Author: O'Beirne, Thomas Lewis
Biography:
O’BEIRNE, Thomas Lewis (c. 1748-1823: ODNB)
O’Beirne was a man of many talents; in his complicated career poetry played so small a part that the ODNB does not even mention The Crucifixion, a product of his Cambridge years. He was born an Irish Catholic in Farnagh, County Longford, Ireland, the son of Margaret (O’Meagher) and Lewis O’Beirne, a farmer. He was educated at a diocesan school and sent in 1763 with one of his brothers, Denis, to be prepared for the priesthood at the Jesuit college of St. Omer, France, and at the Irish college in Paris, but was expelled from the latter without having taken orders. Denis became a priest in the religion and country of his birth, but Thomas recanted, joined the established church, and was ordained deacon (1772) and priest (1773) in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, which he entered as a ten-year man in 1773 (matric. and BD 1783). O’Beirne held a succession of increasingly valuable livings and chaplaincies, most of them reflecting political as well as religious allegiances. As Chaplain to the Fleet under Lord Howe (1776), he travelled to America and preached there; he later defended Howe in A Candid and Impartial Narrative (1779), the first of many pamphlets participating on the Whig side in public controversies or supporting conservative views on church affairs. He served as private secretary to the Duke of Portland while he was Viceroy of Ireland (1782) and first lord of the Treasury (1783), and was later secretary to another Viceroy, Earl Fitzwilliam (1794). On 17 Nov. 1783, O’Beirne married Jane Stuart at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, London; they had three children. Some health problems led him to give up his livings in England and take up others in Ireland. In the course of time he became bishop of Ossory (1795-8) and then of Meath (1798-1823). He died at Lee House, Ardbraccan, Co. Meath, on 17 Feb. 1823, and was buried in the churchyard there; his widow lived to 1837 and was buried at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. Besides numerous tracts on public affairs, O’Beirne published three volumes of sermons, the poem listed, and a comedy adapted from French entitled The Generous Imposter (1781). (ODNB 9 Mar. 2024; DIB 9 Mar. 2024; ACAD; findmypast.com 10 Mar. 2024)
Other Names:
- T. L. O'Beirne