Waterford’s Anglicans: Religion and Politics, 1819-1872

This book explores the religious, political and social fortunes of Waterford’s minority Church of Ireland community during a turbulent period in Irish history. In the decades under consideration, an emerging and strident Catholic democracy eroded the power and social position of a once powerful ruling class. Waterford’s fearful and confused Anglicans took refuge and found consolation in a community which defined itself increasingly in denominational terms. This denominationalism came to be characterised by its Protestant evangelicalism and loyalty to the union with Britain. A unique insight is given into provincial Anglicanism, with a detailed examination of the character of its religious life and practice. There is a particular focus on one of the most controversial figures in the nineteenth century Anglican Church, Robert Daly, Bishop of Waterford, 1843-1872. Described by a contemporary as ‘a Protestant Pope’, this cleric inspired admiration and loathing, as he strove to resist the advances of an increasingly confident and vibrant Catholic Church. Studies of bishops of the nineteenth century Protestant Church have been largely conspicuous by their absence, but this book makes a valuable and original contribution to a glaring hole in this area of historiography. This study of Waterford’s Anglicans adds significantly to our understanding of the nature of Irish Protestantism at a time of crisis and decline.