedicated eye hospital in Ireland, St Mark’s Hospital, which he funded from his own money. St Mark's amalgamated with the National Eye Hospital to form the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in 1897. Equally important was his contribution to otolaryngology, and he was the first surgeon to specialise in this field in Ireland, and contributed to the establishment of the specialty in Ireland.
Wilde’s medical training and expertise was also crucial to his role in the compilation of the 1851 National Census of Ireland, for which he was appointed Assistant Commissioner. This census report ran to nine volumes and has been heralded as one of the finest censuses collected in Europe in the nineteenth century. Particularly unique was the quality of detail he compiled and the analysis of the medical problems which he addressed, notably the census of ‘deaf and dumbness’ in Ireland, the first of its kind in Europe.
Wilde also founded and edited the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, which was the predecessor of the current Irish Journal of Medical Science
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| Caricature of William Wilde by Spex from Ireland's Eye entitled 'A Wilde (K) Night in Ireland's Eye (TPCK/8/1/6/6) |
Beyond the medical realms, he was an antiquarian, a historian, a naturalist and the travel writer. His catalogue of the artefacts and treasures at the Royal Irish Academy was of such quality that it was used for 100 years, only to be superseded by the current catalogue in the last 30 years. His wife, known by her pen name, Speranza, was a poet and their house, 1 Merrion Square, was renowned as a venue for intellectual discourse and the contemporary literati frequently gathered there. Such was the world in which Oscar lived his early years. We have been very fortunate on the day of the seminar to be allowed access to for a tour of 1 Merrion Square (starting at 2 p.m.), where Wilde lived and had his surgery. The house has been preserved since Wilde’s day, and still contains some of his ophthalmic instruments.
The symposium will feature the following talks:
- Davis Coakley, Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland - William Wilde in the West of Ireland
- Susan Mullaney, Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland - 'By this disease people are rendered unable to earn their living': William Wilde, Oculist to Her Majesty
- Rory McEnteggart, Academic Dean, American College, Dublin - William Wilde and 1 Merrion Square
- Michael Walsh, William Wilde Chair in E.N.T. Surgery, RCSI - Sir William Wilde's Contribution to Otology
- Sir Peter Froggatt, Queen's University, Belfast - The Demographic Work of Sir William Wilde
- Mary O'Doherty, RCSI Heritage Collections Librarian - Sir William Wilde, an Enlightened Editor
- Laurence Geary, University College Cork - Sir William Wilde: Social Historian
- James McGeachie, Ulster University - Wilde's Worlds: Sir William Wilde in Victorian Ireland
The symposium will be chaired by Clive Live of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
If you would like to attend, please register here.