Robert James Rowlette

“ On obtaining his medical degrees he became house surgeon to the Richmond Hospital, Dublin, and demonstrator of anatomy in the Carmichael School. Next year he was elected visiting surgeon to the Richmond Hospital, a post he held to his death. In 1873 he was also appointed lecturer in anatomy in the Carmichael School. In 1882 he became the first general secretary of the newly formed Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, his principal duty being to edit its 'Transactions.' From 1896 to 1906 he was direct representative of the Irish medical profession on the General Medical Council. ”

“ SMYLY, Sir PHILIP CRAMPTON (1838–1904) , surgeon and laryngologist, born at 8 Ely Place, Dublin, on 17 June 1838, was eldest son in a family of four sons and eight daughters of Josiah Smyly, M.D. (d. 1864) , a Dublin surgeon of good position, by his wife Ellen (d. 1901) , daughter of Matthew Franks, of Jerpoint Hill, Thomastown, co. Kilkenny. His mother devoted herself to philanthropic work in Dublin, founding and maintaining many schools for poor children. His grandfather, John Smyly, K.C., a member of the Irish bar, came of a family settled in the north of Ireland from the sixteenth century. ”

“ Norman's professional life was spent in the care of the insane. In 1874, on receiving his qualifications, he was appointed assistant medical officer in the Monaghan Asylum, and he remained there till 1881. After study at the Royal Bethlem Hospital, London, under (Sir) George Savage (1881–2) he was successively medical superintendent of Castlebar Asylum, co. Mayo (1882–5) , and of Monaghan asylum (1885–6) . From 1886 till his death he was medical superintendent of the most important asylum in Ireland, the Richmond Asylum, Dublin, where he proved his capacity for management and reform. ”

“ He graduated B.A. in 1837, but left Dublin without a medical degree. On a visit to Paris he heard a lecture by the chemist Jean Baptiste Andre Dumas on chemistry, which induced him to study that subject seriously. For two years he worked under Thomas Graham [q. v.] at University College, London. On his marriage in 1845 he returned to Dublin, and in 1847 he became lecturer on chemistry in the Park Street Medical School, Dublin, and proceeded M.B. In 1849, on the closure of the Park Street School, he became a lecturer on chemistry in the Peter Street or 'Original' School of Medicine. ”

“ Between 1672 and 1733 several members of the Norman family served as mayors of Derry, and two represented the city in parliament. Educated at home owing to delicate health, Norman began at seventeen the study of medicine in Dublin, working at Trinity College, the Carmichael Medical School, and the House of Industry Hospitals. ”

“ He joined the staff of the Adelaide Hospital and was given charge of a ward for the treatment of diseases peculiar to women, the first appointment of the kind in any Dublin hospital. Gynaecology was practically a new study, and thenceforth Atthill, by his teaching and writings, did much for its development. ”

“ BENNETT, EDWARD HALLARAN (1837–1907) , surgeon, born at Charlotte Quay, Cork, on 9 April 1837, was youngest child in the family of five sons of Robert Bennett, recorder of Cork, by his wife Jane, daughter of William Saunders Hallaran, M.D., of Cork, who made some reputation as a writer on insanity (Cork, 1810 and 1818) . His grandfather, James Bennett, was also a physician in Cork. A kinsman, James Richard Bennett, was a distinguished teacher of anatomy in Paris about 1825. ”

“ While in the Rotunda Hospital for the usual period of three years he endeavoured, without much success, to build up a private practice. A period of pecuniary struggle followed. In 1860 he was elected fellow of the King's and Queen's College of Physicians and from that year to 1868 was registrar of the college. ”

“ Having joined a class in London with a view to entering the army medical service, he changed his mind, and early in 1869 he went to Berlin. The next three years were spent in intermittent study abroad, working under Langenbeck, Hebra, Braun, Rokitansky, and others. He varied his work by prolonged walking tours, in one of which he walked from Berlin to Milan and thence to Vienna. ”

“ BANKS, Sir JOHN THOMAS (1815?–1908) , physician, was grandson of Percival Banks, surgeon in good practice in Ennis, co. Clare, who came of an English family settled in Ardee, co. Louth, in comfortable circumstances, from the middle of the seventeenth century. His father, also Percival Banks (d. 1848) , the youngest of twenty-four children, after much foreign travel, and both naval and military service, succeeded to his father's practice at Ennis, and was later surgeon to the co. ”

“ He died on 26 Sept. 1908 of heart failure at his residence, 53 Merrion Square, Dublin. He was buried in Mount Jerome cemetery, Dublin. Of robust physique, he was fond of outdoor sports. A portrait in oils by Miss Sara Purser, R.H.A., is in the possession of his son, Mr. A. V. Macan.
Macan married, on 30 Jan. 1877, Mary Agnes, daughter of John Bradshaw Wanklyn, of Cheam, Surrey. She died in 1886 of puerperal sepsis, the disease which few had done more to combat than Macan. ”

“ There he pursued with ardour and success chemical investigations which placed him among the first chemists of his time. One of his earliest results was the discovery of a method of determining the nitrogen in organic compounds difficult to burn. ”

“ Smyly enjoyed a large practice for many years and was knighted in 1892. Of courteous manners and striking appearance, he was generous in charitable gifts. He devoted his leisure to music, and was no mean violinist, At the time of his death he was president of the Hibernian Catch Club. ”

“ He proved his powers of rapid organisation by establishing, immediately on entering that capital, a hospital of 600 beds in the Palace of Justice, and it was in great part due to him and his colleagues that Pretoria escaped the outbreak of enteric fever which proved disastrous elsewhere. ”