Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Daly, Robert
DALY, ROBERT (1783–1872), bishop of Cashel and Waterford, younger son of Denis Daly [q. v.], by Henrietta, only daughter and heiress of Robert Maxwell, first earl of Farnham, was born at Dunsandle, co. Galway, on 8 June 1783. Having entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a fellow-commoner in 1799, he gained the gold medal in 1803, and graduated B.A. in the same year. He proceeded M.A. in 1832 and B.D. and D.D. in 1843. In 1807 he was ordained a deacon, and was admitted to priest's orders in the following year. From 1809 to 1843 he held the prebend of Holy Trinity in the diocese of Cork; from 1814 to 1843 the prebend of Stagonil and the rectory of Powerscourt in the diocese of Dublin, and in 1842 was declared dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, by the court of delegates appointed to try the validity of an election held on 8 Dec. 1840, in which the Rev. James Wilson, D.D. (precentor of St. Patrick's, and soon after bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross), had been the other candidate. Daly was raised to the bishopric of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore, by patent dated 12 Jan. 1843. For many years, both before and after his elevation to the bench of bishops, his name was a household word throughout the church of Ireland. He was an eminent leader of the evangelical section, and in him the various religious societies connected with the church found at all times a very munificent contributor. He was a preacher of considerable force and energy, maintaining his own principles with great consistency, and ever ready to do battle on their behalf. He died 16 Feb. 1872, and was buried in the cathedral of Waterford.
Daly was the author of several printed sersermons and charges, and of various detached tracts on religious and moral subjects; he was also a frequent contributor to ecclesiastical periodicals. In 1832 he edited an edition of Bishop O'Brien's 'Focaloir Gaoidhilge-Sax-Bhéarla, or Irish-English Dictionary,' &c. A 12mo volume, entitled 'Letters and Papers of Viscountess Powerscourt,' was edited by him in 1839, and has passed through at least eight editions. His valuable library included a fine and rare collection of bibles and prayer-books, which was sold by auction in London a short time before his death, the proceeds being applied by him to a benevolent purpose.
[Burke's Peerage (1880). 416; Dublin University Calendars; Todd's Catalogue of Dublin Graduates, 141; Personal Recollections of Bishop Daly, by an old Parishioner; Men of the Time (1868), 161; Brady's Records of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, i. 108; Cotton's Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, i. 31, 264, ii. 109, 179; Supplement, 1; Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette (February 1872), xiv. 46.]