REVIEW: HISTORICAL MEDALS: 17 OCTOBER

Early recognition of an exceptional mind can be found in the Trinity College, Dublin, Gold Medal sold at this auction for £6,500 against an estimate of £2,400-3,000.

The recipient was William Robert Fearon (1892-1959), who attended the college from 1911-17, winning the award along with a BA in natural science.

 

Fearon was the son of the Presbyterian minister, William Fearon (d.1896) of Kells, Co. Meath, and his wife, Nannie. He was educated at St Andrew’s College, Dublin 1908-11 prior to attending Trinity College, where the gold medal was to prove the first of several awards.

In 1918, a year after leaving Trinity, Fearon, a pioneer biochemist, won the Harvey research prize from the Royal College of Physicians, Dublin, and the Carmichael prize from the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin.

He worked as a researcher for the British food ministry and the food investigations board from 1917-19 before becoming a Mackinnon research student of the Royal Society at Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 1919-21.

Elected fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 1921, the chair of biochemistry was founded for him there in 1943, a position he held until his death. From 1943 until his death on 27 December 1959 he also represented the Dublin University constituency in Seanad Éireann and sat on many government committees.