List of Presidents
This page lists the Presidents of the Belfast Medical Society, the Belfast Clinical and Pathological Society, the Ulster Medical Protective Association, and the Ulster Medical Society.
Each link leads to a file with various details including, for deceased presidents, the full name, the years of birth and death, and a photograph.
An asterisk ('*') in the file name indicates that a presidential address is available. A biographical or other note may be provided in place of the address and this is indicated by a double dagger (‡).
We would welcome offers of missing photographs and addresses.
Most errors of transcription have been removed from the addresses. Original spelling largely remains unaltered.
We are grateful to Professor R S J Clarke for his permission to use the years of birth and death given in his invaluable book A Directory of Ulster Doctors to the Medical Library, Queen's University of Belfast, for allowing access to their copies of the Transactions of the Ulster Medical Society to Dr S A Hawkins, Honorary Archivist, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, for providing a number of photographs; to Mr D Crawford and Mr S Greenberg, the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, USA for providing an address; to Dr P Darragh, Dun's Librarian, and Ms H Wheelock, Keeper of Collections, Dun's Library, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, for providing an address; and to the British Library, findmypast.co.uk and ancestry.co.uk for making old newspapers available.
The presidential addresses are presented for historical interest only. Do not rely on old statements regarding diagnosis and treatment as these almost certainly will not reflect modern medical practice.
Belfast Medical Society
The first minute book of the Belfast Medical Society is missing and while the names of the early Presidents are known, the years of holding office are not. Since there are four names for the first eight years it is possible that each held office for two years but this is not certain so that this list is speculative.
| 1806/08 | Samuel Smith Thomson ‡ | 1808/10 | William Haliday |
| 1810/12 | William Drennan | 1812/14 | Robert McCluney |
The Society faltered and failed in or after 1814 owing to disagreements among the members. On its revival in 1822, it did not appoint any Presidents until 1850. Instead the chair of each meeting was taken by the fifth person to enter the room (who also fulfilled the quorum). The following is the list of Presidents from 1850 to 1861.
| 1850/51 | Robert Stephenson * | 1851/52 | Robert Stephenson |
| 1852/53 | Robert Stephenson | 1853/54 | William McGee |
| 1854/55 | Thomas Read | 1855/56 | Alexander Gordon ‡ |
| 1856/57 | Robert Stewart | 1857/58 | Samuel Browne * |
| 1858/59 | John Miller Pirrie | 1859/60 | James Patterson * |
| 1860/61 | Henry Murney | 1861/62 | Henry MacCormac * |
Belfast Clinical and Pathological Society
| 1853/54 | Thomas Henry Purdon | 1854/55 | John Creery Ferguson ** |
| 1855/56 | Andrew George Malcolm ** | 1856/57 | William McGee ** |
| 1857/58 | James Moore ** | 1858/59 | Samuel Browne ** |
| 1859/60 | James Seaton Reid * | 1860/61 | Alexander Gordon ‡ |
| 1861/62 | Henry Murney * |
Ulster Medical Protective Association
| 1859/61 | William McGee | 1861/62 | Robert Stewart |
Ulster Medical Society
An asterisk ('*') in the file name indicates that a presidential address is available. A biographical or other note may be provided in place of the address and this is indicated by a double dagger (‡).