Thomas Prior

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For the British engraver, see Thomas Abiel Prior.

Thomas Prior
Bust of Thomas Prior by John van Nost the younger
Born1680
Rathdowney, Ireland
Died21 October 1752(1752-10-21) (aged 71–72)
NationalityIrish
Alma materTrinity College Dublin (BA)
Known forFounder of the Royal Dublin Society

Thomas Prior (1680 – 21 October 1751) was an Irish author, known as the founder of the Royal Dublin Society.

Life

He was born at Rathdowney, County Laois, He entered the public school at Kilkenny College in January 1697, and stayed there until April 1699; among his school-fellows was George Berkeley, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. He entered Trinity College Dublin, obtained a scholarship in 1701, and graduated B.A. in 1703.[1]

In 1729, Prior published his 'List of Absentees of Ireland' which condemned absentee Irish landlords, named those he considered delinquent and garnered himself some notoriety in doing so.

Sir Thomas Molyneux.[5] It was incorporated, and received a grant from Parliament in 1749 of £500 a year; many years later, in 1820, it renamed itself as the Royal Dublin Society.[1][6]

Prior died on 21 October 1751, and was buried at Rathdowny, A monument was erected by subscription to his memory in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, with an inscription in Latin by Berkeley, who styled him "Societatis Dubliniensis auctor, institutor, curator". A portrait of him in mezzotint by Charles Spooner was published in Dublin in 1752.[1][7]

Works

In 1729 appeared at Dublin Prior's List of the Absentees of Ireland, and in the following year he published Observations on Coin. To

Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Prior in 1746 dedicated An Authentic Narrative of the Success of Tar-water in Curing a great number and variety of Distempers. This publication included two letters from Berkeley. An essay by Prior, advocating the encouragement of linen manufacture in Ireland, was published at Dublin in 1749.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Prior, Thomas (1682?-1751)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  2. ^ RDS TwoSevenFive, A Brief History of the Royal Dublin Society 1731-2006. Dublin, Ireland: RDS. 2006. p. 6.
  3. ^ de Vere White, Terence (1955). The Story of the Royal Dublin Society. Tralee, Ireland: The Kerryman. p. 3.
  4. ^ A Compendium of Irish Biography
  5. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22815. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  6. ISBN 9781783270682
    .
  7. ^ "Spooner, Charles (d.1767)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

External links

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Prior, Thomas (1682?-1751)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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