Samuel Clossy

Samuel Clossy MB MD (c. 1724 – 22 August 1786) was a pioneering Irish anatomist and the first college professor of a medical subject in North America.

Early life and education Samuel Clossy was born around 1724 in Dublin, Ireland. His parents were Bartholomew Clossy, a wealthy city merchant, and Anne Ogle. He was educated in Cashel, County Tipperary, entering Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), in 1739, sponsored by Dr William Stephens. He graduated with an MB in 1751. he was awarded his MD from TCD in 1755, and his licence of the Irish College of Physicians. He was elected a fellow of the College in 1761.

Career

At Dr Stephens' invitation

He emigrated to New York in September 1763, where he had been promised a job at a planned military hospital. Having learnt that this hospital plan was floundering, he took up lecturing in anatomy, The American war of independence and his declining health led him to return to England late in 1780, where he spent 4 years trying unsuccessfully to find a new appointment. He addressed a sworn memorial to the Committee Appointed by Act of Parliament for Enquiring into the Losses and Services of the American Loyalists on 8 July 1784.

He retired to Dublin with a pension, dying there on 22 August 1786. He had been elected an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1784. On 12 May 1759 he married Elizabeth Leech in St Andrew’s Church, Dublin, who survived him along with a daughter.