Beresford, George de la Poer

Beresford, George de la Poer (1765–1841), Church of Ireland bishop, was born 19 July 1765 in Dublin, second son of the Rt Hon. John Beresford (qv) (1738–1805) and his wife Anne Constantia, daughter of Gen. the Comte de Ligondes of Auvergne, France. He was nephew to William de la Poer Beresford (qv), archbishop of Tuam. Educated at Dr Stokes's school and TCD (BA 1786, DD 1802), he held cures in Ossory, and was then appointed precentor of Waterford (1793–1801) and dean of Kilmore (1796–1801), becoming bishop of Clonfert (1801) and then Kilmore (1802–41), where he built the existing Grecian bishop's house. His appointment to Kilmore was a cause célèbre between William Stuart (qv), archbishop of Armagh, and the political establishment, which was caught between its wish to please Beresford's powerful father and the new primate's opposition to having the then bishop of Clonfert in the province of Armagh. Archbishop Stuart described Beresford as ‘indisputably infamous . . . his character, his conduct, and his language’ being held in ‘universal detestation’ (Viceroy's postbag). After stiff resistance, Stuart gave in, being assured that the bishop's ill-repute was the fruit of early indiscretions – which may well have been the case, for he proved a conscientious bishop of Kilmore. He died 15 October 1841 and is buried at his cathedral. He married (26 March 1794) Frances, daughter of Gervais Parker Bushe (qv); they had three sons, including Marcus Gervais (qv), the next successor but one to his father in the diocese of Kilmore (1854–62) and subsequently archbishop of Armagh.