Story, George Warter (d. 1721), clergyman and chronicler, was the eldest of at least three sons of Thomas Story of Justice Town, near Carlisle. He was probably born before 1670, but little is known of his early career. He was chaplain to the dowager countess of Carlisle at Castle Howard in 1688, and was in London in 1689. He came to Ireland in August 1689 in the army of the duke of Schomberg (qv), as chaplain to the regiment of his relative Sir Thomas Gower. On Gower's death in 1690 the command of the regiment was assumed by Henry Hamilton-Moore, 3rd earl of Drogheda. Story published a narrative of King William's (qv) war in Ireland, entitled A true and impartial history. The first edition appeared in 1691 and a second edition in 1693 with a ‘continuation’ and maps. The author had been, as the long title of the work put it, an ‘eyewitness of the most remarkable passages’ of the war. His account has been extensively drawn on by later historians, who have rated Story as a reliable and, by the standards of his time, unusually objective author.
He had a church living in Carlisle, to which he occasionally returned. He was appointed dean of Connor in 1694, and then dean of Limerick in 1705. He was made BD and DD of TCD in 1713, and was in London in 1714, where on 23 October he preached the 1641 anniversary sermon to an audience of Irish protestants. He used the occasion to appeal to them to unite behind the new Hanoverian monarch, George I.
George Story died 19 November 1721. He was survived by his wife, Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Edward Warter of Bilboa, near Doon, Co. Limerick; the couple do not appear to have had children. Story, who had inherited Justice Town from his father, left substantial property in Ireland and England. There are some letters of George Story in the British Library (Sloane MS 2723) and TCD (King correspondence).
One of Story's brothers served as a soldier in King William's army, and died in action near Birr in June 1691. Another brother, Thomas Story (1670?–1742), became a quaker in 1689 and, as a protégé of William Penn (qv), was a prominent member of the Society of Friends. He made two extensive preaching tours of Ireland: in 1698, in the company of Penn, and in 1716, and both times stayed with his brother in Limerick. During the latter visit he remarked on the size of the crowd that assembled in Limerick, ‘wanting to gaze at the dean's brother, a rarity to see such a one a quaker’. On this occasion, however, his brother and sister-in-law disagreed with him on religious matters, which made him ‘very uncomfortable’ (Journal, 534, 538). Arrested in Kilkenny in 1716, he was committed to prison for three months by Thomas Vesey (qv), bishop of Ossory, but released by the sheriff after a few days. After George Story's death, Thomas purchased Justice Town from his widow. Thomas Story died 24 June 1742 at Justice Town.