Dr James Quinlan, Templeorum, Kilkenny & Moscow, Russia

Dr James Quinlan supposedly took part in the Napoleonic siege of Moscow in 1812 as a medical officer with the French Army.  According to family tradition he was captured by the Russians but used his medical knowledge to care for both the wounded French and Russian soldiers.  The Russians, impressed by his medical knowledge and whose own medical services were not so advanced,  offered him a post as Head in the Royal Hospital in Moscow and he reputedly was also appointed as personal physician to the Czar and the Imperial family.  


The gateway into the Irish College in Louvain established in 1607

Again, according to family tradition he studied at the University of Louvain but his name is not listed there; it is worthy of note that these records are not complete.   Russian records have him in Moscow as early as 1809; this is prior to the Napoleonic invasion of Russia. Other accounts have him in Russia as early as 1790.  There is much then that is conflicting in the accounts of his early career but he definitely existed as in his Russian Will, written in French and dated 1826,  he left 28,000 roubles for the education of the lineal descendants of his family left back in in Ireland.  There is no evidence that he ever married.
James Quinlan was of Templeorum, county Kilkenny and son of Robert Quinlan of Manganstown near  Kilsheelan and Clonmel (in Tipperary).  The origin of the Quinlan family starts with William Quinlan of Corbally, Templeorum, south Kilkenny in the parish of Owning. 

Main entrance into the Templeorum graveyard with belfry.

Still to be found in the graveyard at Templeorum are six memorials to this family. One reads "Here lies the body of Mary Quinlan who died December the 3rd 1769 aged 55 years, also the body of John and Ellen, her son and daughter; as also the body of her father and mother-in-law Thomas and Ellen Quinlan aged both together 173 years".

Headstone to Robert Quinlan of Meaganstown (sic) who died 1804.  It is highly decorated with a sunburst, hourglasses at each side of the sunburst and an ornate IHS.  This is the father of Dr James Quinlan of Moscow.

The second relevant stone reads " Sacred to the memory of Robert Quinlan of Meaganstown (sic) who departed this life the 20th of February 1804 aged 96 years; his wife Mary (Gaul) who died on the 17th January 1806 aged 84 years; his son Thomas who died the 17th September 1788 aged 44 years; John who died the 14th November 1793 aged 34 years. Patrick who died on the 27th September 1806 aged 56 years". 

 A large alter tomb belonging to the Quinlans of Managanstown now stands in the exact spot of what was once a lofty presbytery called Templeorum Castle which fell in about the year 1800.  This reads  "Here are deposited the mortal remains of Mrs Catherine Daniel of Clonmel who .....resigned her soul.....on the 15th of June 1846 in the 86th year of her age.  Here also repose the remains of her father Mr Robert Quinlan of Manganstown who departed life on the 20th Feby 1804 aged 96 years and of her mother Mrs Mary Quinlan (alias Gaul) who died on the 17th of January 1806 in the 84th year of her age. Requiescant in Pace. Amen".  The information for these last three memorials can also be found in Carrigan's History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory, Vol 4.. 1905.   William Quinlan, Robert Quinlan's grandfather who was born circa 1645, was buried at Kilkieran graveyard in 1696. 
Dr James Quinlan's death was reported in The Tipperary Free Press for 16th May 1827 and in the Kilkenny Independent  for 30th May 1827.  Both reports are exactly the same "Died on the 19th of July (that would be 1826) last in Moscow Dr James Quinlan, son of the late Mr Robert Quinlan of Manganstown, near Carrick on Suir. This respectable gentleman was during 36 years Head Physician to the Royal Hospital of Moscow. the noble qualities of his heart endeared him in a foreign land to all who were acquainted with him.  His society was courted by the highest personages attached to the Russian Court, as letters received from his executor, Prince Sergei de Galitzin affirm, and at the same time evince the most sincere sorrow for his death".   This is high praise indeed but if this obituary is correct it means that Dr Quinlan must have arrive in Russia at least prior to 1790 and not with Napoleon's invading army in 1812. Judging by the ages of his 3 brothers and sister Catherine (from the headstones at Templeorum), all of whom appear to have been born between 1744-1760, I think it is fairly safe to suggest that Dr James Quinlan could have been born between 1745-58.  This would put his age at late 70s to early 80s, when he died in Russia.  Given he must have been at least 20 years old but probably as young as 12 or 14 yrs when he left Ireland, he could not have arrived in Russia as a Surgeon, as has reported, until at least the mid 1780s. If he had first gone to France, which seems likely, these dates would have put young James bang in the middle of the French Revolution of 1789; like many others he would have been seeking a way out of France and somehow family tradition has possibly become entangled with facts.  In 18th century Russia medical experts were eagerly recruited from the West; several hundred surgeons and 266 medical doctors were invited from abroad to join the Russian medical service during the course of the 18th century.    Learned physicians from the West were favoured by the Czarist Government because of their expertise in administration, their practical abilities, powers of organisation and prevention of diseases. These medical men were positioned socially just below the ruling aristocracy.  Once their main duty would have been to care for the Czar and his family and other high ranking nobles. But they became a new "imperial elite" employed to strengthen the army and other pillars of the imperial empire as medical innovations were imposed by the Czar from above.  This gave enormous status and but also obligations to these Western trained doctors and surgeons, all bound by oath to serve the Czar and the imperial dynasty   Most court doctors would have been relatively isolated and without exception came from foreign, that is non Russian, families and non aristocratic backgrounds but their special duties as court physicians place them in the highest status of Czarist society. This Russian "recruitment" of Western trained medical men may provide the answer to the arrival and subsequent prosperity in Russia of the young Dr James Quinlan.

