Grangegorman Lives: Richard Carmichael

Richard Carmichael (1779 - 1849) was a distinguished surgeon, teacher and medical reformer. Having graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1795, he quickly grew an international reputation for his knowledge of venereal diseases. Carmichael began his term at the Richmond Hospital in 1816, and would continue his involvement with the hospital for decades to come. Ten years after his appointment as surgeon, in 1826, Carmichael founded the Richmond Hospital School of Anatomy, Medicine and Surgery. Although Carmichael resigned from the Richmond Hospital in 1846 so that two new surgeons could join the hospital, the following year he assisted John MacDonnell in the first operation in Ireland to be performed under general anaesthesia. After his death in 1849, the Richmond Hospital School of Anatomy, Medicine and Surgery was renamed the Carmichael School in his honour.

Read more about Richard Carmichael's life in our Dictionary of Irish Biography. 

Grangegorman Lives is a series of biographies of people whose lives influenced or were influenced by Grangegorman. The biographies are all sourced from Ireland’s Dictionary of Irish Biography: Ireland’s national biographical dictionary. Devised, researched, written and edited under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy, its online edition is freely available at www.dib.ie. 

Grangegorman Histories is a public history programme of research and shared discovery of the Grangegorman site and surrounding communities. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with our activities.

Image Credit - https://rcsiheritage.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ghost-of-carmichael.html, photo provided by Gary McAbe