Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 31.djvu/236

 

KIRWAN, STEPHEN (d. 1602?), bishop of Clonfert, a native of Galway, was educated partly at Oxford and partly at Paris. Conforming to the protestant religion he was, apparently while ‘a student resident at Oxford,’ appointed archdeacon of Annaghdown in 1558. On 13 April 1573 he was, on the recommendation of Sir William Fitzwilliam, advanced to the see of Kilmacduagh, of which he was the first protestant bishop. His conduct giving satisfaction to the government, he was, on the recommendation of Lord Arthur Grey, translated to the bishopric of Clonfert on 24 May 1582, and on 15 July 1585 he was placed on a commission for compounding with the landowners in Connaught and Thomond for a certain rent in lieu of the uncertain cess accustomed to be paid by them to the crown. In 1587, 1588, 1597, and 1599 he was one of the commissioners of martial affairs in Connaught. On 20 Oct. 1602 Roland Lynch, bishop of Kilmacduagh, was appointed to the see of Clonfert in commendam, from which it seems likely that Kirwan died in that or the preceding year. 

KIRWAN, WALTER BLAKE (1754–1805), dean of Killala, was born at Gortha, co. Galway, in 1754. His father being a Roman catholic, he was sent for education in early youth to the jesuit college at St. Omer. At the age of seventeen he went to St. Croix in the West Indies, along with a relative who had large property in that island. The climate did not suit him, the cruelty which he witnessed disgusted him, and after six years' residence he returned to Europe, and went to the university of Louvain, where he took orders, and was appointed professor of natural and moral philosophy. In 1778 he became chaplain to the Neapolitan ambassador at the British court, and the eloquence of the sermons which he preached in London in this capacity attracted marked attention. In 1787 he left the Roman catholic church, and on 24 June of that year preached his first sermon to a protestant congregation in St. Peter's Church, Dublin, where for some time he continued to officiate every Sunday, immediately taking rank as a pulpit orator of singular power. His services were eagerly sought for charity sermons, and the churches in which he preached had to be defended against the pressure of the crowds by guards and palisades. It was not uncommon for collections amounting to 1,000l. or 1,200l. to be taken up on such occasions, jewellery and gold watches being frequently laid upon the plates. In 1789 Kirwan was collated by the Archbishop of Dublin to the prebend of Howth, and was in the same year preferred to the living of St. Nicholas Without in the city of Dublin. In 1800 he was appointed dean of Killala. He died at his house, Mount Pleasant, near Dublin, on 27 Oct. 1805. His wife, Wilhelmina, youngest daughter of Goddard Richards of Grange, co. Wexford, whom he had married 22 Sept. 1798, survived him, with two sons—one of whom, Antony la Touche Kirwan, became afterwards dean of Limerick—and two daughters. His widow was granted by the crown a pension of 300l. per annum for life, with reversion to her daughters.

A volume of Kirwan's sermons was published posthumously, London, 1816. 

KITCHIN, alias, ANTHONY (1477–1563), bishop of Llandaff, born in 1477, was a Benedictine monk of Westminster, who studied at Gloucester Hall (now Worcester College), built originally for Benedictine novices. He graduated at Oxford B.D. in 1525 and D.D. in 1538. In 1526 he was made prior of Gloucester College (see, Acts and Mon. v. 425). In 1530 he was appointed abbot of Eynsham, Oxford, and as abbot was a signatory to the king's supremacy (1534) and to the articles of 1536. On the dissolution of the lesser monasteries he, together with eight monks, surrendered his abbacy, 4 Dec. 1539, receiving a pension of 133l. 6s. 8d., with the promise of a benefice and cure. He was also appointed king's chaplain, and in 1545 bishop of Llandaff. The oath he took on his confirmation contains the fullest possible renunciation of the papal supremacy (, Cranmer, p. 187). He clung to his bishopric through all changes, and wastefully reduced it from one of the wealthiest to one of the poorest sees. He did homage to Mary at her coronation, displayed zeal enough to burn a martyr (, vi. 646), and was one of the commissioners who sat on Hooper. At the accession of Elizabeth he again complied,