The fine iron work on the gate into the graveyard at Templeorum

In his Will Dr Quinlan left 28,000 roubles for the education of his father's descendants in what he described as The Roman Catholic College in Ireland.   Prince Serge de Galitzin, the Imperial Chamberlain at the Czarist court of Czar Alexander 1, was the executor of Dr Quinlan's Will.  He visited London to prove the Will but there was an immediate and persistent problem.   Which college in Ireland had Dr Quinlan meant by The Roman Catholic College in Ireland?   Battle lines were drawn by conflicting claims from Irish Colleges, all claiming they were the College intended to receive the bursary of 28,000 roubles. These Colleges included:-
1. St Patrick's College, Maynooth,
2 .St John's College, Waterford,
3. St Kieran's College, Kilkenny
4. Farranferris College, Cork
5. St Patrick's College in Carlow,
Unable to resolve the matter, Prince Galitzin deposited the money with the Banker Baron Schroder of the firm of J.H.Schroder, of London and incredibly there the money sat for the next 50 years almost forgotten about.  It was not until the 1880s, a legal decision having been taken in favour of St Patrick's College, Carlow, when members of the Quinlan family, including O'Neills, O'Donnells, O'Connells, Fitzgeralds and O'Clerys were able to access the benefits of the bursary.   This decision was taken on the understanding that this College would have been the only Roman Catholic College in Ireland Dr Quinlan would have know about when he left Ireland for foreign parts. St Patrick's College, Carlow was legally constituted in 1784.
It has also been difficult to ascertain which "Royal Hospital of Moscow"  he had been appointed to as Head Physician.   There are several!   These were:-
1. A Military Hospital patronised by the Emperor Alexander, had been established in 1705
2 .Emperor Paul's Hospital established in 1768
3. Empress Catherine II(Catherine the Great) had opened a Hospital in Moscow 1775
4. The Alexander Institute founded in 1802 by the Emperor Alexander
5. The Imperial Hospital for the Poor of the Foundling Hospital, established in 1805. 
Additionally,  as was fashionable in the 18th century Prince Galitzin had built a hospital on his large Moscow estate. This Galitzin hospital was built in Moscow between 1796-1801 and it is interesting that Prince Galitzin was executor to Dr Scanlan's Will as it would suggest a social connection but possibly also one of an employer.   This Hospital is a magnificent building with the main entrance facing the street and with two wings extending from the courtyard to the street.  There is a fine stone staircase climbing from either side to the main entrance.  Behind was a lovely park extended to the river. The hospital was designed with the then latest ideas of medicine in mind.   In 1999 it was still in use as the Moscow First City Hospital.  And the massively powerful Sheremetiev family, one of the richest and most powerful with philanthropic interests and antecedents going back to Ivan the Terrible, also erected an architect designed hospital between 1794-1807 which was for the general pubic. These last two families had an Imperial connection, as would any hospital they established.   Frankly Dr Scanlan could have been employed in any of these Moscow hospitals.

The Galitzin Hospital, Moscow

As a Catholic Dr Quinlan was almost certainly buried in the Foreign  and German Cemetery of Moscow, called the Vvedenskoye Cemetery.  This was the main burial ground for the Catholics and Protestant inhabitants of Moscow and certainly contains Irish people.  The Irish composer and inventor of the nocturne, Dubliner John Field (1782-1837) is buried in this cemetery. Field was an acquaintance of  Dr Quinlan when in Russia.  Unfortunately there are no written records for Vvedenskoye Cemetery although pictures of some memorials are available online via a Goole search..
The remaining three Scanlan memorials at Templeorum graveyard are as follows:-

Almost illegible stone to John Quinlan who died 1761. Decorative and typical Catholic carvings are just about visible on the top of the stone

Here lies ye body of John Quinlan who departed this life ye 21st of March 1761 aged 35 years. with two of his children. This is an upright stone decorated with a typical sunburst, also called a Corona Radiata, with an IHS and cross resting on the bar of the H.

Upright and very clearly cut headstone erected by James Quinlan of Carrick on Suir to his wife Mary Kennedy who died in 1832.  The later additions incised further down  the stone are not at all so well cut. This headstone is to the immediate right of the stone erected to Robert Quinlan of Manganstown.

Erected by Mr James Quinlan of Carrick on Suir, Woollen Merchant, in memory of his wife Mary Quinlan, Alias Kennedy whose gentle and engaging manners endeared her in the estimation of all with whom she had intercourse thought life. She Dept this life 27th July 1832 in the 50th year of her age. Also four of her infant children. Richard Power died March 1900. His wife Bridget nee Quinlan died 1909.
The final stone reads "Erected by James Quinlan of Cuirbally (sic) in  memory of his son John Quinlan who departed this life Feb ye 17 (year not clear) aged 8 years".
My thanks to Bernie for her photographs from Templeorum graveyard.
Further reading
1. Kathleen Berton, Moscow: an architectural history. I.B.Taurus, London. 1990.
2. Eoghan O Neill.  the Golden Vale of Ivowen between Slievenamon and Suir. Geography Publications, Templeogue, Dublin.
3. Andreas Renner. Progress through power? Medical Practitioners in 18th Century Russia as an Imperial Elite in Acta Slavica Iaponica.  Tomus 27, pages 29-54.   http://scr-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp  - accessed 4th April 2018.
4. J. McAuliffe-Curtis..  James Quinlan, formerly surgeon general to the Czar of Russia, 1826. in Irish Journal of Medical Science. 6th Series, No 493, pages 7-15. January 1967.(This is an interesting article about the Will of Dr Quinlan but some of the family genealogy has got tangled up. He has much interesting material relating to Dr Quinlan's Will from the Office of Charitable Requests. there is an undated hand drawn family tree in these papers, used as part of the legal case).
5. Robert Lyall. The Character of the Russians and a Detailed History of Moscow. 1823. Viewed online via Google on 5th April 2018.