Aquilla Smith MD, FRCPI
Elected 14 May, 1864

Aquilla Smith, MD, FRCPI was an accomplished Irish Physician and numismatist in the 19th century. He was born on the 28th of April 1806 in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, son of Aquilla Smith Sr. and Catherine Doolan. He began his medical studies in Trinity College Dublin in 1823 and became licensed by the RCPI in 1833. He was elected a Fellow of the RCPI in 1839 and served as the Vice-president on a number of occasions in the years 1849, 1851-1853, 1857-1859 and 1862-1864. In 1846, he was appointed to a commission reviewing the estate management of Trinity College Dublin. He authored Dublin Pharmacopeia (1850) alongside James Apjohn. He represented the RCPI on the General Medical Council for nearly 40 years! In 1864, he was appointed as the fifth Kings’ Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin following the death of Jonathan Osborne. His teaching ability declined with age and by 1881 his lectures were considered inaudible. Students became rowdy and the college assigned locum tenens to teach in his stead. He resigned in 1881 and was replaced by his son Walter George Smith. Throughout his medical career he also served as Physician-in-Ordinary at Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital. Outside of his medical career, he was a leading figure in Irish numismatics, having a collection of over 2,500 coins and tokens, which was sold to the Royal Irish Academy. He received the Cunningham Medal from RIA (1878) and he was the second recipient ever of the Medal of the Numismatic Society (1884). He wed his cousin Esther Faucett in 1831 and together they had 13 children. They lived for many years at 121 Baggot Street in Dublin.