Frank Purser

{{Infobox rugby biography

| name = Frank Purser

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|size=100%}}

| image =

| caption =

| full_name = Francis Carmichael Purser

| birth_date = {{birth date|1876|09|16|df=y}}

| birth_place = British India

| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1934|02|28|1876|09|16|df=y}}}}

| death_place = County Dublin, Ireland

| height =

| weight =

| occupation = Neurologist

| school = Galway Grammar School

| university = Trinity College Dublin

| relatives = Sarah Purser (aunt)

| position = Three-quarter

| repyears1 = 1898

| repteam1 = {{nrut|Ireland}}

| repcaps1 = 3

| reppoints1 = 0

}}

Francis Carmichael Purser (16 September 1876 — 28 February 1934) was an Irish physician and rugby union player.

Biography

Born in British India, Purser lost his mother while still a baby and was sent by his father, an Indian Civil Service official, to live with extended family in Galway. He was a nephew of the portrait artist Sarah Purser. After attending Galway Grammar School, Purser studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin and as a varsity rugby player for Dublin University was capped three times for Ireland in the 1898 Home Nations, utilised as a three-quarter.{{cite web |last1=Andrew |first1=Helen |title=Purser, Francis (‘Frank’) Carmichael |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/purser-francis-frank-carmichael-a7529 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography}}{{cite news |title=The Irish Team |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000902/18980205/087/0003 |work=South Wales Echo |date=5 February 1898}}

Purser began his medical career as a pathologist and general physician, before branching out into neurology. Becoming one of Ireland's leading neurologists, Purser was an honorary professor of neurology at Trinity College Dublin. He served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and Irish Medical Association.{{cite news |title=Professor F. C. Purser |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000038/19340301/217/0008 |work=Belfast News-Letter |date=1 March 1934}}