Robin Eames
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The Right Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Eames OM |
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| Former Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland |
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Lord Eames in 2014
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| Church | Church of Ireland |
| Province | Armagh |
| Diocese | Armagh |
| In office | 1986–2006 |
| Predecessor | John Armstrong |
| Successor | Alan Harper |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1963 |
| Consecration | 21 April 1986 |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Robin Henry Alexander Eames |
| Born |
27 April 1937 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Spouse | Christine Daly |
| Previous post | |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Robin Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames, OM (born 27 April 1937) is an Anglican bishop who served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1986 to 2006.
Robin Eames was born in 1937, the son of a Methodist minister. His early years were spent in Larne, with the family later moving to Belfast. He was educated at the city's Belfast Royal Academy and Methodist College Belfast before going on to study at the Queen's University of Belfast, graduating LL.B. (Upper Second Class Honours) in 1960 and earning a PhD degree in ecclesiastical law and history in 1963. He qualified in theology with a Divinity Testimonium (2nd class) from Trinity College, Dublin. During his undergraduate course at Queen's, one of his philosophy lecturers was his future Roman Catholic counterpart, Cahal Daly. While an undergraduate, he was briefly involved in the Young Unionists.
Turning his back on legal studies for ordination in the Church of Ireland, Eames embarked on a three-year course at the divinity school in Trinity College, Dublin in 1960, but found the course "intellectually unsatisfying". In 1963 he was appointed curate assistant at Bangor Parish Church, becoming Rector of St Dorothea's in Belfast three years later. In the same year, 1966, he married Christine Daly. During his time in St Dorothea's, in the Braniel and Tullycarnet area of east Belfast, he developed a "coffee bar ministry" among young people but The Troubles interrupted. During this time he rescued a Catholic girl from a loyalist mob who had set her family home on fire. He turned down the opportunity to become dean of Cork and in 1974 was appointed rector of St Mark's in Dundela in east Belfast, formerly C. S. Lewis's family church. On 9 May 1975, at the age of 38, he was elected bishop of the cross-border diocese of Derry and Raphoe – having visited Derry only once. In a groundbreaking move, he invited his similarly young Catholic counterpart, Edward Daly, to his consecration on 9 June. Eames was translated five years later, on 30 May 1980, to the diocese of Down and Dromore. He was elected to Down and Dromore on 23 April and that election confirmed 20 May 1980. In 1986, he became the 103rd Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
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