Richard Caulfield

Richard Caulfield (1823–1887) was secretary, librarian and custodian of the Royal Cork Institution and librarian for Queen's College, Cork.

Caulfield was born in Cork on 23 April 1823, a grandson of Henry Gosnell, physician at the Lying-In Hospital and first resident surgeon at the Cork North Infirmary. One of six children born to Catherine Gosnell and William Caulfield, he was named Richard, a family name.

Caulfield was educated under Dr. Browne at Bandon endowed school, and was admitted a pensioner at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1841. There he was influenced by the lectures on ancient philosophy of William Archer Butler. He graduated B.A. in 1845, LL.B. in 1864, and LL.D. in 1866.

The Society of Antiquaries elected Caulfield a fellow on 13 February 1862, and he became librarian of the Royal Cork Institution in 1864. He was appointed in 1876 librarian of Queen's College, Cork, and in 1882 was made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid. He was also a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, and a member of the committee for rebuilding Cork cathedral.

Caulfield died aged 64 on 3 February 1887 at his residence, the Royal Cork Institution, after a severe attack of bronchitis. He was respected across the sectarian divide. On 4 February, The Protestant Cork Constitution published a short unsigned appreciation which said of him that on more than one occasion he was chosen as arbiter in important historical and theological controversies. The funeral took place on 7 February when he was buried in St Luke's Cemetery, Douglas. beside the grave of his friend, antiquarian colleague and historian of Youghal, the Rev. Samuel Hayman. The Catholic Cork Examiner reported that among those present were the Rev. J. D. Burke, Superior of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Rev. S. O. Madden, Dean of Saint Finbarre's Cathedral, city dignitaries, and lecturers, students and professors from the Queen's College, including the President, William K. Sullivan.

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