Author: Burdy, Samuel
Biography:
BURDY, Samuel (c. 1760-1820: ODNB)
He was born at Dromore, Co. Down; his father was Peter Burdy, a merchant, but his mother’s name is not known. He earned his BA from Trinity College Dublin in 1781 and was ordained in 1783. He was appointed curate at Ardglass, Co. Down, where the castles and towers inspired him to write his one book of verse. Burdy was in love with the daughter of Bishop Thomas Percy of Dromore (compiler of Reliques of English Poetry) but the bishop opposed the match and Burdy, after the failure of a second proposal to Miss Percy, remained unmarried. In about 1800 he was made perpetual curate at another small parish, Kilclieff, Co. Down. He became a close friend and correspondent of the Rev. Philip Skelton (ODNB) and, after Skelton’s death in 1787, he set about researching and writing his biography. This was published as The Life of the Late Rev. Philip Skelton in 1792. It attracted praise but also condemnation and Burdy defended the book in A Vindication of Burdy’s Life of Skelton (1795). Other publications are A Short Account of the Affairs of Ireland (1792) and History of Ireland (1817). Burdy died at Kilclieff and was buried in the churchyard there. (ancestry.co.uk 13 Jan. 2021; ODNB 13 Jan. 2021)