Shortly after his return, having passed the required examination, in September 1749 he was elected King's professor of the practice of physic at the medical school of Trinity College.
[2] He built up a large and lucrative practice in Dublin, but also devoted himself to the arts and to the support of artists in the city.
These included the Scottish engraver James Tassie and Dublin medallist William Mossop.
[2] His other son, Henry George (1760–1805), was a noted book collector; he traveled widely on the continent and bought at auctions there as well as in Ireland and England.
Although by all accounts in good spirits, and financially well off, he shot himself in the heart with a pistol as he lay in bed in Dublin on 16 February 1805.