Director of Heritage, Chris Henry unravels the story of an RCSEd surgeon and his post in naval history

Chesapeake Mill is located in the small village of Wickham in Hampshire. The name may not mean anything to anyone who is not interested in naval history, but Chesapeake was the name used by an American warship that was involved in a very famous naval action of the War of 1812. So what has that got to do with The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh?

In 2011, I noticed a small collection of items in a case in the office of the College Library, and was surprised to see a collection of papers and artefacts owned by Alexander Jack (1780 - 1822), who gained his Diploma from the RCSEd in 1801. During the early Napoleonic wars many naval surgeons were examined at one of the surgical colleges for their Diploma, and had to pass to be considered by the Navy. Jack was examined at the College and his name appears in the College minutes of 1801, “Appeared Mr. Alexander Jack being examined on his skill in Surgery & Pharmacy was found sufficiently qualified to act as a First Mate of a First Rate ship in His Majesty’s Navy…”

Rowan Nicks established the cardiothoracic unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney before dedicating his career to advancing surgery in the developing world, Wyn Beasley writes

My old friend Rowan Nicks died at the end of May 2011, in his ninety-eighth year. For some time he had ‘cribbed’ a year, but on his last visit to his native New Zealand I had helped fill in his departure card and had examined the New Zealand passport to which he had remained loyal despite over 50 years as an Australian resident.

George Rowan Nicks was born on 24 February 1914, just a few months before the outbreak of the First World War. He came of Scots-Northern Irish stock on his mother’s side, being descended in the female line from the MacBains; his mother was one of those strong pioneer women who contributed so much to the formative years of the Australasian dominions, and was fiercely ambitious for her younger son. He did not disappoint her. His father owned a timber mill in Auckland: he was a rigid, reliable but unimaginative man; but Laura, Rowan’s mother, had the qualities of her Celtic forebears.

 The veteran reporter and broadcaster has delivered a lecture at the RCSEd on his extensive work in the troubled country, writes Emma Black

In March this year, Culture 24 announced their initiative to team up with some of the UK’s top publishing houses and offer venues the chance to work with authors on events for Museums at Night; this is an annual UK festival which seeks to encourage and inspire people into visiting museums, galleries and heritage sites. The Culture 24 proposal provided the RCSEd’s Museum with the opportunity to host a talk by writer and broadcaster Sandy Gall CBE on his recent publication The War Against the Taliban: Why it all went wrong in Afghanistan.

At the event on 19 May, the audience was fascinated by Mr Gall’s examination of the emotive issue of equipment shortages, his exposition of the extent to which the drug trade has corrupted the country, and how he assessed the accusation of endemic, systemic failure within the MOD. The War Against the Taliban: Why it all went wrong in Afghanistan addresses the challenges – political, religious, military – that face those now fighting on the most dangerous frontier in the world.

The Museum was chosen to host this event due to our demonstrable enthusiasm to engage the public in historic and topical subjects. However, a further factor was the strong link between the objectives of the College and Sandy Gall’s Afghanistan Appeal.

 The art of President John Smith MD LLD FRCSEd (1825-1910)

 “Police-Paterson - stabbed by Milne Jan 7, 1863” by John Smith

 Many of our membership have notable talents additional to their surgical prowess. Such a one was Dr John Smith, President of the College from 1883 to 1885, whose drawings form a small part of this College’s sizeable archive.