Daly, Robert (1783–1872), Church of Ireland bishop of Cashel, was born 8 June 1783 in Dunsandle, Co. Galway, younger son of Denis Daly (qv), Galway politician, and his wife Henrietta, only daughter and heiress of Robert Maxwell, 1st earl of Farnham. On the death of his father (1791) the young Robert moved with his family to Bromley, a residence near Delgany, Co. Wicklow, which his mother had inherited. He entered TCD in 1799 and received his BA and a gold medal award in 1803. He then went to Oxford, taking an ad eundem degree as a member of St Mary's Hall (1804). On his return he served in the yeomanry before entering the church. From Trinity he gained his MA (1832) and his BD and DD (1843).
He was ordained a deacon at Kilmore (1807) and a priest at Ferns (1808). His first curacy was in Mulrankin, Co. Wexford (1807). He also served as curate in Newcastle, Co. Wicklow (1810–14), before becoming rector of Powerscourt (1814–43). He held the prebend of Trinity in the diocese of Cork (1809–43), and that of Stagonil in the diocese of Dublin (1814–43). After a disputed election he was for a very brief time (1842–3) dean of St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, before being consecrated bishop of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore in 1843. He remained in this post until his death.
Daly was a renowned preacher and militant evangelical. A man of tremendous energy, he immersed himself in promoting the evangelical revival when he became rector of Powerscourt. He organised much activity on a local level and never shied from public debate. A leading opponent of the national schools, he contributed generously to the Church Education Society, and was accused of using charity schools in Enniskerry for proselytizing. Involved in various other church societies, he was a founder of the Irish Society, established in 1818 by protestant clergymen to promote the study of scripture among the Irish-speaking population. In 1825 he began spending part of each spring in England promoting its cause.
He was author or editor of several publications on religious and other subjects, including the popular Letters and papers by the late Theodosia A., Viscountess Powerscourt, which appeared in 1839. His contribution to Irish-language scholarship included the second (revised and corrected) edition of Focalóir Gaoidhilge-Sax-Bhéarla, or An Irish-English dictionary, by Bishop John O'Brien (qv), which was published in 1832. In the preface Daly anticipates ‘national and individual improvement from the education of the people of Ireland through the medium of their own language’.
Bishop Daly died at the see house in Waterford on 16 February 1872, and was buried in Waterford cathedral. Unmarried, he had shortly before his death bestowed on each of the curates of his dioceses a generous financial gift of between £50 and £100. A memorial pulpit was erected to his memory in Waterford cathedral shortly after his death. Deeds relating to the bishop and various members of his family are housed in the Representative Church Body Library, Braemor Park, Dublin.