IN THE late 18th Century, Samuel Crumpe was in his prime. He was a prestigious doctor with a collection of accolades to his name. This name, though, is almost lost to history. By 1901, there was no one by the name of Crumpe in Limerick, even his own children died without issue, writes historian Sharon Slater.
Samuel Crumpe was born in Rathkeale on September 15, 1766. He was the eldest of seven children, born to second cousins Daniel Crumpe and Grace Orpen – a wealthy family which allowed him to pursue a career in medicine.
Educated in the medical college in Edinburgh University, Scotland, at 21 he was elected as president of the Chemical Society in Surgeon’s Square.
The next year, he qualified as a doctor with his dissertation in Latin titled “De Vitiis quibus Humores corrumpi dicutur”, which translates to “The vices which cause the deteriorating of the humours”. His argument was that that scurvy was curable with a good diet – a proven fact today.
Returning to Limerick after his graduation in 1788, he replaced a Dr Hassett as a physician in the Lock and Fever Hospital, now St John’s Hospital.
Dr Hassett was the first doctor in the Lock and Fever Hospital, which had been established eight years earlier by Lady Lucy Hartstonge – a health advocate who, as the member of the Pery family, held a great deal of sway in late 18h Century in Limerick.
Outside of the hospital, Crumpe was a keen writer, with his 1793 work, Essay on the Best Means of Providing Employment for the People, winning a prize from the Royal Irish Academy. This was met with controversy though as he was not a member of the Royal Irish Academy at the time, but became one soon after the prize winners were announced.
He noted in his publication that the happiness of a people depends on them being employed but not in any menial task, rather one that suits the individual and the area they come from.
He stated that “the best means of providing employment for the people, must vary, not only in every kingdom, but in every district of the same kingdom. The difference of climate, soil, situation, and natural productions; the diversity of national or even provincial character; the different degrees of civilization, industry, or refinement which already prevail – these, and a thousand other causes, must necessarily occasion the variation alluded to.”
That same year, he published An Inquiry into the Nature and Properties of Opium. For this he carried out a number of experiments, including animal testing. He was not pleased about having to carry them out, adding his own caveat that “many succeeding experiments upon animals will, I hope, be sufficiently excused by the necessity which frequently occurs of resorting to them in our enquiries concerning many points among the most interesting to mankind”.
He also used himself as a guinea pig, testing the opium’s strength and bitterness levels after exposing it to heat, cold, and liquids.
Crumpe’s work on opium provided a basis for classifying the drug as a stimulant rather than a narcotic, and was the first to provide an extensive discussion of withdrawal effects.
He believed that wine was a better remedy than opium for relieving general fevers and that bloodletting was utterly useless, prolonging the recovery process for patients.
If writing papers and working as a practicing physician was not enough for Crumpe, he was also an amateur meteorologist. For each day of 1795, he kept note of the barometer reading, wind direction, and thermostat reading (from March onwards) for the weather in Limerick.
He also found time to start a family. In May 1792, he married Susan Ingram, who was described as an accomplished lady with a large fortune. The couple had two children, Daniel George Washington Crumpe, who died at only two months old, and Mary Grace Susan Crumpe, who followed in her father’s footsteps as a writer.
Samuel Crumpe was very much part of life in Limerick. He was created a freeman of the city in 1792. Unlike most freemen, he was not the eldest son of a freeman, nor married to the daughter or widow of a freeman, or worked for seven years with a merchant who was a freeman.
Instead, Crumpe was raised to the position by special dispensation due to his work for the city. This honour allowed him to participate fully in the political and economic life, giving him the right to vote.
In 1793, he became a Governor of the Limerick United Free School, which was established that year by historian John Ferrar for the education of boys and girls of all religions.
Sadly, Dr Samuel Crumpe’s life ended far too soon. Shortly before his death, he went to the aid of a woman who had collapsed in the street. He conveyed her to the Lock and Fever Hospital where she made a swift recovery. Unfortunately, through this act of altruism, Crump contracted typhus.
He died on January 27, 1796, aged 29 years old. He is buried in the grounds of St Mary’s Cathedral where his tomb contains a large inscription to his selflessness. Although we might not be aware of his legacy, Samuel Crumpe played a small part in improving medical care for us today.
