Delacour, James (1709–81), clergyman and poet, was eldest son of John Delacour, landowner, of Killowen, near Blarney, Co. Cork; nothing is known of his mother. The Delacours (or de la Courts) settled in Co. Cork during the 1650s and became affluent landowners by the beginning of the eighteenth century. Delacour received his early education from the Rev. Edward Molloy of Cork before entering TCD as a pensioner (29 January 1727); he graduated BA (1732) and MA (1735). Delacour published his first poem, Abelard and Eloisa (an answer to Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard) in 1728 while he was still an undergraduate. This was followed in 1733 by his most famous work, A prospect of poetry. He was ordained on 24 July 1737 in Cork and served as curate in the parish of Ballinaboy in the diocese of Cork from 1744 to 1755. He was probably rector of Ballinaboy by c.1750, as the bishop of Cork is supposed to have appointed a curate in order to prevent Delacour from preaching ‘extraordinary doctrines’ (Monck-Mason, notes on Irish ‘worthies’, TCD, MS 10531, f. 226) from the pulpit. Delacour's clerical and literary career was cut short by mental illness.
The many contemporary anecdotes about the ‘mad parson’ make it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Delacour's relatives seem to have attempted to shield him from hardship and humiliation by providing a home and financial help. But Delacour moved to Cork city; there he would ‘wander from tavern to tavern his pockets with scraps of miserable rhyme, and rehearsing them to anyone who would listen’ (ibid.). In return for entertaining passers-by Delacour would accept ‘a basin of coffee’ as a reward. He ‘gave away a great part of his revenue in charity’ and ‘was always beset by beggars when he went into the streets’ (ibid.). Other visitors to the city of Cork, such as the writer and physician Dr Thomas Campbell, also commented on Delacour's outlandish appearance and manner: he was physically slight and wore a black cassock, a gown, or very old-fashioned clothes.
The abundance of stories about Delacour's later eccentricities has clouded the seriousness of his poetry. During his early life (and in the two decades after his death) Delacour was greatly esteemed in polite society. His verse contains many beautiful pastoral descriptions ornamented with subtle classical allusions. He was influenced by the work of the English poet James Thomson (who wrote The seasons) and addressed several poems to him. Thomson returned the compliment with a set of verses including the lines ‘Hail, gently warbling Delacour, whose fame, spurning Hibernia's solitary coast . . .’. In 1770 a collection of Delacour's early poems was published in Cork. This volume was dedicated to the earl of Cork and subscribed to by about 350 people. Delacour's work experienced a minor revival just before and after his death (A prospect of poetry was reprinted in 1778 and in 1807). He also acquired a modest reputation across the Irish Sea; his work is represented in Robert Southey's Specimens of the later English poets (London, 1807).
Delacour ‘became quite deranged during his last year, believing that he was visited by a demon’ (Monck-Mason) and died unmarried in 1781. He is buried at Shandon church, Cork city. A small portrait engraving of Delacour (based on an original painting by R. Askew) is used as a frontispiece to the 1807 Cork edition of A prospect of poetry. Robert Delacour, a close relative, established the Delacour bank in Cork in 1800.