Walsh, Robert (1772–1852), clergyman and writer, was born in Waterford, son of John Walsh (1720–85), merchant, of Ballymountain House, Waterford. He was a younger brother of the physician Edward Walsh (qv). He entered TCD (November 1789), was awarded a scholarship (1794), and graduated BA (1796). He was ordained in 1802 and served as curate to Dean Walter Blake Kirwan (qv) in the parish of St Nicholas Without, Dublin, for four years (1802–6) before being appointed curate of Finglas, where he remained until 1820. During his curacy he discovered a large, granite Celtic cross, called the Cross of Nethercross, which had lain hidden since Cromwell's time, and had it erected in the churchyard of Finglas. After the successive deaths of John Warburton (d. 1818?), deputy keeper of the records in the Birmingham Tower, Dublin castle, and the Rev. James Whiteside, MRIA, Walsh was entrusted with the completion of their history of Dublin. This involved lengthy research and rewriting, and the two-volume History of Dublin, from the earliest accounts to the present time was published in 1818. It remained the most up-to-date history of the city until John Gilbert's appeared in 1854. J. T. Gilbert (qv) in his preface entirely discounted the earlier work, judging it inadequate, inaccurate, and plagiarised, and it subsequently fell out of print, although the Dublin University Magazine held it in high regard. In addition to these scholarly pursuits, Walsh acted as physician to his parishioners and was particularly assiduous in attempts to stamp out typhoid.
In 1820 he accepted the offer of a chaplaincy to the British embassy in Constantinople; on his outward journey he passed through the Mediterranean and the Greek archipelago, witnessed earthquakes and the Greek revolution, and on arrival in Constantinople found it was in the throes of a plague. This led to his being quarantined in Belgrade and abandoned in the mountains, after he fell ill. He recovered and spent five years in Constantinople, passing summers on an archipelago called Prince's Islands, and there vaccinated the islanders against small pox with matter sent from the cow-pock institution in Dublin. Returning to England via the Balkans (1825), he discovered Jewish and protestant tribes whom he took to be survivors of the inquisition. Sent to St Petersburg as chaplain to the embassy, he arrived to witness the murder of 1,200 people as Constantine was being put on the throne (1825). His stay was brief but he had time to deposit his History of Dublin in the St Petersburg library, a practice he followed while abroad since he wished to counteract Ireland's reputation for barbarism. His next destination in 1828 was the embassy in Rio de Janeiro, where he remained for some years. When the frigate on which he was returning to England captured a ship containing 600 slaves, Walsh went on board to view the conditions and afterwards published an account, which led to him being appointed to the committee of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery. On his arrival in England in 1831 he was again sent to Constantinople and found Greece liberated and Turkey reformed.
Walsh published his first travel book in 1828, Narrative of a journey from Constantinople to England and thereafter published a further two volumes on Constantinople and one on his adventures in Brazil. These are vivid, humorous accounts, blending personal anecdote with historical facts, and proved to be bestsellers. The first book ran to four editions and was translated into French, while his book on Brazil received an American publication. He finally returned to Ireland in 1835 and was made incumbent of Kilbride, Co. Wicklow, and in 1839 vicar of Finglas, Co. Dublin, where he died 30 June 1852.
He married (1813) Anne Elizabeth Ellen, daughter of John Bayley; they had one son, the judge and writer John Edward Walsh (qv).