Robert Rowlette

Robert James Rowlette (16 October 1873 – 13 October 1944) was an Irish medical doctor and an independent politician. He was later a member of Seanad Éireann.

Early life He was born on 16 October 1873 at Carncash, County Sligo, the second son of Matthew Rowlett, a farmer, and Kezia Rowlett (née Hunter). His own name always appears as 'Rowlette'. Rowlette attended Sligo Grammar School, and entered Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1891, graduating in 1895 as a senior moderator in ethics and logic. In 1896–97, he was president of the University Philosophical Society and was vice-president of the College Historical Society whose gold medal for oratory he won in 1899. Also in 1899, he graduated MD, having studied medicine since 1893 in parallel with his arts courses, already receiving his MB and B.Ch. in 1898. Rowlette's varied academic record anticipated a subsequent career in medicine and politics, where he moved between one discipline and the other with apparent ease.

Career He was, at various times, president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy of Medicine and the editor of the Journal of the Irish Medical Organisation.

He was Honorary Physician to the British Olympic team at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, and to the Irish teams at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, the first two occasions on which an independent Irish team competed. He was the first TD elected to the Dáil without having to take the Oath of Allegiance to the crown, abolished with effect from the previous May. He failed to gain re-election to the Seanad in 1944, finishing as the runner-up by a margin of 5 votes out of a total valid poll of 2,297.

Later life and death He was married to Gladys Camper Day, and they had one son.