Solomon Richards

Solomon Richards (c. 1760 – 6 November 1819) was an Irish surgeon who served four terms as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 1794, 1803, 1808, and 1818. He achieved fame by performing a tracheotomy in public for which act he featured in a satirical poem in The Metropolis. He was praised for his philanthropy and noted for his puns and bon mots. He was said to be the "fattest surgeon in the United Kingdom".

Early life Solomon Richards was born in York Street, Dublin, about 1760, the second son of Goddard Richards of Grange, County Wexford.

He married Elizabeth Groome, daughter of the Reverend Edward Groome. They had five children. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Dublin Society. a position he held for the rest of his life.

After the death of Samuel Croker-King in 1817, Richards took over as visiting surgeon and governor to Dr Steevens' Hospital.

Richards was well respected and known as "Sol" by his friends.

Like Sir Philip Crampton in 1810, Richards became famous by performing a tracheotomy in public. It was referred to by the author of The Metropolis, probably the satirist William Norcott, as follows:

"Of old, more active, when by merit push'd Beyond his rivals, to the goal he rush'd. But not less worthy of the sweepstakes won He holds the distance, as he first begun. To Fortune's smiles, that glisten on so few, Oft times as much as to desert is due; If Lords and Commons, when a shank of mutton Stuck in the throttle of some greedy glutton, Ne'er saw thy dexterous knife the windpipe slit, And his tight gullet render back the bit; How long, midst garret-patients had you struggled E'er your lost skill to drawing-rooms was smuggled." and in 1818 he purchased the Ardamine Estate near Gorey in County Wexford from Sir Thomas Roberts, 1st Baronet. He also bought property from Abel Ram of Clonattin.

Death and legacy Richards was found dead in bed by his wife on the morning of 6 November 1819. His County Wexford home Ardamine House was destroyed by the IRA in 1921 and not rebuilt.

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