Ferris, Richard (1754–1828), priest and adventurer, was born 10 February 1754 at Ballymalis, near Killarney, Co. Kerry, youngest among four sons of Daniel Ferris, tenant farmer; his mother was a Hassett, apparently a protestant. His brothers emigrated to France, where one, Edward, trained for the priesthood, and later became one of the first professors at Maynooth College. Following in their footsteps, in 1769 Richard went to France, where he enlisted in the Irish Brigade. His regiment was frequently inactive and he decided to study for the priesthood, attending the Irish College at Paris, followed by university and law school. By 1778 he was a priest, a doctor of civil and canon law, a lawyer for the parlement of Paris, and an administrator for the Collège de Montaigu, at the Sorbonne. In 1788 he received two further lucrative offices: canon of Amiens cathedral and promoter of the Amiens clergy.
In 1790 he refused to take the clerical oath required by the revolutionary government, and lost his five posts and the considerable income that went with them. He rejoined his regiment, and was promoted to captain. His subsequent movements are not known until he resurfaced in 1793, passing himself off to the ministry of foreign affairs as a representative of the Irish revolutionary committee in France. A credulous ministry believed his claims, and in October 1793 he was despatched to London as a spy, supplied with money, passports, and a secret code. On his arrival he presented himself to Lord Grenville (qv), the British foreign secretary, offering to act as a British agent. The French and British governments soon became suspicious of his opportunism, and he was kept under surveillance. Nicholas Madgett (qv), another spy, warned Dublin Castle about him in 1796, claiming that Ferris was making regular trips to Ireland.
He disappeared over the next few years, but resurfaced in Paris in April 1799, where he was arrested on a charge of espionage. He was soon released and became involved in the running of the Irish colleges that had been united with the English and Scots colleges in 1802. In 1810 he was appointed administrator and superior of the United Colleges, where he was soon enjoying an extravagant lifestyle. In 1813 and 1814 the Irish bishops requested his removal, and after the restoration of Louis XVIII (1814) he was replaced by a Dublin priest, Paul Long. Ferris returned as rector during Napoleon's hundred days, but was replaced by Long after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo (June 1815). In 1816 the colleges were again reformed, and Ferris created much difficulty before he finally relinquished all authority.
Extremely wealthy, he returned to his legal practice, and was soon appointed president of a special commission to investigate French reparations for damages done to British people during the revolution. He succeeded in having the reparations reduced considerably, enhancing his reputation in the process. In 1817 King Louis XVIII made him a chevalier of France. He retired from public life, and in 1824 built a chateau, which he named ‘La maison blanche’, at Mercin-en-Vaux, Soissons. He died 16 June 1828. Despite the allegations that he had married, there is no evidence for this, and he had no legitimate issue.