| Description | On his death in 1713 Sir Patrick Dun left a considerable estate, mainly in land in County Waterford, in trust to the College of Physicians, with the money to be spent on establishing a King's Professor of Physic in the College to teach and give anatomical demonstrations. Troubles over the management of the estate and expenditure of the trust monies led to a series of Acts of Parliament in the eighteenth century which culminated in the School of Physic Act (1800) which created four King's Professors and founded a hospital (Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital) for them to give clinical lectures in, all to be financed by the Dun's Estate Trust. The King's Professor with the professors of the medical department of Trinity College formed the School of Physic which provided a series of medical lectures and demonstrations in Dun's Hospital. The Acts also appointed a Court of Visitors to oversee the management of trust funds by the College and appoint auditors. The College appointed a series of land agents to manage the estates, as with other land owners in nineteenth century Ireland there were continuing problems with the collection of rents, not helped by the absentee landlord. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the College sold off the estates under the Land Commission, and the money was invested in shares and stocks. The trust came to an end on 7 November 1961, by a legal enactment between the three interested parties; Trinity College, Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital and the College. The stocks and shares were sold and the three institutions received set portions. |