Rev. Samuel Haughton – Man of Science

 

Wednesday 3rd October 1897 Carlow Town witnessed the large funeral of Rev. Samuel Haughton whose remains had been conveyed to Carlow by special train from Dublin.

Earlier that morning according to the Carlow Sentinel Newspaper “about 300 of the students of the Medical School (Trinity College), wearing cap and gown walked in procession after the hearse from the late residence of the deceased at Northbrook Road to the College, where the coffin was received by the Chancellor and Vice – Chancellor of the University, the Provost, the Fellows, Professors and students and conveyed into the chapel”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthplace of Rev. Samuel Haughton, Burrin Street, Carlow Town. Photo Carlow County Museum.

After the ceremony at Trinity College “the remains were deposited in the hearse ….and the funeral then proceeded to Kingsbridge Railway Terminus for Carlow” the place of his birth. The train arrived at 1.30pm in Carlow Town and “..the coffin was carried to the hearse by near relatives of the lamented deceased. On route through the town to the family burial ground at Killeshin the business houses were closed and blinds drawn in private dwellings as a mark of respect to the memory of one whose name and family have been creditably associated with the professional and commercial history of Carlow for considerably over a century”.

Rev. Samuel Haughton was born at the family home beside the River Burrin Bridge in 1820 to a well known local Quaker family. He was “educated at Trinity College, he distinguished himself as a student, especially in science and mathematics and in 1844 at the age of 23 he was elected a Fellow of the College. From 1851 to 1881 he held the chair of Professor of Geology and in latter years he was elected a Senior Fellow”.

Professor David Spearman, Past President of the Royal Irish Academy unveiling the Haughton Plaque in Carlow on Sunday August 25th 2005. Photos Carlow County Museum.

“The interest which he took in the Medical School of Trinity College will be best understood by those who can appreciate the great improvements which have been effected in connection with, chiefly at his suggestion. He was the author of a number of interesting mathematical and scientific papers … and of his more ambitious works, perhaps, the best known is his book on “The Principles of Least Action in Nature Illustrated by Animal Mechanics”.  His knowledge of science was invariably used as occasion required to meet arguments of sceptics and to vindicate the Christian doctrine”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haughton Plaque Unveiling, (L to R) Dr Norman McMillan, Secretary National Science & Engineering Commemorative Plaques Committee and Professor David Spearman who performed the unveiling. Photo Carlow County Museum.

Much of Haughton’s research is still in use in some form today including his expertise in tides and tidal calculations and more infamously the “Haughton Drop” which laid out the humane method to correctly hang a person by killing them instantly and therefore do away with the torture of the drawing and quartering of the body.

Above quotes from the Carlow Sentinel Newspaper of November 6th 1897.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doorway of the birthplace of Re. Samuel Haughton. Photo Carlow County Museum.