Edward Leo Sheridan Remembered
Extracts from A History of the Northern Ireland Branch of the British Dental Association
1928 The Irish Free State Dental Act
In the Irish Free State at this time the Dental Act was going through the Dail (Irish Parliament) and reached the statute book on the 3 August 1928. Because the Government of Ireland Act 1920 pre-dated the Dentists Act 1921 there was always a question mark over the application of the Dentists Act within the Irish Free State. Reputable dentists within Ireland were retained on the register held by the General Medical Council (GMC) and there was a place on the Dental Board for a registered dentist from the Irish Free State. This position was held by Edward Leo Sheridan who retained his British Dental Association (BDA) membership and attended some of the Northern Ireland Branch meetings and functions. The Irish Free State Dental Act allowed for the formation of an Irish Dental Board which first met on the 19 November 1928 and its first act was to establish a Dental Register within the Irish Free State. The British Dental Register was accepted with a provision giving power to the new Board “to register those dentists who failed to apply under the 1921 Act but who have received training and possess qualifications not inferior to the standard of qualification necessary for obtaining the right to be registered”. This section was apparently introduced to meet the case of those who may have had conscientious objections to putting their names on a British Register or who may have been serving with the Irish Volunteers. The new Dental Board of the Irish Free State was to look after the new Register as well as institute any disciplinary inquiries. Any action that might be taken was still to be decided by the GMC and responsibility for dental education was to remain under the control of the GMC.
1934
At the AGM of the Northern Ireland Branch of the BDA on Friday 7 December 1934, Edward Leo Sheridan, of Dublin, read a paper on diathermy and the following day gave a demonstration of this treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital before a large number of members and students. Sheridan was a remarkable man and probably deserves a chapter all of his own. He qualified for his Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS) from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1902 and obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) Ireland in 1908. He joined the staff of the Incorporated Dental Hospital of Ireland directly after qualification. In 1903 he joined the BDA and even though he became a founder member of the Irish Dental Association he retained his BDA membership attending many of the Northern Ireland Branch meetings and functions. In 1921, when the Dental Board of the United Kingdom was formed, Sheridan was elected to represent dentists in the South of Ireland and was subsequently returned to the Board as the elected Representative for Ireland on four occasions.
1938 Dental board protest
The Northern Whig newspaper carried a story in which a Labour MP, Josiah Wedgewood, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, had protested about an Irish Chairman of the United Kingdom Dental Board. The Lord President of Council (I assume the Privy Council) had invited Sheridan, by then Professor of Dental Surgery in the National University of Ireland, to accept the appointment as Chairman of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom, in succession to the late Sir Francis Acland. Sheridan had accepted the invitation. Mr Wedgewood asked: “Is the noble Lord aware that there is great resentment among British dentists, in view of Irish hostility to Great Britain, at the appointment as Chairman of the British Dental Board of a Sinn Fein Irish Catholic living in Dublin?”
There was some resentment from British dentists that the honour of being the first Chair of the Dental Board was an Irish dentist working in Dublin even though having been a member of the Board since its inception his experience made him the obvious choice. Professor Sheridan undoubtably felt the opposition of his colleagues, to his appointment, keenly. However, the manner in which this had been raised in the House of Commons was strongly resented by dentists generally, including those who were opposed to the appointment. Professor Sheridan had been a member of the BDA since 1903 but on his appointment as Chair of the Dental Board he resigned on principle as he felt it was undesirable that the Chairman of the Dental Board should be a member of a body which might be concerned in proceedings before the Board.
1946 Professor Edward Leo Sheridan
Professor Edward Leo Sheridan had been Chair of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom from 1939 through 1944 and even though, as we have seen, his appointment had been controversial, his conduct of the business of the Dental Board, during the war period, amply justified the choice of the Privy Council. When he resigned in 1944, on his appointment as President of the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI), for 1944-45, he was the last of the original board members appointed in 1921. In addition to his membership of the Dental Board he also served for a time on the GMC as a representative of the RCSI. He was the first (and to date only) practising Dental Surgeon to be elected as President of the RCSI and after his term of office he was elected as an Honorary Member of the BDA in 1946. He was also honoured by the IDA who presented him with his portrait painted by Margaret Clark R.H.A., at the IDA Annual Dinner. As busy as his professional life was, he had many interests outside of dentistry. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Council Member of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland and had been the President of the Dublin Naturalists Field Club. He was also a keen fisherman and a good shot.
1949 Death of Edward Leo Sheridan
On the 10 April 1949 Edward Leo Sheridan died at the age of 68. He had been president of the IDA in 1926, the first Dental Chairman of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom, the first (and to date only) practising dentist to have been President of the RCSI in 1944–1946 and made an Honorary Member of the BDA in 1946. He was a frequent visitor to Northern Ireland Branch events and annual meetings, contributing as a lecturer, an after-dinner speaker and an attendee.
The portrait
As a footnote to the story of Edward Leo Sheridan, I had trouble finding an image of the man to use in the book. I asked Rachel Bairsto, of the BDA Museum, and Helen Nield, of the BDA Library, if they could help. Rachel said that she believed they had a portrait of Sheridan in the museum storage and sent me an image of the painting. When I saw the image, I realised that the portrait was by Margaret Clarke and showed Sheridan in the regalia of the RCSI.
I realised that this must be the portrait that the IDA had presented to him on his election as President of the IDA in 1945, but how did this come to be in the hands of the BDA Museum? Rachel said that they were keeping the portrait on behalf of the General Dental Council who had found it surplus to their requirements and were going to dispose of it. Rachel persuaded the GDC that it was an important piece
of dental history and managed to save the portrait.
The question then comes, as to how the GDC had the portrait in their possession. It is here that I must use some supposition. The General Dental Council and The Dental Board, which was its predecessor, have always had portraits painted of
their Chairs. I am assuming that when they asked Sheridan to have his portrait painted, he demurred and presented them with the portrait he had just been presented with by the IDA.
Margaret Clarke RHA was one of the foremost portrait artists of the time, having painted, among others, President De Valera and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. She was married to Harry Clarke who was, himself, probably the most famous stained-glass artist in Ireland. Her work can be found in The National Gallery of Ireland and The Ulster Museum. The National Gallery of Ireland had a retrospective exhibition of her work in 2017.
It begs the question, why the GDC had found it surplus to requirements and that perhaps it deserves to be back in Ireland.
About the article
Extracted from A History of the Northern Ireland Branch of the British Dental Association by Richard Graham. The book is £50 (with £25 to cover printing and publishing costs and £25 going to the BDA Benevolent Fund) and postage is £6.99. Please contact Richard at r.graham@bda.org to buy a copy, or for more information.
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