John Richard Darley: School-founder and Bishop
Jonathan Smyth's latest Times Past columns looks at Bishop John Darley...
Having retired as headmaster of the Royal School, Dungannon, in 1850, the Rev John Richard Darley was offered the position of parochial clergyman in the parish of Drumgoon, Cootehill, Co Cavan. Tragically, his wife Anne died while they were preparing to leave for his new parish. Following her funeral, he moved into the old Glebe Rectory, where he lived for 16 years.
School
A year later, in 1851, he married his second wife Nannette Plunket. At Cootehill, Darley worked tirelessly for both congregation and the wider community. In 1859, he built and financed the Darley School at Cootehill, which began as a three-teacher school located at Munnilly on the Fairgreen. The Young Men’s Christian Association held meetings at the school, with the Cavan Observer reporting on a YMCA meeting in November 1862, stating that, ‘at eight o’clock the chair was taken by Rev Dr Darley, who said he had been requested to preside’, and that ‘he did so with great pleasure'.
In the 1860s, there was great poverty in Cootehill, and Darley was among those who donated money to aid the needy of Drumgoon. Local merchants would purchase the imported coal and sell it at a profit. Many people could not afford the high charges. Rev Darley was one of those who saw this as a problem, which needlessly resulted in more admissions to the local workhouse.
By 1866, he received a promotion to the parish of Templemichael, Co Longford, where he worked as Rector for eight years. During this period, he also served as the Archdeacon for the Diocese of Ardagh. Amongst the people of Drumgoon and Templemichael, Darley ‘gained the esteem and affection of the entire community'.
Bishop
In September 1874, at the age of 75 years, Dr Darley was elected Bishop of the united Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh. His consecration as Bishop taking place on October 25, 1874, in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh; he was successor to the Right Rev Thomas Carson who died earlier that year.
The following extract sums up Bishop John’s general character while in office: ‘He was a man of pre-eminent gifts, both mental and physical, and of wonderful activity. He not only discharged efficiently and with indefatigable zeal all the ordinary duties of a Bishop, such as holding visitations, confirmations and ordinations in every part of his extensive See and presiding over the synods and other councils of the Church as occasion required, and preached in almost every church in his diocese, and for this purpose visited places where none of his predecessors had ever been.’
It was during his time as Bishop that the red-bricked Protestant Hall was built in Cavan Town. The building of the hall began in the summer of 1876 and Lord Farnham arrived to lay the foundation stone, while Bishop Darley said the prayers. In the 1990s, the hall was demolished and today, the red-bricked Johnston Central Library and Farnham Centre, is situated on the same site.
Darley also had a particular interest in the work of the Primitive Methodists and took part in their services and wished for a closer bond between their community and the Church of Ireland.
Bishop Conaty
In 1884, illness affected Dr Darley’s health and his ill-health brought about a united response among all peoples of the district who had hoped for his recovery. His Excellency, Dr Nicholas Conaty, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kilmore, had personally called to see how Dr Darley was keeping. However, John R. Darley died on the Sunday afternoon of January 20, 1884. His Sister-in-law, Emmeline Plunkett was present at the Palace, to comfort Mrs Darley, when the bishop had expired.
As news of his death became known, many businesses from all communities in Cavan closed. In particular, it was recorded that the shops in the town of Longford closed their shutters on the day as a mark of respect, while the Cavan Weekly News reported, ‘there are thousands with whom Bishop Darley’s name will be a fragrant memory; and who will be thankful for an opportunity of testifying their undying affection for one who while he lived was so venerated and beloved.’
Religious Education was a subject that was close to Darley’s heart and an initial idea to commemorate him, was to hold an annual ‘Darley Prize’ for students. It was decided to form a committee from Elphin and Ardagh, ‘in order to take steps as may be necessary to perpetuate the memory of the late Bishop.’ The resolution suggests that this object would be best carried out by the founding of prizes to be called ‘the Darley Prize’, to be competed for annually at the examinations to be held ‘under the Board of Religious Education'.
However, they decided to commemorate him with a stained-glass window at Kilmore Cathedral. For those visiting the cathedral, the window is in the building’s north transept. Bishop Darley’s widow, the honourable Mrs Darley, continued her support of the church at Kilmore by donating money for the upkeep of the new cemetery.
Darley’s name lives on in the school he founded at Cootehill and, more recently, in the health centre opened on the site of the original schoolhouse which is known as ‘the Darley Health Centre'.
Bishop Darley was the author of two books, ‘The Grecian Drama (1840) and Homer with Questions (1848).
An account of Bishop Darley’s life can be found in the Breifne Journal from 2007, and in All Saints’ Cootehill, 1819-2019: A history of the church, the parish, and its people.
MR BABINGTON HONOURED
On January 29, 1903, the New Orleans Christian Advocate reported on a presentation made to Robert Babington, Franklinton, Louisiana, a brother of the late Dr W. Babington JP, Fort View, Cavan. At the fourth quarterly conference of the Franklinton Sunday-school and Church, Robert Babington was recognised for his 60 years of service as a ‘faithful superintendent of the Sunday-school’ and as an elected delegate to the Church’s annual conference.
Babington's health had gone into decline and infirmities now afflicted him, and although absent from the church for three years, the Church yet wished to acknowledge his long years of service, praying God’s richest blessings to ‘rest upon him to the end'. A copy of the resolution was sent to the New Orleans Christian Advocate for publication.
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