Sir Thomas Molyneux Bt FRS
Professor of Physic in Dublin
Thomas Molyneux was an Irish physician who became a Professor in Dublin.
He trained in Dublin and Europe before working in Chester, then returned to Ireland in 1690.
He was Professor of Physic in Dublin, a Member of Parliament and became a Baronet in 1730. His signature was sourced from around 1723.
Biography
Born in County Armagh on 14 April 1661, Thomas Molyneux studied medicine (in those days it was called "Physic") in Trinity College Dublin. He continued his training in Europe (where he gained his MD) and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1686.
A portrait of Sir Thomas Molyneux (left), in oils, is in the
Armagh County Museum collection and they have very kindly allowed us to use it in our museum (© Armagh County Museum Collection).
He became the first State Physician in Ireland and also Physician General to the Army in Ireland. Between 1695 and 1699, he represented Ratoath in the Irish House of Commons. He was Regius Professor of Physic at Trinity College until 1733, and became a baronet in 1730.
He once gave a talk about Mr Proby (a surgeon) who removed a bodkin (a hairpin, in today's parlance) from the bladder of a lady called Dorcus Blake** who lived in Fishamble Street, Dublin.
He died in 1733 at the age of 72. He is believed to be buried in St Audoen's Church, Dublin. There is a sculpted monument (pictured right) to him in Armagh Cathedral, by the artist Roubiliac, with an elaborate description of his honours and genealogy.
Source of the Autograph
His autograph was found in a book about bladder stones: "Lithotomia Douglassiana or A New Method of Cutting for The Stone" by John Douglas. He must have been very interested in them, because he later wrote about a special method for taking stones out of women's' bladders ...
Read more about Lithotomia Douglassiana or A New Method of Cutting for The Stone
** Apparently Dorcus Blake said, "I did swallow the bodkin ..." (oh, really?)
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