Francis Xavier Richard Cruise (3 December 1834 – 26 February 1912) was a notable 19th-century Irish surgeon and

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive organ ...

best known for inventing an

endoscope An endoscope is an inspection instrument composed of image sensor, optical lens, light source and mechanical device, which is used to look deep into the body by way of openings such as the mouth or anus. A typical endoscope applies several modern t ...

and using it successfully in surgery in 1865.Sir Francis Richard Cruise – Inventor of the Endoscope
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland: Heritage Centre Blog

Life and work

Cruise was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and baptised 7 December 1834 at the Pro-Cathedral. His father was Dublin solicitor Francis Cruise (1795 – before 1859) and his mother was Eleanor Mary Brittain (1795–1877) from

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in England.Sir Francis Richard Cruise, MD/Urologist
Geni genealogy site He was an uncle of

Edward Cuthbert Butler Cuthbert Butler (born Edward Joseph Aloysius Butler; 6 May 1858 – 2 April 1934) was an Irish ecclesiastical historian much of whose career was spent as Benedictine of Downside Abbey in England. He was sometimes referred to as Dom Cuthbert But ...

. He attended both

Belvedere College Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origin ...

, where he was the first president of the Belvedere Union, and

Clongowes Wood Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a You ...

. His university education was at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

(BA 1856, MD 1861).Br Med J 1912: Sir Francis Cruise, M.D.
p. 586 His medical career saw him work at the Mater HospitalFamous Clinicians Room: Sir Francis Cruise
The

British Association of Urological Surgeons The British Association of Urological Surgeons is a professional association in the United Kingdom for urology professionals. Its official journal is the BJU International ''BJU International'' (or ''BJUI'', formerly known as the ''British Jou ...

and teach at the Carmichael School of Medicine, as well as research and publish on genital irregularities, bladder diseases and dislocations. He was lauded for successfully performing some of the world's first endoscopic treatments, including early endoscopically-assisted urethrotomies using his own endoscope modified from one developed in the 1850s by Antonin Desormeaux.Cystoscopes: Cruise Endoscope
The British Association of Urological Surgeons From 1884 to 1886 he served as the President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Ireland The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), ( ga, Coláiste Ríoga Lianna na hÉireann) is an Irish professional body dedicated to improving the practice of general medicine and related medical specialities, chiefly through the accredit ...

. In 1906, he was knighted by the British government. He also wrote about

Thomas à Kempis Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380 – 25 July 1471; german: Thomas von Kempen; nl, Thomas van Kempen) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of ''The Imitation of Christ'', published anonymously in Latin in the N ...

and translated his ''On the Imitation of Christ'', and in 1905,

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

made him a Knight of St Gregory the Great. He had married Mary Frances Power (1839–1910) of Dublin in 1859, the union resulting in six sons and three daughters. He was an accomplished cello player and editor of classical and traditional Irish music, and also served as Governor of the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution which ...

. He died at his home in Dublin on 26 February 1912.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruise, Francis Xavier Richard 1834 births 1912 deaths 19th-century Irish medical doctors Irish surgeons Knights of St. Gregory the Great Medical doctors from Dublin (city) Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians Irish urologists Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland People educated at Belvedere College