Mary Drelincourt (''c.'' 1678 – 1755) was a Welsh benefactor, and wife of

Peter Drelincourt Peter Drelincourt (22 July 1644 in Paris – 7 March 1722 in Armagh), was Dean of Armagh. He was the sixth son of Charles Drelincourt, minister of the reformed church in Paris, and graduated M.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, 1681, and LL.D. 16 ...

Dean of Armagh The Dean of Armagh in the Church of Ireland is the Dean (Christianity), dean of the St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland), Anglican St Patrick's Cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of Armagh (Church of Ireland), Diocese of Armag ...

Life

Mary Drelincourt was born Mary Morris around 1678 near

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, north Wales. Her parents were Peter and Margaret Morris. In 1690, her father was briefly the

Dean of Derry The Dean of Derry is based at St Columb's Cathedral, Derry in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe in the Church of Ireland. The current Dean of Derry is Raymond Stewart. He was appointed to the cathedral in December 2016 and inaugurated on 28 March ...

. She had three brothers and one sister. One brother, Edward (Maurice), became the

Bishop of Ossory The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remain ...

from 1754 to 1756). Drelincourt commissioned

John Michael Rysbrack Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...

to create a monument to her husband in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. In 1732 she founded the Drelincourt charity schools in

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

, as well as the Berse-Drelincourt school on her estate at Berse, Wales. She also built a church in

Caego Caego is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, immediately to the west of the city of Wrexham in the community of Broughton. It is contiguous with the neighbouring larger village of New Broughton; the main road passing through the centre ...

, Berse in 1742. She established an endowment to support the poor of the conforming French church in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. Her choice of charitable projects was influenced by her husband, who in his will had left £5,000 for their daughter on her marriage, if Drelincourt approved of the match. If she did not approve, the money was to be used for charitable works. Drelincourt died in 1755. Her daughter, Ann (born 1709), went on to become a viscountess, Lady Primrose. She continued her parents' charitable work, bequeathing money to Armagh in 1775 which was used to install the first piped water supply to the city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drelincourt, Mary 1670s births 1775 deaths People from Wrexham