Richard Chenevix (1698 – 11 September 1779) was

Bishop of Waterford and Lismore The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Waterford and town of Lismore, County Waterford, Lismore in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland ...

. He was the grandfather of

Melesina Trench Melesina Trench (''née'' Chenevix, previously St George; 22 March 176827 May 1827) was an Irish writer, poet and diarist. During her lifetime she was known more for her beauty than her writing, and it wasn't until her son, Richard Chenevix Tre ...

and was responsible for her upbringing after she was orphaned, until his death.

Family

Chenevix was the son of Major Philip Chenevix of the guards, and grandson of Reverend Philip Chenevix. Philip Chenevix had been the Protestant pastor of Limay, had settled in England after the revocation of the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

as his brother had been murdered because of his religion. He had a daughter Phillipa Melosina who married Henry Alcock, who became M.P. for

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. She died giving birth to a son, 14 May 1765. He also had a son Philip Chenevix, who married Mary Elizabeth Gervais, and they had a single child, Melesina, in 1768. Both Philip and Mary died before Melesina's fourth birthday, and she was sent to live with her grandfather. He looked after her until his death when she was eleven. He determined that she had a promise of genius and rejected traditional female education as inappropriate for her, instead he encouraged her to read as much as possible, and she explored his library. When he died Melesina was his sole heir.

Life

Chenevix was educated at

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

School and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, being admitted in 1713, graduating BA in 1717, MA in 1732, DD in 1744. In 1719 he took orders and entered into the service of the

Earl of Scarbrough Earl of Scarbrough is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1690 for Richard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley. He is best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to invade England and depose his father-i ...

as domestic chaplain, then in 1728 he entered the service of the

Earl of Chesterfield Earl of Chesterfield, in the County of Derby, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Philip Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope. He had been created Baron Stanhope, of Shelford in the County of Nottingham, in 1616, also i ...

. When in 1745 the Earl of Chesterfield was appointed to be

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

, Chenevix accompanied him as domestic chaplain. It was through the influence of the Earl of Chesterfield that Chenevix was appointed as

Bishop of Killaloe The Bishop of Killaloe ( ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the town of Killaloe in County Clare, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bish ...

on 20 May 1745 before being translated to the more lucrative bishopric of Waterford and Lismore on 15 January 1746. He remained as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore until his death at Waterford in 1779. Chenevix was persuaded to replace the old Gothic cathedral in Waterford with a new

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, which was begun in 1773 and completed in the year of Chenevix's death in 1779. The bishop selected the architect, John Roberts, who had recently finished building his new bishops palace. In fact Chenevix was so pleased with this work that he granted to the architect his old palace on long lease.Genealogy Links website
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References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chenevix, Richard 1698 births 1779 deaths Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge 18th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland Bishops of Waterford and Lismore (Church of Ireland) Anglican bishops of Killaloe