Bunworth, Charles (c.1704–1772), clergyman, patron, and harper, was born in Newmarket, Co. Cork, second of at least three sons of Richard Bunworth, farmer, and Elizabeth Bunworth (née Philpot). He was educated by a family tutor, Mr Murdock, before entering TCD as a pensioner (1723), and graduated BA (1727) and MA (1730). Ordained deacon (1730) and priest (1731) at Cloyne, Co. Cork, he was appointed rector of Knocktemple (1729–40), prebendary (incumbent) of Cooline (1736–40), rector of Buttevant (1740–72), and vicar of Bregoge (1740–72), Tullylease (1748–72), and Kilbrin (1764–72), all in Co. Cork, where he was respected for his learning and loved by all for his kindness.
He was renowned for his skill as a harper, his knowledge of Irish music, and his patronage of harpers. At his death he possessed fifteen harps which had been bequeathed to him by travelling minstrels in gratitude for his hospitality. Through ignorance, all were later used for firewood save one, known as the ‘Bunworth harp’, which bears the inscription ‘Made by John Kelly for the Rev. Charles Bunworth, Balt-Daniel, 1734’. It is a large high-headed harp with carved, incised, and painted decoration, which has a one-piece soundbox, a narrow brass strip along the centre of the box with perforated string holes, thirty-six strings, and thirty-six pins; it is preserved in the Leslie Linsey Mason collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., USA. A patron of poets, Bunworth was chosen five times between 1730 and 1750 as president of the meetings of the bards of Ireland, which were usually held every three years at Bruree, Co. Limerick. Deeply versed in the classics, he gave instruction and financial aid to John Philpot Curran (qv) and Barry Yelverton (qv) prior to their entrance to TCD. He died 14 September 1772 at Buttevant and is buried in St John's church, Buttevant. He married (1742) Mary Delacour; they had two daughters. His great-grandson Thomas Crofton Croker (qv) gave an account of Bunworth in Fairy legends and traditions of the south of Ireland (1825) and described the alleged visitation of the banshee at Bunworth's death.