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Richard Helsham

Richard-HelshamRichard Helsham was born in Kilkenny city in 1682. His father, Joshua Helsham, was mayor of Kilkenny (1692 - 1694). Helsham entered Trinity College Dublin in 1698, was elected a Scholar in 1700 and graduated BA in 1702, MA in 1705, MB (medicine) in 1710 and MD (medicine) in 1713. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1704 and became a senior Fellow in 1714.  He became the first Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in 1724, which marked the beginning of professorships of physics in Trinity College. In 1730 he resigned his Fellowship and married Jane Putland, the widow of Dublin banker Thomas Putland, on the 16th of December. In 1733 he was appointed Regius Professor of Physic (medicine). Helsham was personal physician and close friend to Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels. He wrote of Helsham, referring to him as ‘The most eminent physician of this city and kingdom.’ [1] Helsham and his colleague, Bryan Robinson, consulted on Dublin’s water supply and proposed a plan to improve it. In return, Helsham was granted the honour of freedom of the city. Helsham died on 1st August 1738 of a stomach tumour. Robinson published Helsham’s lectures posthumously as ‘Helsham’s Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy’ (1739). These were based on the work of Isaac Newton, but with an appealing simplicity of approach for undergraduates. It was used until 1849.  Michael Clancy (writer, 1704-1776) wrote of Helsham, ‘The only man to whom I owed any obligations, while I was at the university.’

Sources

  1. Alfred Webb (1878), Richard Helsham, Compendium of Irish Biography, https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/RichardHelsham.php
  2. Eric Finch (2016), Three Centuries of Physics in Trinity College Dublin, Living Edition
  3. Turlough O’Riordan (2009), Helsham, Richard, Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/helsham-richard-a3914
  4. Brocard M Mansfield (1984), Dr Richard Helsham – The Most Eminent physician of this City and Kingdom, Kilkenny Archaeological Society, https://kilkennyarchaeologicalsociety.ie/old-kilkenny-review-1984/okr1984-24-brocard-m-mansfield-dr-richard-helsham-the-most-eminent-physician-of-this-city-and-kingdom/

Image of Richard Helsham, By Engraver Thomas Beard - http://dr-steevens-hospital-a-history.edwardworthlibrary.ie/doctors/robinson-and-helsham/ , Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46857849