St. George Ashe,

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

(3 March 1657 – 27 February 1718) was an Irish mathematician and university administrator who, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, served as

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

Bishop of Cloyne The Bishop of Cloyne is an episcopal title that takes its name after the small town of Cloyne in County Cork, Republic of Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is a separate title; but, in the Church of Ireland, it has been united with other ...

Clogher Clogher () is a village and civil parish in the border area of south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, 5.8 miles from the border crossing to County Monaghan. It stands on the townlands of Clogher Demesne and C ...

and

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, in succession. From 1657 to 1718 he was the

Donegall Lecturer in Mathematics The Donegall Lecturership at Trinity College Dublin, is one of two endowed mathematics positions at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the other being the Erasmus Smith's Chair of Mathematics. The Donegall (sometimes spelt Donegal) Lectureship was e ...

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 ...

. He is remembered now chiefly for his alleged role in performing a

secret marriage Clandestinity is a diriment impediment in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. It invalidates a marriage performed without the presence of three witnesses, one of whom must be a priest or a deacon. History It was promulgated in the 16th ...

between

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

and

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was the English friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public, is a subject of debate. Pare ...

''(Stella)''.

Background and early life

Ashe was born in

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

in 1658, a younger son of Thomas Ashe and his wife Mary St George, daughter of Richard St George of

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

. Dillon Ashe,

Archdeacon of Clogher The Archdeacon of Clogher is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Anglican Diocese of Clogher. The Archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the diocese. The archdeaconry can trace its history back to ...

, was his brother. He was educated at Trinity College, where he earned his BA (1676), became a Fellow (1679), Professor of Mathematics (1685), Provost (1692) and Vice-Chancellor (1702). He afterwards acted as secretary and chaplain to the

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Returning to Ireland in 1692, he was made Provost of Trinity College.

Bishop

He was consecrated

in 1695, and promoted to the see of

in 1697, and to that of

in 1717. He spent a large sum on refurbishing the episcopal palace at Clogher. He refused to become

Archbishop of Tuam The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ga, Ard-Easpag Thuama) is an archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Catholic Church. Histor ...

in 1716, on the ground that the stipend was inadequate. He had a reputation for being an absentee bishop and was sharply reprimanded on that account by William King,

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

, who wrote that the enemies of the church were led by his conduct to conclude that "bishops are not necessary, since they can so long be spared", and pleaded with him to "think of coming home as soon as possible". He occasionally contributed to the

proceedings of the Royal Society ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

, of which he was a member. He died in Dublin, on 27 February 1718, and was buried in Christ Church. He bequeathed his mathematical library to the College.

Family

Two years before he died, Ashe sent his son, also called St George Ashe, on a Grand Tour with the philosopher

George Berkeley George Berkeley (; 12 March 168514 January 1753) – known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immate ...

, a Fellow of Trinity College, as his tutor. Having been conducted on one of the most extensive tours of the period, including the length and breadth of Italy, including

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Ischia,

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, and

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, the young Ashe died, presumably without having seen his father again, in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 1721. By his wife (and distant cousin) Jane St George, daughter of Sir George St George of

Dunmore, County Galway Dunmore () is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It is located on the N83 national secondary road at its junction with the R328 and R360 regional roads. The town belongs to an ancient tuath called Conmhaícne Dúna-Móir and Cenél Dubáin ...

and Elizabeth Hannay, the Bishop as well as his son had one daughter Elizabeth, who married as his second wife

Sir Ralph Gore, 4th Baronet Sir Ralph Gore, 4th Baronet (c. 1675 – 23 February 1733) was a Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He is now chiefly remembered for building Belle Isle Castle. The Gore Baronetcy, of Magherabegg in the County of Donegal, was created in the ...

, and had numerous children, including

Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross General The Rt Hon. Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross (23 November 1725 – September 1802), known as Sir Ralph Gore, 6th Baronet, from 1746 until 1764, subsequently as The Baron Gore until 1768, and then as The Viscount Belleisle until 1772, was an ...

Character

Despite his record as an absentee bishop, Ashe was much loved by his friends.

Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard S ...

wrote to Swift to commiserate him on Ashe's death, and said that Ashe was a man "who has scarce left behind his equal in humanity, agreeable conversation and all kinds of learning".

Swift and Stella

Bishop Ashe was a lifelong friend of Jonathan Swift, whose tutor he had been at Trinity College. In 1726

("Stella") the lifelong companion of Swift, is said to have confided to her friends that Ashe had performed a secret marriage ceremony, with no witnesses, between herself and Swift in 1716. Whether or not her claim was true has been the subject of endless debate. Their friends were deeply divided on the truth of the story, and historians conclude that it is impossible to be certain one way or the other, since Ashe, the only person other than Swift and Stella who could have known the truth, was already dead when Stella reportedly made her disclosure. "St George Ashe" Dictionary of Ulster Biography 2021

External links

* http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/StGeorgeAshe.php

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashe, St George 1658 births 1718 deaths Anglican bishops of Cloyne Anglican bishops of Derry Bishops of Clogher (Church of Ireland) Donegall Lecturers of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin Fellows of the Royal Society 18th-century Irish mathematicians Members of the Privy Council of Ireland People from County Roscommon Provosts of Trinity College Dublin 17th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland 18th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland 17th-century Irish mathematicians