Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/291

 with funds for building. It has ever since occupied, under the title of the Church of Ireland Training College, a foremost place among denominational educational institutions in Ireland. Plunket's activity in educational matters led to his nomination by the viceroy in 1895 as a member of the board of national education. He was also a senator of the Royal University of Ireland; and the honorary LL.D. of Cambridge University conferred on him in 1888 was also in part a recognition of his interest in education.

In 1884, on the resignation, through failing health, of Archbishop [q.v.], Plunket was elected archbishop of the united dioceses of Dublin, Glendalough, and Kildare, with which was combined, until 1887, the deanery of Christ Church Cathedral. It was in this position that Plunket became most widely known beyond the limits of his own church through his warm and disinterested championship of the cause of the protestant reformers in Spain. His action in this regard exposed him to considerable obloquy in England, where Plunket's action was viewed by some as an intrusion upon the episcopal domain of the Spanish Roman catholic bishops, and was deprecated by most of the Anglican bishops. In Ireland it excited not a little disapproval among members of his own communion, though from a different standpoint. Plunket's persistent exertions in this cause extended over eighteen years; he undertook three separate journeys to Spain to satisfy himself of the reality of the reformation, and gave money without stint in its support. In 1894 he determined that the time for conferring consecration on Senor Cabrera, the leader of the movement in Spain, had arrived, and on communicating his resolution to the Irish bishops to visit Spain in company with two other members of their body, the majority of his brother prelates declined to oppose his action. He accordingly left Ireland in the autumn of 1894, accompanied by the bishops of Clogher and Down, and on 23 Sept. of that year the ceremony of consecration was performed.

Almost as keen as his interest in the Spanish reformers was Plunket's sympathy with the reformed church in Italy. In 1886 he became president and chairman of the Italian Reform Association, and was active in his support of Count Campello and the leaders of that body. In his efforts in their behalf he was fortunately able to act in cooperation with the English bishops, and thus his Italian labours earned him none of the odium which his intervention in Spain excited.

In the autumn of 1896 the closeness of the union which, despite disestablishment, still exists between the churches of England and Ireland, was exemplified by the visit to Ireland, on Plunket's invitation, of Archbishop [q. v. Suppl.] The English primate assisted at the reopening of the restored cathedral of Kildare, a diocese united with that of Dublin, and was the guest of Plunket at his residence at Old Connaught. The visit did much to mitigate the asperity of English criticism on Plunket's ultra-evangelical leanings. Benson died suddenly at Hawarden on his way home from Ireland; and Plunket died at the Palace, St. Stephen's Green, on 1 April 1897. Lady Plunket had predeceased him by eight years. He was buried at Mount Jerome cemetery, Dublin, after a public funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral. He was succeeded as fifth Baron Plunket by his eldest son, William Lee Plunket (b. 1864).

Handsome in appearance, tall, and of a fine presence, Plunket inspired the warmest personal affection among relatives and intimates; but his aspect in public was one of almost lugubrious solemnity. An admirably lifelike statue by Hamo Thorneycroft was unveiled in Dublin on 16 April 1901 by the viceroy, Earl Cadogan.

Plunket's purely intellectual endowments were not striking; and though he showed on some occasions not a little of the oratorical power hereditary in his family, he was not a great preacher. He was essentially a man of affairs. But by virtue of the eminence of his position, both hereditary and acquired, and by reason of the remarkable powers of work which reinforced his intense earnestness, and by the charm of a really engaging personality, he was able to accomplish much that abler men might have failed to achieve. He was extremely popular with all classes and creeds in Ireland; his ardent love of his country earning him the goodwill even of those to whom he was politically opposed; and his wide tolerance made him persona grata with the presbyterian and methodist bodies, whose ministers he delighted to welcome to his residence at Old Connaught.

 POCOCK, NICHOLAS (1814–1897), historical writer, born at Falmouth in January 1814, was eldest son of Nicholas Pocock