Percy Jocelyn
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| Bishop of Clogher | |
| Church | Church of Ireland |
| Province | Province of Armagh |
| Installed | 1820 |
| Term ended | 21 October 1822[1] |
| Predecessor | Lord John Beresford |
| Successor | Lord Robert Tottenham |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 November 1764 |
| Died | 3 September 1843 (aged 78) |
| Denomination | Anglicanism |
| Parents |
|
| Previous post(s) | Trinity College, Dublin |
Early life
He was the third son of
He was
1811 Scandal
In 1811, James Byrne (who had been a coachman for Jocelyn's brother, John) accused him of "taking indecent familiarities" and of "using indecent or obscene conversations with him". Byrne was sued for criminal libel by Bishop Jocelyn and on conviction was sentenced to two years in gaol and also to public flogging. After he recanted his allegations at the prompting of the bishop's agent, the floggings were stopped.[4]
1822 Scandal
On 19 July 1822, Bishop Jocelyn, then aged 57, was caught in a compromising position with a 22-year-old
Bishop Jocelyn was the most senior British or Irish churchman to be involved in a public homosexual
, such as:- The Devil to prove the Church was a farce
- Went out to fish for a Bugger.
- He baited his hook with a Soldier's arse
- And pulled up the Bishop of Clogher.
The scandal was so great, that in the days following, "it was not safe for a bishop to show himself in the streets of London", according to
Legacy
After Bishop Jocelyn's death, it was reported that he had been living quietly for four years at Salisbury Place, Edinburgh, under the assumed name Thomas Wilson, and had previously lived in Glasgow. The plate on his coffin carried no inscription except (in Latin): "Here lie the remains of a great sinner, saved by grace, whose hopes rest in the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ".[5]
However, some years ago[when?] the Jocelyn family vault in Kilcoo Parish Church in Bryansford, County Down, Northern Ireland, was opened and it was discovered that it contained one more coffin than the number of grave markers indicated, and that the extra coffin was unmarked. This extra coffin may be that of the dethroned Bishop of Clogher.[citation needed]
For 178 years after the scandal, the Church of Ireland refused to let historians see its papers on the affair. In the 1920s, Archbishop D'Arcy of Armagh ordered that they be burned, but this order was not obeyed. The files were released for Matthew Parris's research for his book The Great Unfrocked.
References
- ^ a b "The Times Digital Archive – Document". gdc.galegroup.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ Clogher clergy and parishes : being an account of the clergy of the Church of Ireland in the Diocese of Clogher, from the earliest period, with historical notices of the several parishes, churches, etc" Leslie, J.B. p 23: Enniskille; R. H. Ritchie; 1929
- ^ a b Dictionary of Irish Biography (D.I.B.): Jocelyn, Percy. https://www.dib.ie/biography/jocelyn-percy-a4281
- ^ a b Brian Lacey, Terrible Queer Creatures: Homosexuality in Irish History, Wordwell Books, Dublin, 2008.
- ^ "The Hon. Percy Jocelyn". The Gentleman's Magazine. 176. A. Dodd and A. Smith: 314. March 1844.
Further reading
- Rictor Norton, "The Bishop of Clogher" The Gay Subculture in Georgian England. 5 April 2010
- Lacey, Brian, 2008, Terrible Queer Creatures: Homosexuality in Irish History, Dublin, Wordwell Books.
- Parris, Matthew (1998). asst. ed. Nick Angel (ed.). The great unfrocked : two thousand years of church scandal. London: Robson Books. ISBN 1-86105-129-8.
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