Viscountess Powerscourt Theodosia Wingfield (1800 – 31 December 1836) was an Irish evangelical religious writer.

Life

Theodosia Wingfield was born Theodosia Anne Howard in 1800 in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. Her parents were the gentleman landowner, the Honourable

Hugh Howard Hugh Howard (7 February 1675 – 17 March 1737) was a portrait-painter and collector of works of art from Dublin. Biography Hugh Howard was born in Dublin on 7 February 1675. He was the eldest son of Ralph Howard of Shelton, county Wicklow. ...

, and Catherine (née Bligh). Her family were one of a small number of closely related families in the gentry of County Wicklow, who all shared a religious piety around the early 1800s. Wingfield would have seen and met the Reverend Robert Daly as a child, when he was the rector of

Powerscourt Estate Powerscourt Estate ( ga, Eastát Chúirt an Phaoraigh), located in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland, is a large country estate which is noted for its country house, house and landscaped gardens, today occupying . The house, originally a 13th ...

. Wingfield appears to have been deeply affected by the death of the first wife of

Richard Wingfield, 5th Viscount Powerscourt Richard Wingfield, 5th Viscount Powerscourt (11 September 1790 – 9 August 1823) was an Anglo-Irish peer. He was the son of Richard Wingfield, 4th Viscount Powerscourt and Lady Catherine Meade, daughter of John Meade, 1st Earl of Clanwilliam. On ...

, her cousin Francis Theodosia Bligh, at age 25 in 1820, inspiring an intense spirituality. In her earliest printed letters from 1821, she agonises over the issues raised in sermons, and feels guilt over not praying regularly enough. She married Richard Wingfield in June 1822. He died in August 1823. For the rest of her life, Wingfield earned the title "good Lady Powerscourt", by engaging in letter-writing and convening religious meetings in her house. Her letters from the 1820s detail her feelings of feeling "unworthy" and needing to suffer more like Christ. She is concerned by the calls for

Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, but found solace in the growing numbers of Anglicans in England, Scotland and Europe who held similar beliefs to hers. Wingfield attended the first meetings of the Albury Prophetic Conference in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and was a frequent attendee at lectures by

Edward Irving Edward Irving (4 August 17927 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Early life Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale the second son of Ga ...

. Inspired by this, she organised her own conferences on the meaning of prophecy at Powerscourt from 1827. From the late 1820s she had developed a strong interest in Christ's second coming and charismatic manifestations. She traveled to Brussels and Paris in 1829 and 1830 to meet evangelical preachers, and frequently visited London. She died on 31 December 1836 in Dublin, and is buried at Powerscourt. Through her writings, meetings, and connections within the community of evangelical Christians in Ireland, Wingfield was an influential figure throughout the 1820s and 1830s. She became famous for her piety after her death after the publication of some of her letters and papers in 1838 by Robert Daly. Daly may have edited her letters to remove elements which did not fit with his beliefs, in particular that she supported the secession of some Anglicans from the

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, Theodosia 1800 births 1836 deaths People from County Wicklow Irish Anglicans Powerscourt Theodosia