Robert Samuel Gregg (3 May 1834 – 10 January 1896) was a 19th-century

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Life

He was born at the rectory, Kilsallaghan,

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

, of which parish his father, John Gregg, was then rector, on 3 May 1834. His mother was Elizabeth Law. He was educated at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he graduated as junior moderator in mathematics in 1856, being awarded M.A. in 1860. In the same year Gregg was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...

for the

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of Rathcooney,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, and three years later was appointed

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Christ Church,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, an important cure which brought him in touch with the working-class population of the north of Ireland. In 1862 he returned to the

Diocese of Cork The Diocese of Cork was established in the seventh century. The diocese of Cork was one of the twenty-four dioceses established at the Synod of Rathbreasail on an ancient bishopric founded by Saint Finbarr in the sixth-century. On 30 July 1326, ...

as rector of Frankfield and chaplain to his father, then Bishop of Cork. Frankfield was perhaps the place with which he was to have the closest connection: his wife Elinor was a native of Frankfield, and they are both buried there. In 1865 he became rector of St Peter's Church, Carrigrohane and precentor of

Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral ( ga, Ardeaglais Naomh Fionnbarra) is a Gothic Revival three-spire Church of Ireland cathedral in the city of Cork. It is located on the south bank of the River Lee and dedicated to Finbarr of Cork, patron saint of ...

, Cork. Here he quickly acquired a high reputation for administrative ability, as well as for the qualities of sound judgment, moderation, and good sense by which he was subsequently distinguished in the episcopal office. In the controversies which followed, the disestablishment of the Irish church, particularly in regard to the revision of the prayer book, Gregg took the conservative side, but his influence was uniformly exerted in a conciliatory spirit. Gregg's principal service to his church at this time lay in devising for his own diocese of Cork the singularly successful financial plan which became the foundation of the financial system of the disendowed Church of Ireland, and on this and other occasions he showed a remarkable talent for finance. In 1873 he was presented by the University of Dublin with the degrees of B.D. and D.D., in recognition of his services to the Church of Ireland. In 1874, Gregg was appointed

Dean of Cork Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral ( ga, Ardeaglais Naomh Fionnbarra) is a Gothic Revival three-spire Church of Ireland cathedral in the city of Cork. It is located on the south bank of the River Lee and dedicated to Finbarr of Cork, patron saint of ...

, and in the following year was selected by the Irish bishops to succeed James Thomas O'Brien in the diocese of

Bishop of Ossory The Bishop of Ossory () is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Province of Leinster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has bee ...

. Gregg, at forty-one years of age, thus became a member of the episcopal bench while his father was still

Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross is the Church of Ireland Ordinary of the united Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Province of Dublin. The current bishop is the Right Reverend Paul Colton BCL, DipTh, MPhil, LLM, PhD. He was consecra ...

. On his father's death on 26 May 1878, the synods of Cork, Cloyne and Ross at once selected Gregg to succeed him. As Bishop of Cork, Gregg's most noticeable work lay in the completion of the beautiful cathedral of St. Finn Barre, which had been rebuilt during his father's episcopate at a cost of over £100,000; but he also won a deserved reputation not only for administrative efficiency, but for a statesmanlike grasp of church problems which opened the way to the highest office in the Irish church. On the death in 1893 of Primate

Robert Bent Knox Robert Bent Knox (25 September 1808 – 23 October 1893) was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore from 1849 to 1886, and then Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1886 until his death. Early life Born in 180 ...

, Gregg was selected to succeed him as

Archbishop of Armagh In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

''Ecclesiastical Intelligence''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

Friday, Dec 15, 1893; pg. 11; Issue 34135; col C and Primate of all Ireland. He married in 1863 Elinor Bainbridge of Frankfield, and had two children, John and Amy. Amy in 1898 married as his second wife Robert Walsh,

Archdeacon of Dublin The Archdeacon of Dublin is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Anglican Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. The Archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the Dublin part of the diocese, which is by far ...

. He died suddenly at the Palace, Armagh, on 10 January 1896, after scarcely two years' enjoyment of the primacy, and was buried at Frankfield beside his wife Elinor. His nephew John Gregg became in his turn

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregg, Robert 1834 births 1896 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Bishops of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin Bishops of Cork, Cloyne and Ross 19th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland 19th-century Anglican archbishops Anglican archbishops of Armagh Deans of Cork