William O'Grady (1801–1859) was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the middle of the nineteenth century. O'Grady was the ninth child (4th son) of

Standish O'Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore The Rt. Hon. Standish O'Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore, PC (1766 – 21 April 1840), from Cahir Guillamore, County Limerick, served as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer for Ireland for a number of years. He was created Viscount Guillamore by a ...

Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer for Ireland The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland), Irish Court of Exchequer. This was a mirror of the Exchequer of Pleas, equivalent court in England, and was one of the four courts wh ...

from 1805 until 1831 and his wife Katherine Waller. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. He was Rector of Killinane,

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, and Archdeacon of Kilmacduagh from 1857 until his death on 21 July 1859. He married Isabella Sabina Hewitt, daughter of Henry Hewitt of

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, but had no children. Isabella died in 1852, aged 36, and William erected a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ), is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains and Lough Rea, the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the urban sk ...

Church to his "beloved wife". During the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

of 1845-52, he was Secretary of the local Relief Committee, and a vocal and energetic spokesman for the afflicted Irish, both

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He did everything possible to alert the authorities to the magnitude of the crisis, and wrote at length to the newspapers on the subject. The Killinane Volume, a register of the six parishes in his care, which William kept, and which was continued by his successors as Rector of Killinane, is a valuable source of local history.Now in the Representative Church Body Library

Notes

Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Archdeacons of Kilmacduagh 19th-century Irish Anglican priests 1801 births 1859 deaths People educated at Eton College Place of birth missing {{Ireland-Anglican-clergy-stub