Thomas Ferrar, MB, LRCSI (1797-1837): the absentee professor of surgery at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution

Thomas Ferrar was the second professor of surgery in the short-lived (1835-1849) medical school of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Appointed on 5 July 1836 he failed to turn up for the winter session and was accordingly discharged on 29 November. He died in Sligo in the following June aged 39. Nothing has been written about Ferrar who survives as a mere foot-note in Belfast medical history. The events leading to his dismissal are, however, unusual, equivocal, and worth recounting. The facts suggest that the Institution was clearly justified in its action but that Ferrar emerges with some credit for a certain if misplaced high-mindedness though overshadowed by his patent derelictions.