MacAuley, Charles John (1887–1956), surgeon, was born 9 October 1887 at 78 Stanhope Street, Belfast, the son of Charles MacAuley, master mariner, and Ann MacAuley (née McKay). He had at least one sister, and his brother, Henry MacAuley, later became an orthopaedic surgeon at Cappagh Hospital, Dublin. Educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast, he already had a reputation as a classical scholar when he began studying for a degree in classics with the RUI (1905). However, after two years he decided to change to medicine, and graduated MB (1912) with first-class honours. He excelled at anatomy, and the decision to become a surgeon was an easy one. His first post was as surgeon at the children's hospital at Temple Street (1914–20). MacAuley was then appointed to the surgical staff of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, where he served for forty years, first as assistant surgeon (1916–19) and then as surgeon (1919–56). Within a few years of his appointment to the Mater, he was elected FRCS London (1921). He established a reputation as an excellent general surgeon, though in the 1920s he developed an interest in neurosurgery. Widely respected for his knowledge in this emerging field, he travelled to centres of excellence on the continent and in the United States to acquire new skills.
Having been brought up with nationalist sympathies, MacAuley renewed friendship with an old family friend, Eoin MacNeill (qv), when he moved to Dublin to study. As was the habit of many university students of the time, he attended the evening meetings of the Irish National Literary Society in Parnell Square. There he heard Patrick Pearse (qv), Seán Mac Diarmada (qv), and Countess Markievicz (qv), and found them passionate and inspiring. During one of these meetings, attended by W. B. Yeats (qv), the latter misquoted words of St Augustine on beauty. MacAuley, egged on by his colleagues, stood up and corrected Yeats with the words in Latin, much to the audience's amusement and Yeats's annoyance.
Before the 1916 rising, MacAuley had trained members of the Volunteers and Cumann na mBan in first aid. On Easter Monday night, he was asked to come to the GPO to treat wounded Volunteers. While there he attended Joseph Mary Plunkett (qv), who was his patient and on whom he had recently performed an operation to remove an abscess on his neck. Before arriving, he decided that if MacNeill were at the GPO, he would stay and fight with the Volunteers, but when it became apparent that MacNeill disagreed with the rebellion, he left early on the following morning. However, over the next few days he treated injured Volunteers without asking questions when they arrived in his hospital. He refused to pass information to the British authorities about men who entered the hospital with gunshot wounds, a common attitude that prevailed in Irish hospitals after the 1916 rising. Throughout the war of independence (1919–21) he was in the confidence of the IRA leaders and performed many operations in secret locations on wounded men. When anti-treaty forces took over the Four Courts and various hotels on O'Connell Street in 1922, he provided valuable medical services to the wounded and was in charge of the temporary hospital set up in the Four Courts for casualties. He was later briefly imprisoned in Mountjoy by the Free State government for his actions.
Interested in the wider medical issues of the day, MacAuley was involved in the foundation of the Irish Red Cross Society (1939), serving as the first chairman. Other prominent members of the medical community on the first committee were Sir John Lumsden (qv), his good friend John Shanley (qv), Matthew Russell (qv), and Seton Pringle (qv). As vice-president of the Irish Medical Association and a member of the Medical Registration Council, MacAuley was actively involved in the organisation of his profession, which led to the formation of the Irish Medical Union. He was a fellow and former president of the surgical section in the Royal Academy of Medicine, and he lectured in surgical anatomy at UCD, serving as a member of the governing body there from 1932 to 1935. He published in both foreign and Irish journals, though few papers were in Irish journals – only twelve between 1907 and 1956, mostly on medical topics such as tumours, ulcers, and tetanus.
Known as Charlie to his friends, MacAuley never lost his love of quoting from the classics, an interest he shared with his friend William Doolin (qv). Although he was a very private man, he was also a man of high standards and he abhorred shoddy work, inaccuracy, and ambiguity. The medical historian J. B. Lyons remembered him as a great teacher. Thorough in his approach to work, he did not suffer fools and was inclined to speak in the heat of the moment, sometimes offending his company, and then regretting hurtful comments at his leisure. He entertained honest criticism openly, and was held in genuine affection and respect by colleagues. In relaxed situations he was humorous and had an infectious laugh, and many sought his advice on important matters.
MacAuley married Clare Spain and they had two children, one son and one daughter. Patrick MacAuley (1924–2006) later became an orthopaedic surgeon and served on the staff at the Mater hospital with his father. Charles MacAuley died suddenly at home in 63 Fitzwilliam Square on 26 October 1956. His many friends were shocked by his sudden death, as he had only the previous evening attended a committee meeting of the Irish Medical Association and a staff meeting at the Mater. His funeral was attended by many former comrades from 1916 to 1922, including the president of Ireland, Séan T. O'Kelly (qv), the chief justice, Conor Maguire (qv), and Éamon de Valera (qv), as well as former members of the anti-treatyite Four Courts garrison, who formed a guard of honour. A portrait of MacAuley by Leo Whelan (qv) was part of a 1916 commemorative exhibition held at the NGI in 1966.