William Dease

William Dease (1752?–1798) was an Irish surgeon and anatomist. He was one of the founders of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and its first professor of Surgery. He studied surgery in Dublin and Paris and was appointed surgeon to the United Hospitals of St Nicholas and St Catherine.

Dease was an original member of the Dublin Society of Surgeons who sought to dissolve the connection that linked surgeons with barbers. The granting of a charter to the College in 1784 replaced the original charter of barbers and surgeons, enabling the College to promote and advance surgery in Ireland.

Dease published treatises on head injuries, midwifery and the radical cure of hydrocele.

Life

He was born about 1752 in Lisney, County Cavan. He was sent to Dr. Clancy's school in Dublin, and then studied medicine in the city and in Paris. He set up in practice in Dublin, and gained repute as a surgeon, holding hospital appointments. He took an active part in procuring a charter of incorporation for the Dublin surgeons, and became the first professor of surgery in the new college in 1785, and president of the college in 1789.^[1]

Dease had a good practice, and married Eliza, daughter of Sir Richard Dowdall. His death was in June 1798, under circumstances are unclear. According to one account he had made the mistake of opening an aneurism in a patient with a fatal result, taking it for an abscess, went to his study and opened his own femoral artery; according to another account, he died from an accidental wound of the femoral artery; and by a third account, from the rupture of an aneurism.^[1]

In 1812 the Irish College of Surgeons procured his bust and placed it in the inner hall; in 1886 a statue of him, presented by his grandson, was placed in the principal hall of the college.^[1]

Works

Dease's writings are:^[1]

• Observations on Wounds of the Head, Dublin, 1776 (enlarged, 1778).
• Different Methods of treating the Venereal Diseases, Dublin, 1779.
• Radical Cure of Hydrocele, and on Cutting for the Stone, Dublin, 1782.
• Observations on Midwifery, Dublin, 1783.

Notes

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Dease, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.