Robert Daly (bishop)

Robert Daly (10 June 1783 – 16 February 1872) was Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Waterford from 1843 to 1872.

Daly was born at Dunsandle Castle, Loughrea, the newly built residence of his father, Denis Daly. His ancestor, Dermot Ó Daly (fl. 1574–1614 was of Gaelic descent but his grandfather and father had converted to the Protestant faith to ensure legal title on their lands. By 1800, the family were among the largest land-owners in Ireland and dictated the mayoralty of Galway for some sixty years.

Daly graduated with a B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1803, was ordained deacon and then priest of the Church of Ireland, and became Rector of Powerscourt in 1814. He was leader of the Evangelical section of the church, the subject been at the centre of most of his publications, which numbered over twenty-two between 1815 and his death.

Daly was passionate in his support of anti-Catholic missions. Bishop Daly was one of the founders in 1818 of the controversial Irish Society for Promoting the Education of the Native Irish through the Medium of Their Own Language.

Daly also supported the setting up of Church Education Society in 1839 countering the setting up of the National School system in Ireland.

He was appointed Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin in 1842; and Bishop of Cashel and Waterford in 1843 and was serving in that capacity when he died in 1872.

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