Richard Meredith (bishop)


Richard Meredith was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Leighlin from 1589 until his death.

Life

Meredith, descended from Gruffudd ap Cynan, was from Denbighshire, Wales. He was the son of Robert Meredith of Llanfair Talhaiarn and the nephew of George Smith, Chancellor of St. Asaph. He was educated at the University of Oxford, matriculating in 1568 and obtaining degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in 1573 and 1575 respectively from Jesus College, Oxford. In 1578, he was prebendary at Brecon collegiate church and the rector of Barton, Pembrokeshire; in the following year, he became vicar of his native Llanafan Fawr in Brecknockshire and in 1580 the rector of Nangle, Pembrokeshire, and prebendary of St David's Cathedral, where his father's first cousin, Richard Davies, was bishop.
In the same year as his marriage he was appointed chaplain to Sir John Perrot, Lord Deputy of Ireland and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He was appointed Bishop of Leighlin in 1589. Meredith continued as Dean of St Patrick's, given the poverty of his diocese. He was accused of treasonous correspondence once Perrot had returned to England in 1588, but Meredith showed the evidence to be forgeries. His support for Perrot led to his imprisonment in the Fleet Prison and an appearance before the Star Chamber, leading to a fine of £2,000. He was in ill-health by 1593 and died in 1597; he was buried in St Patrick's.

Family and descendants

In 1584, he married Sarah Bathow, who remarried Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus after his death. Their elder son, Sir Robert Meredith M.P., was Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer and married as her third husband Ann Colley Blount; he was ancestor of the Baronets of Greenhills and Shrowland, Co. Kildare. Their younger son, Sir Thomas Meredith, was the Member of Parliament for Old Leighlin, Co. Carlow, and ancestor of the Baronets of Dollardstown, Newtown and Carlandstown, Co. Meath. A large monument in black and White marble stands in the North Transept of St. Patrick's Cathedral to Bishop Meredith.