John Kearney DD (1741 - 1813)

Born 1741 in Dublin, Ireland

Descendants

Died 22 May 1813 at about age 72 in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland

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Biography

Church of Ireland Clergy

John was born in 1741. He was the second son of Michael Kearney, and Elizabeth Litton. His father was a wigmaker and member of the Guild of Barber Surgeons & Periwig Makers in Dublin.

He was educated by Mr Benson and entered Trinity College Dublin on 10 October 1757, aged 15. Sch 1760, B.A. 1762, Fellow 1764, M.A. 1765, B.D. 1775, D.D. 1777, Professor of Oratory 1781, Archbishop King's Lecturer 1782 and 1787, Provost 1799. ^[1]

He was a Provost, of Trinity College, Dublin and succeeded as Bishop of Ossory by patent dated 20 January 1806. He was consecrated in Trinity College Chapel, on February 2nd, by the Archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the Bishops of Kildare and Down.

Although he is generally regarded as having been a worthy rather than memorable provost of Trinity, he is remembered as an amiable and witty man of taste and refinement, well known in London and Dublin society. A founding member of the Royal irish Academy (RIA) in 1785, he was active on many of its committees. He was a shrewd man of affairs, piloting the college through the potentially tempestuous period of the 1801 act of union and beyond.

John married (1) Unknown

Children

1. John, Chancellor of Ossory b. 1772
2. Thomas Henry b. 1778
3. Rose Lloyd married Hervey Pratt de Montmorency, of Castle morres, co. Kilkenny
4. Frances b. 1792 married Rev John Fane Vernon, of Aubawn, co. Cavan, in Dec 1812
5. Waller married Samuel Vesey, of Derrabard, on 10 Feb. 1816

He died at Kilkenny, on 22 May 1813 and was buried in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny.

Death Notice - Limerick evening Post - 29 May 1813

died on Friday last at the Palace of Kilkenny, aged 71 years, the Right Rev Dr John Kearney, Lord Bishop of Ossory.

Memorial Tablet ^[2]

1813. Here is buried John Kearney, D.D., Bishop of Ossory, abounding with all the virtues; zealous in the practice of true religion ; guileless, holy, stedfast, he was remarkable for the cultivation of the domestic affections. The duties of the Episcopate he piously discharged, and in the study of things divine and human he trained his mind with diligence and refinement.

Here lieth John Kearney, D.D., sometime Bishop of Ossory, who died the 22nd day of the month of May, A.D. 1813.

Research Notes

The Dictionary of Irish Biography is incorrect. The John Kearney who married Anne Waller Keatinge, only daughter of Cadogan Keatinge, Dean of Clogher in February 1805, is not Rev John Kearney, Bishop of Ossory.^[3] He is John Kearney of Blanchville, County Kilkenny, Ireland.

Sources

1. ↑ FindmyPast - Alumni Dublinenses - 1924 Edition Note: Published in 1924, this is the first edition Alumni Dublinenses, a register of provosts, professors, graduates and students of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland's oldest university.
2. ↑ The history, architecture, and antiquities of the cathedral church of St. Canice, Kilkenny by James Graves, Publication date 1857
3. ↑ http://census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/dm/IRE_DIOC_007246588_00311.pdf

• Wikipedia - John Kearney
• Dictionary of irish Biography
• Fasti ecclesiae Hibernicae: the succession of the prelates and members of the Cathedral bodies of Ireland by Henry Cotton, 1789-1879
• Vol 2 - The Province of Leinster, Pg 290