Sir Philip Crampton Baronet (1st) ^{2 3}

  Noted events in his life were:

• Honours: Created a Baronet, 1839, In Ireland. ⁶

• Memorial: The Crampton Memorial, 1862-1959, junction of College Street with Pearse Street and D’Olier Street, Dublin, Ireland. ⁵

• Mentioned: A Noble Old Pear Tree, Apr 1902, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. One of the floral sights of Dublin just at the present time is a splendid Jargonelle pear tree, trained up the front of No. 14, Merrion-square. This tree, now 50ft. or 60ft. in height, and wide in proportion, was planted by the late Sir Philip Crampton, a celebrated surgeon, in the year 1815. The tree is planted in the area below the adjacent road and rises up to the third story windows. The late Dr. John Hamilton ascribed its luxuriance and fertility to its roots having obtained access to the adjoining drains, these roots, resembling bunches of birch broom, having on more than one occasion threatened to block up the house sewer below the area flags.

Every spring this noble tree excites the wonder and admiration of the passer by, when each twig is heavily laden with great bouquet like clusters of its white and fragrant flowers. In autumn again it forms a centre of attraction, when the tree is covered with ripe or ripening fruit. The crop varies somewhat, but in 1871 it consisted of some 3000 fruits, and in August of 1873 it was calculated that the tree bore about 4000 ripe pears, as many as twenty-two fruits being born by a single shoot or spur.

Apart from its association with one of the foremost Dublin surgeons of his time, this tree also affords an object lesson to all who are fond of, or who anticipate, the planting of fruit trees in towns for ornament as well as for their fruit. On the same side of Merrion-square there are at least two other pear trees, evidently planted later than that in front of No. 14, and these are also now beautifully in bloom.

All these trees are planted in deep areas, and in unprepared and uncultivated soil, and yet, notwithstanding that that the roots appear to be cut off from the conditions of soil and cultural influences usually considered of importance in good pear culture, the trees, and especially the larger one, are not only beautiful objects when in flower, but as a rule extremely fruitful every autumn. When her late Majesty the Queen was last in Dublin, this pear tree in flower was pointed out to her as one of the most remarkable objects along the route through the city. The existence of this historical tree for nigh on a century near the centre of a city like Dublin should prompt owners of town houses to give fruit trees, and especially pear trees a trial, a trial now and then. Even in or near to the centre of London the fig tree, the grape vine and the mulberry grow freely, while visitors to Normandy will remember the pear and other fruit trees that are there grown and trained on every spare bit of wall or paling.

In the south, and even far down in the colder midland districts of England, the apricot is often planted in the pebbled pavements fronting the houses in the village streets, the trees being standards on 6ft. stems, so that the fruit is protected from the passers by. The wide subject of fruit tree cultivation is just at present receiving much attention, and apart altogether from planting the waysides, the hedgerow, or the sloping sunny or sheltered embankments along our railways with fruit bearing trees, there are acres upon acres of bare walls throughout the country on which choice kinds of pears, plums, cherries, and other fruits might be grown with every advantage to owners and others. In any case, and apart altogether from any expectation of fruit, the flowering beauty of pears, plums, and cherries, double-blossomed peaches, almonds, &c., ought to ensure them a place on bare walls in our towns and villages.

• Mentioned: The Irishman - A Crampton Monument, 4 Jun 1942. Walking past undergraduates near the Crampton Memorial at the end of College Street, on Monday set me thinking of the hoax worked upon this most eminent Dublin surgeon whose personal fame the monument commemorates. It was orchestrated by some early nineteenth century academics of Trinity College Dublin.

Sir Philip Crampton, it would seem was a rigid disciplinarian, and held severe views on the conduct of medicos in public. This brought him frequently into conflict with the students of the Trinity Medical College of whom eventually prepared patients for him.

Accordingly one night he was taken out of bed at Merrion square by a messenger, who implored him to hasten to the aid of a gentleman who having fallen from his horse lay speechless on the pavement at College Green.

Crampton, a man of impetuous kindness, lost no time in dressing and hurrying to the scene of the accident. But all he found at College Green was a mob of hilarious students gathered around the upturned figure of King Billy, which they had just unhorsed.

Early Tracheotomy

Few seem aware that the Crampton Memorial commemorates one of the most skilful surgeons ever known in Ireland or in Great Britain. A circumstance which occurred in 1810 first brought him to notice in this respect.

A waiter at the Richmond Tavern in Dawson Street one day accidentally swallowed a bone which became impacted in the larynx to such a serious extent that his life was endangered. Sir Philip Crampton, who then resided nearby, rushed to the tavern, and with a common table knife, successfully performed the operation of tracheotomy, which at that period was as yet such an innovation that many conservative medical men deprecated the possibilities of its success, whilst only the most progressive surgeons would have attempted it.

Crampton was one of the noted athletes of his day, and held his own in this connection well into old age. He was, indeed, nearing the end of his life when he swam across Lough Bray, Co. Wicklow, rode post-haste to the city, and amputated the leg of a man, all before he had breakfast.

The inscription on the College street monument was composed by his friend.

• Mentioned: A Story of Dublin by John McCormack, 2000, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. ISBN 1-84210-072-6, Page 151

"Sir William (Sic) Crampton (1777-1858) was Surgeon General during the reign of Queen Victoria. He was a founder member of the Royal Zoological Society and was responsible for obtaining the present site for the zoo in the Phoenix Park. One night a messenger roused him from his bed and told him that a great personage had fallen from his horse in College Green. Crampton rushed immediately to the scene to find that the statue of King William had been blown from his horse by an explosion".

"A memorial to Crampton once stood at the corner of Hawkin's Street and College Street. It was damaged in 1959 and for the sake of better traffic flow was never replaced".
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A very good book for anyone with an interest in the history of Dublin and is a recommended purchase.

Philip married Selina Cannon, daughter of Cannon and Unknown, on 11 May 1800.¹ (Selina Cannon was born in 1781 ¹ and died in 1834 ¹.)