There can be very few men or women in any country at any time who, after attaining eminence in their chosen profession in the course of their Biblical quota of “threescore years and ten” have then gone on to gain further distinction in the field of politics. This was the remarkable achievement of Sir Samuel Irwin, a notable Fellow of the College who, at the age of 71, became a Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and brought to that legislative assembly the same wisdom, sincerity and integrity which had characterised his successful surgical career.
Samuel Thompson Irwin was born at Cool, County Derry in 1877 but spent his late childhood and adolescence at Bovally near Limavaddy. He was educated at the Old Academy in Londonderry (later to become amalgamated with Foyle College), where he had an excellent record both in the classroom and on the sports field. In 1897 he entered the Medical Faculty of Queen’s College Belfast (later to become Queen’s University) from whence he graduated BA in 1900 and MB BCh, BAO with honours and the award of the Coulter Exhibition two years later. He was elected President of the Student’s Representative Council and of the Student’s Union Society but the main source of his undergraduate celebrity was his sporting prowess. Throughout his time as a student he played as a front row forward in the Queen’s College and Ulster Rugby XVs and he was also an excellent cricketer and golfer. Between 1900 and 1903 he won nine Irish international rugby caps playing three times each against England, Scotland and Wales and, in the 1901 game against England, it was his goal kicking that secured victory for Ireland. Irwin’s rugby career was cut short by serious illness requiring major surgery from which his convalescence was prolonged but he never lost his enthusiasm for the game to which he gave devoted service off the field and this was worthily recognised by his appointment as President of the Irish Rugby Football Union in 1935-36.
After serving as house surgeon in the new Royal Victoria Hospital, Irwin, now committed to career in surgery, went to London where, at St Peter’s Hospital, he worked for two world famous urological surgeons, Sir Peter Freyer and Mr J Thomson Walker. In spite of this, he found London uncongenial and was glad to return to Belfast where he was appointed surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1906 he gained his Masters degree in Surgery (MCh) and two years later he became a Fellow of the College but his promotion to what would now be regarded as “consultant status” did not come until 1911 when he was appointed Honorary Assistant Surgeon to the Ulster Hospital for Women and Children. There he had ample scope and stimulus for the further development of a special interest in orthopaedic surgery, which had been aroused by his association as Registrar and as Private Assistant with Mr A B Mitchell.
When war came in 1914, Irwin’s previous serious illness rendered him medically unfit for military service overseas but, having joined the Queen’s College Officers Training Corps when it was founded in 1911, he did however hold the honorary rank of Captain in the RAMC and throughout the war he served as surgeon to the Ulster Volunteer Force Military Hospital in Belfast. Trauma and orthopaedic surgery formed the largest part of his work at the UVF Hospital and it was there that he first met Sir Robert Jones (qv) then Consultant in Orthopaedic Surgery to the British Army. From this meeting a warm long-lasting friendship developed and Irwin was one of the earliest members of the club founded by Sir Robert Jones which was to become the British Orthopaedic Association.
In 1918 Samuel Irwin was appointed Surgeon to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he steadily enhanced his reputation as a clinician and teacher and coincidentally his private practice grew rapidly. Orthopaedic surgery was his main interest but he remained a general surgeon in the old fashioned sense of that term and, although not a spectacular or a particularly rapid operator, he achieved consistently good results without fuss or ostentation and his calmness and equanimity in the operating theatre were seldom, if ever, disturbed.
During World War II he was Chairman of the Northern Ireland Medical War Committee and Consultant Surgeon to the Forces in the province in recognition of which, in 1947, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Before and immediately after retirement from hospital practice he did much to facilitate the introduction of the National Health Service in Northern Ireland and rendered notable service to it as Vice Chairman of the Northern Ireland Health Services Board and as a member of the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority. Outstanding amongst his extra professional activities at this time were his Presidency of the Central Presbyterian Association and his valuable services to his Alma Mater as a member of the Senate of Queen’s University.
In 1948 Samuel Irwin stood as Unionist candidate in a by-election for one of the Queen’s University seats in the Northern Ireland Parliament and was returned with a substantial majority. At Stormont, those same qualities which were the bedrock of his professional reputation earned for him the trust, respect and goodwill of his fellow Members and constituents of all parties. He held his seat through three further elections until his death in 1961 which occurred the day after he had taken ill in Parliament.
In recognition of his impressive record of professional, public, and legislative services he was, in 1951, appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the city and county of Belfast and six years later he received the honour of Knighthood.
Sir Samuel Irwin’s life of high achievement as a sportsman, as a surgeon, as a leader of his profession and as a Parliamentarian entitle him to an honoured place amongst the most distinguished alumni of Queen’s University with which he had an association extending over three generations is no less proud to salute his memory. Sir Samuel’s eldest son M J W S Irwin, and one of his grandsons, Mr S T Irwin, are Fellows of the College and this family connection is probably unique in College annals. All three were or are surgeons on the staff of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. Like his father, Mr J W S Irwin also played rugby for Ireland and became President of the Irish Rugby Football Union.
