Sir Dominic Corrigan was a physician, known for his original observations in heart disease. The abnormal "collapsing" pulse of aortic valve insufficiency

Aortic insufficiency

Aortic insufficiency , also known as aortic regurgitation , is the leaking of the aortic valve of the heart that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction during ventricular diastole, from the aorta into the left ventricle....

 is named Corrigan's pulse after him.

Birth and Education

The son of a dealer in agricultural tools, Corrigan was educated in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, which then had a department for secular students apart from the ecclesiastical seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

. He was attracted to the study of medicine by the physician in attendance, and spent several years as apprentice to the local doctor, Edward Talbot O'Kelly. Corrigan studied medicine in Dublin between 1820 and 1825, before going to Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 where he received his degree as M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 in August 1825.

Career

Corrigan returned to Dublin in 1825 and set up a private practice at 11 Ormond Street, as his practice grew he moved to 12 Bachelors Walk in 1832, and in 1837 to 4 Merrion Square West. Apart from his private practice, Corrigan held many public appointments; he was physician to Maynooth College, the Sick Poor Institute, the Charitable Infirmary Jervis Street (1830–43) and the House of Industry Hospitals (1840–1866). His work with many of Dublin’s poorest inhabitants led to him specialising in diseases of the heart and lungs, and he lectured and published extensively on the subject. He was known as a very hard-working physician, especially during the Irish Potato Famine.
At a by-election in 1870 Corrigan was elected a Liberal Member of Parliament for Dublin. In parliament he actively campaigned for reforms to education in Ireland and the early release of Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

 prisoners. He did not stand for re-election in 1874; his support for temperance and Sunday closing (of pubs) is thought to have antagonised his constituents and alcohol companies.

Honours

In 1847 Corrigan was appoint physician-in-ordinary to the Queen in Ireland. Two years later he was given an honorary MD from Trinity College. In 1846 Corrigan’s application to become a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland was blocked. In 1855 he got around this opposition by sitting the college’s entrance exam with the newly qualified doctors. He became a fellow in 1856, and in 1859 was elected president, the first Catholic to hold the position; he was re-elected president an unprecedented four times. There is a statue of Corrigan in the Graves’ Hall of the College by John Henry Foley.

He was President of the Royal Zoological Society of Dublin, the Dublin Pathological Society, and the Dublin Pharmaceutical Society. From the 1840s he was a member of the senate of the Queen’s University and in 1871 became its vice-chancellor. In 1866 he was created a baronet partly as a reward for his services as Commissioner of Education for many years. He was a member of the board of Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery , officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest non-denominational cemetery in Ireland with an estimated 1.5 million burials...

 and a member of the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Committee.
He was created a baronet

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

 partly as a reward for his services as Commissioner of Education for many years.

Armand Trousseau, the French clinician, proposed that aortic heart disease should be called Corrigan’s disease.

Family and Death

Corrigan married Joanna Woodlock, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, in 1827. They had six children, three girls and three boys. Corrigan’s eldest son, John, died in 1866, but his grandson succeeded him to the baronetcy. Corrigan died on February 1, 1880, having suffered a stroke the previous December, and is buried in the crypt of St. Andrews Church

St. Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin

St. Andrew's Church is a Roman Catholic church located in Westland Row, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Construction started in 1832, it opened for public worship in 1834 but was not completed until 1837.-History:...

 on Westland Row, Dublin.

External links

• Biography in the Encyclopædia Britannica
  Encyclopædia Britannica
  The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
  
  
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