Plaque to be unveiled in honour of 19th century medical researcher and inventor of the modern stethoscope
ARTHUR LEARED WAS BORN INTO A MERCHANT FAMILY IN WEXFORD IN 1822
I T would be f ai r t o s ay t hat not t oo many members of t he Wexford Borough Distric t had heard of Arthur Leared until t he proposal t o erec t a pl aque i n his honour i n t own c ame before t hem.
Born i n 1 822 t o a merchant f amily t hat l i ved and had i t s business on t he Main Stree t , Leared went on t o s t udy at Tri nity College Dublin and s oon became medical off i c er at t he Fever Hospital and Dispensar y i n Oular t .
Af t er s e veral years t here, he moved t o London, where he was associated with numerous hospitals and was a ver y ac t i ve member of t he medical r esearch c ommunity, c ontributing t o many medic al j ournals.
While René Laennec is c r edited as being t he ori gi nal i nventor of t he s t e t hoscope i n 1 816, Leared f i r s t displ ayed his proposed double ( bi - aural, with t wo ear- pi eces) s t e t hoscope at t he Great Exhibition of 1 851 and, on t hat basis, was r ecognised as i t s i nventor.
Leared al s o t r avell ed t he gl obe l ec t uring on medicine and c arr yi ng out r esearch. He vi s i t ed Ic el and on no f e wer t han f our occasions and became s o profici ent i n Ic el andic t hat he published a book i n t he vernac ul ar. He al s o vi s i t ed Morocco on s e veral occasions, where he had a f r ee pass f r om t he s ul t an t o vi s i t s e veral c i t i es, and he al s o wrote books on his e xperiences t here.
Outside of medicine, Leared had a l arge c i r c l e of l i t erar y, s c i entifi c and ar t i s t i c f r i ends who greatly appreciated his work and he was a member of many l earned s ocie t i es at home and abroad.
Having t r avell ed c onsiderably and made an i ndelible i mpact, Leared and his wife Mar y Jane r e t i r ed t o 1 2 Old Burlington Stree t i n London, where he died on October 1 6, 1 87 9.
Despite his t r avels, Wexf ord was al ways home f or t he r enowned s c holar and i t was with t his i n mind t hat Mr Brian Tench and Dr Anne MacLellan s ought t he approval of Wexford c ouncill ors t o honour him s ome way i n his hometown.
Given t hat pl aques have al r eady been erec t ed t o acknowledge Dr Tom Walsh’s c ontribution t o Agric ul t ural Science and Dr Arthur W. Conway ’s c ontribution t o Mathematics i n t he Bullri ng , t his l ocation i n t he hear t of t he t own was c onsidered t he best l ocation t o honour Arthur Leared as well.
All of t he members were happy t o approve t he pl aque and Cll r Leonard Kelly s ought t he addition of a QR c ode which c ould be s c anned f or f ur t her i nformation on t he r enowned Wexford man’s l i f e.