1834 – 1912. Doctor MD DI KSG Cruise was born in Dublin in Mountjoy Square in 1834, the son of a solicitor and his early education took place in Clongowes Wood College and in Belvedere. He followed this by going to Trinity where he studied medicine and gained his clinical experience at the Richmond Hospital where he was supervised by Sir Dominic Corrigan, among others. He also assisted Robert McDonnell in his research. McDonnell would later go to perform the first blood transfusion in Ireland in 1865. After his graduation in 1858 Cruise travelled in America. He returning to Ireland in 1859 and was granted his Licentiate from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, he was elected as a Fellow of the College in 1864. His MD was granted by Trinity College in 1861, his thesis was on the abnormal development of the female genital organs. Cruise began his work as a junior physician in the Mater Hospital when it opened in 1861 and his association with that hospital would last through his life. He also lectured in the Carmichael School and was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland from 1884 to 1886. Although he is best known for his work on endoscopy, Cruise published articles on a wide range of subjects including dislocations, bladder diseases and hypnotism, the latter being an area in which he developed an interest in the 1880s. In addition to his medical writings, Cruise also published a biography of Thomas a Kempis and a translation of his work “The Imitation of Christ” which resulted in the award of the Knighthood of St Gregory. He was considered to be an excellent shot with a rifle – a skill he had picked up while in America – and a proficient cellist. In 1859 he married Mary Frances and had six sons and three daughters. Cruise was knighted in 1896, although he declined the offer of a baronetcy ten years later. In 1901, King Edward VII appointed Cruise as his physician-in-ordinary in Ireland
(Courtesy of the website of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland website).
