Richard Carmichael

In several blog posts over the last few years, we have mentioned various history columns that newspapers such as the Irish Press published through the years with various contributors. Amongst the most popular of these was ‘Window on the Past’ and in this 1967 column the historian, TP O’Neill draws attention to the little-known story of the Irish medical man, Richard Carmichael:

In the 19th century Medicine in Dublin was considered of a high standard internationally. There were surgeons and physicians practising in the city whose reputations stood high in medical schools, throughout the world. Men such as Sir William Wilde, Robert James Graves, Whitley Stokes, and his son William, and others were pioneers in the field of medicine. The name of Richard Carmichael is less well known but he, too, belonged to that notable band, who made a great contribution to medical history. He was born in Bishop Street, Dublin in 1779 and like many another surgeon of the period began his medical career as an Army surgeon. He was attached to the Wexford militia before graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in 1803 when he settled down to medical practice in his native city. Like many of his contemporaries he did considerable research especially on diseases of the skin and one of his contributions to medicine was the reduction in the use of mercury in treatment. He was connected with most of the scientific and literary societies in the city and he was largely responsible for the establishment of the Richmond School of Medicine. This was later known as the Carmichael School of Medicine. Carmichael munificently aided this institution during his lifetime and endowed it with ten thousand pounds in his will . He also left substantial sums to the College of Surgeons and to the Medical Association of Ireland. He wrote dozens of articles on his medical research. His death occurred in unusual circumstances on this day in 1849. He was drowned while crossing Sutton strand on his way from the city to his home in Howth.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com)