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Life
1851-1933 [Sir William Whitla]; b. 15 Sept., in Monaghan; son of pawnbroker and wollen draper with home and business in the Diamond; ed. Model School, Monaghan; apprenticed to his brother, a Belfast dispensing chemist; ed. QUB where he was awarded schol, 1872; and grad. the following year; awarded Licenciate of Royal College of Physicians, 1873, appt. Resident Medical Officer at the Belfast General Hospital, 1873-74; appt. physician to Belfast Ophtalmic Hospital, and Belfast Hosp. for Women and Children; m. Ada Bourne, 1876, dg. of a Staffordshire farmer and friend of Florence Nightingale, who was herself Wast Sister at St. Thomas's Hospital and five ears his senior; settled at 41 Gt. Victoria St., where he had a successful private practice; qualified MD (QUB), 1877 - with gold medal; appt. Physiocian to the Belfast Royal Hospital, Frederick St., 1882; moved to 8 Colelge Sq. N., 1884., appt. Prof. of Materia Medica and jurisprudence, Queen’s Coll., Belfast [QUB], 1890; knighted 1902;
issued Elements of Pharmacy, Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1892, 13th ed. 1939); Dictionary of Treatment (1891. 7th ed. 1923); Manual of the Theory and Practice of Medicine (1908); all translated; external examiner for TCD and Glasgow; appt. Pro-Chancellor of QUB, 1918, and Honorary Physician to the King in Ireland, 1919; strongly Unionist in poltics and a conventer; member of Irish Convention of 1918-19; elected MP (Westminster) for QUB, 1918, and again in 1922; retired in 1923; d. at his home, Lennoxville, Belfast, 11 Dec. 1933, and received a civic funeral; bur. in City Cemetery; his man benefactions to the city incl. Whitla Hall at Methodist College, Belfast. DIB
[ See also ‘Sir William Whitla - Profile of a Benefactor’ at Ulster Medical Society - online; accessed 31.12.2025. ]
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