Bishop William Sheridan

Sheridan, William, Bishop of Kilmore, was born at Togher, in the County of Cavan, about 1635. He was the son of the Rev. Dionysius Sheridan, a Catholic clergyman converted to Protestantism by Bishop Bedell, and was godson of the Bishop, who bequeathed to him forty shillings to buy a mourning ring. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1652, and at the termination of his course, took orders, and was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Ormond, then Lord-Lieutenant. In 1667 he became rector of Athenry, in 1669 was made Dean of Down, and in 1681-2 was advanced to the bishopric of Kilmore. In 1691 he was deprived of his see for refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary. The latter part of his life he resided in London, where non-jurors and others who shared their opinions resorted to his house for private devotions. He died in great poverty, 3rd October 1711. Six volumes of his sermons were published between 1665 and 1706. [His brother Patrick was consecrated Bishop of Cloyne in 1679, and dying in 1682, was buried in the College Chapel, Dublin. A nother brother, Thomas, obtained a fellowship in Trinity College, which he was obliged to resign on becoming a Catholic. In 1680 he was imprisoned for supposed complicity in a Popish plot, but was subsequently knighted by James II., who made him his secretary].

Sources

118. Ecclesiae Hiberniae Fasti: Rev. Henry Cotton: Indices by John R. Garstin, M.A. 5 vols. Dublin, 1851-'60.

339. Ware, Sir James, Works: Walter Harris. 2 vols. Dublin, 1764.