T. G. Wilson

Dr T.G. Wilson FRCSI FRCSE FRCS FACS FRSM MRIA HRHA
Chairman of the Commissioners of the Irish Lights
In office 1968–1969
Preceded by	J.C. Colvill, R.N.
President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
In office 1958–1961
Preceded by	Anthony Burton Clery
Succeeded by	Alexander Kinnear
Personal details
Born	Thomas George Wilson (1901-07-01)1 July 1901
Died	11 June 1969(1969-06-11) (aged 67)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin

Thomas George Wilson FRCSI FRCSE FRCS FACS FRSM MRIA HRHA (1 July 1901 - 6 November 1969) was an eminent Anglo-Irish surgeon and medical administrator specialising in otorhinolaryngology, a field to which he made significant contributions. Wilson was also an accomplished author, artist and sailor. He was known as 'T.G' and was a leading figure in Dublin society until his sudden death in 1969.

He became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland and founded its section on the History of Medicine in January 1956 acting as Honorary Secretary until 1963 when he became President of the section as he had previously been President of the section of Laryngology and Otology (1946-1948). In 1937 he was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in London. However, T.G. was most influential within the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where he served a record three years as President from 1958-1961. In 1963, he founded the Journal of the College and continued to serve as editor until 1968.

Early life and education

T.G. Wilson was born on 1 July 1901 to Robert Charles Wilson of Dublin, a stockbroker, and Frances Lucinda Kellett, a descendant of Sir Henry Kellett. He had two other siblings, an elder brother Charles Herbert, and a younger sister, Edna, who went on to marry Sir Charles Read. His family were connected to war correspondent Lady Sarah Wilson and First World War Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson. His mother was alleged to have had an affair with Oscar Wilde, with whom she was a good friend, whilst in London, which would have made T.G. his illegitimate son. Weight was added to this claim by the fact that William Wilde, Oscar's father had an illegitimate son called Henry Wilson and that T.G. wrote the biography of Oscar's father. This gained T.G. the nickname 'Wilde bastard', leading T.G. to respond in 1942, after the publication of his book, 'I've often been called a bastard, but whatever I am I'm not a Wilde bastard.'

He was educated at Mountjoy School (now merged to form part of Mount Temple Comprehensive School), Eton College and Trinity College, Dublin.

Surgical career

He was appointed house surgeon to the ENT Department of the Cheltenham General and Eye Hospital taking the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (FRCSI) by examination in 1927. He returned to Dublin on appointment as assistant surgeon to “Togo” Graham at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital (Baggot Street). Other consultant and specialist appointments soon followed: at Dr. Steevens’ Hospital, at Drumcondra Hospital , The National Children’s Hospital, Harcourt Street, and for several decades (1928-1966) was laryngologist at Mercer’s Hospital. His distinguished curriculum vitae continued to grow: Consultant to the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook (1935-1969), honorary aurist to the Mageaugh Home, Dublin, and laryngologist to the Royal National Hospital for Consumption, Newcastle (County Wicklow). Combined with these was a rewarding private practice (most of the above were honorary consulting posts) and the beginnings of an impressive professional publication list which finally ran to no fewer than 40 articles in ENT-related subjects alone between 1926 and his death, and a text-book Diseases of the Ears, Nose and Throat in Children (London and New York, 1955; 2nd edition, 1962).

T.G. joined the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1944 becoming Vice-President (1956-7). In 1958, he became President (1958–61) and, after becoming the longest serving President, then became Secretary and Honorary Librarian in 1962. Whilst President, T.G. oversaw the creation of the Faculty of Anaesthetists (1959) and the Faculty of Radiologists (1960) and helped arrange international reciprocal agreements with other bodies. There were also purchases of nearby properties to allow for the expansion of the College and its campus which in turn allowed many of the academic and professional activities which have been a feature of the College during the last 30 years.

Honours, awards and legacy

T.G. was awarded honorary fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (1961), the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1963) and of the American College of Surgeons. He delivered the Felix Semon Lecture at the University of London in 1964. He was elected a member of the exclusive James IV Association of Surgeons (founded in 1965) and being elected President of the section of Laryngology of the Royal Society of Medicine (1966) having already been President of the Collegium Amicitae Sacrum, a scientific grouping drawn from all over the world, during its meeting in Dublin in 1958. He was also a founder member (in November 1970) and first President of the Irish Otolaryngological Society aimed to bring together amicably the leading ENT specialists from all corners and both parts of the island of Ireland. The T.G. Wilson Medal is named after him. His artistic talents were recognised by his election to honorary membership of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) to accompany his professorship of anatomy at the College of Art. He was also given the privilege of exhibiting two paintings annually at the RHA.

Personal life

In 1928, he married Mary Hume Babington, daughter of Sir Anthony Babington, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.

T.G.'s best known book is Victorian Doctor: the Life of Sir William Wilde (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1942), father of Oscar, who was a friend of Wilson's mother. He became Chairman of the Commissioners of Irish Lights in 1968, having previously been a Commissioner. In 1968, he wrote the Irish Lighthouse Service (Dublin: Allen Figgis Ltd, 1968), which featured drawings and colour plates of his oil paintings.

One of his dedicated interests was Swiftian studies on which, starting in 1939, he published several important articles arguing that amongst other ailments the Dean suffered for many years from Ménière’s disease (vertigo, nausea, tinnitus, etc), a diagnosis the aural medical fraternity now accept. For his literary and other achievements in the general field of the Arts he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature in 1941 by Dublin University.

He painted the watercolour picture of the façade and fore-court of Dr. Steevens’ Hospital, which is now located in the Colles Room within the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Wilson was largely responsible for raising the funds and planning the extension in which the Colles Room features, and the Colles Room’s furnishings were mainly according to his design.

Wilson was subject to legal repercussions in 1942 when he was found to be hindering the arrest of a person liable to internment during the neutrality of the Irish Free State in the Second World War. He was part of a group that assisted British servicemen stranded in Ireland to escape across the border to Belfast. He was prosecuted for assisting a British serviceman. He was fined £200 and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, later suspended on the arrangement of a personal bail of £500, and was bound over to keep the peace for two years. His defence barrister was JA Costello, who became Taoiseach six years later.

T.G. Wilson died suddenly of a heart attack on 6 November 1969 when staying at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. He was a guest of the governor, and was staying in the flat where Sir Christopher Wren had stayed and planned St. Paul's Cathedral. His funeral was held at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin as part of the Church of Ireland.