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| thomas_prior_m-p_family_founder [2022/06/12 22:15] – judith | thomas_prior_m-p_family_founder [2022/06/12 22:17] – [Prior memorials] judith |
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| '//Sacred to the memory of Thomas Prior Esq., who spent a long life in unwearied endeavours to promote the welfare of his country. Every manufacturer, every branch of husbandry, will declare this truth. Every useful institution will lament its Friend and Benefactor. He died alas! too soon for Ireland. October the 21st, 1751. Aged 70.//'((Teddy Fennelly, //Thomas Prior. His Life, Times and Legacy//, Ireland: Arderin Publishing, 2001, pp.60-61.)) | '//Sacred to the memory of Thomas Prior Esq., who spent a long life in unwearied endeavours to promote the welfare of his country. Every manufacturer, every branch of husbandry, will declare this truth. Every useful institution will lament its Friend and Benefactor. He died alas! too soon for Ireland. October the 21st, 1751. Aged 70.//'((Teddy Fennelly, //Thomas Prior. His Life, Times and Legacy//, Ireland: Arderin Publishing, 2001, pp.60-61.)) |
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| {{:thomas_prior_rds.jpeg?direct&300| }}Pictured, a mezzotint of Tom Prior by Charles Spooner, held by Royal Dublin Society. | {{:thomas_prior_rds.jpeg?direct&250| }}Pictured, a mezzotint of Tom Prior by Charles Spooner, held by Royal Dublin Society. |
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| Tom Prior was very much a product of the [[wp>Age_of_Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. During 1696-99, he attended the most prestigious school in Ireland at the time, Kilkenny Grammar School. He left school and, with some interruptions, was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College Dublin in 1703. In 1712 he went to Oxford University, and was awarded a Master of Arts later that year. Like many a historical person with frail physical health,((e.g. Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin ...)) he minimised other career options to work on what interested him most and, perhaps consequently, lived to old age. In the most recent booklet about Tom Prior, Teddy Fennelly maintains that, of Tom Prior's contemporaries, there were few who 'could surpass his intellect, sincerity and courage and none who could match his compassion and his legacy of practical achievement'. His 'acute social conscience' was complemented by his being 'ever the practical down-to-earth man' when proposing reforms. His practicality was complemented by optimism. Certainly, an anonymous satire published in 1753, ((//A Dialogue between Dean Swift and Thomas Prior, Esq., in the Isles of St. Patrick's Church, Dublin, On that memorable Day, October 9th, 1753//)) portrayed Jonathon Swift as pessimistically rejecting his friend Tom's 'upbeat analysis of the Irish situation.'((Fennelly, //Thomas Prior.//, pp.vii,x,21,37,44,63,87-88.))\\ | Tom Prior was very much a product of the [[wp>Age_of_Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. During 1696-99, he attended the most prestigious school in Ireland at the time, Kilkenny Grammar School. He left school and, with some interruptions, was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College Dublin in 1703. In 1712 he went to Oxford University, and was awarded a Master of Arts later that year. Like many a historical person with frail physical health,((e.g. Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin ...)) he minimised other career options to work on what interested him most and, perhaps consequently, lived to old age. In the most recent booklet about Tom Prior, Teddy Fennelly maintains that, of Tom Prior's contemporaries, there were few who 'could surpass his intellect, sincerity and courage and none who could match his compassion and his legacy of practical achievement'. His 'acute social conscience' was complemented by his being 'ever the practical down-to-earth man' when proposing reforms. His practicality was complemented by optimism. Certainly, an anonymous satire published in 1753, ((//A Dialogue between Dean Swift and Thomas Prior, Esq., in the Isles of St. Patrick's Church, Dublin, On that memorable Day, October 9th, 1753//)) portrayed Jonathon Swift as pessimistically rejecting his friend Tom's 'upbeat analysis of the Irish situation.'((Fennelly, //Thomas Prior.//, pp.vii,x,21,37,44,63,87-88.))\\ |
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| {{:prior_absentee_cropped.jpg?direct&200|}}Cover of the second edition of Prior’s List reproduced in Clarke’s //Thomas Prior//. | {{:prior_absentee_cropped.jpg?direct&200|}}Cover of the second edition of Prior’s List reproduced in Clarke’s //Thomas Prior//. |
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| No life is without misjudgement. Tom Prior's most publicised failure was his promotion of the medieval remedy [[wp>Tar_water|tar-water]], a mixture of pine-tar and water. The context of his belief in tar-water were the horrendous famine years of 1739-41: as usual, hunger has been accompanied by the plague and other diseases. Prior's close friend Bishop George Berkeley initiated the public promotion of tar-water as a cure-all, publishing a pamphlet about it in 1744, promoting it as a restorative as well as cure for the plague and other diseases, both for cattle and humans. While the medical profession at the time had little success in curing disease, they did know a quack cure when they saw one. They led the attack, condemning tar-water as worthless. Prior staunchly defended it and his friend Bishop Berkeley, writing //Authentic Narrative of the Success of Tar-Water, in Curing a Great Number and Variety of Distempers// (Dublin/London, 1746). Alas, he was wrong: pine-tar and water was no cure for the diseases which stuck the malnourished and starving.\\ | No life is without misjudgement. Tom Prior's most publicised failure was his promotion of the medieval remedy [[wp>Tar_water|tar-water]], a mixture of pine-tar and water. The context of his belief in tar-water were the horrendous famine years of 1739-41: as usual, hunger has been accompanied by the plague and other diseases. Prior's close friend Bishop George Berkeley initiated the public promotion of tar-water as a cure-all, publishing a pamphlet about it in 1744, promoting it as a restorative as well as cure for the plague and other diseases, both for cattle and humans. While the medical profession at the time had little success in curing disease, they did know a quack cure when they saw one. They led the attack, condemning tar-water as worthless. Prior staunchly defended it and his friend Bishop Berkeley, writing //Authentic Narrative of the Success of Tar-Water, in Curing a Great Number and Variety of Distempers// (Dublin/London, 1746). Alas, he was wrong: pine-tar and water was no cure for the diseases which stuck the malnourished and starving.\\ |
| Tom Prior was buried in the graveyard beside the Anglican church in Rathdowney. The precise location of his grave is now unknown as his tombstone was later relocated inside the church.((Teddy Fennelly, //Thomas Prior.//pp.x,60-62.)). His other memorials are:\\ | Tom Prior was buried in the graveyard beside the Anglican church in Rathdowney. The precise location of his grave is now unknown as his tombstone was later relocated inside the church.((Teddy Fennelly, //Thomas Prior.//pp.x,60-62.)). His other memorials are:\\ |
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| **1.**{{:prior_memorial_enhanced.jpg?300|}}{{:top_of_prior_memorial.png?300|}} The Prior monument (Thomas Prior introducing Ceres to Hibernia by [[wp>John_van_Nost_the_younger|John Van Nost the younger]]), at entrance of [[wp>Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin|Christ Church Cathedral]], Dublin. The sculpture was erected in 1756 and abounds with symbols of Prior’s work for Ireland.((Homan Potterton, //Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880//, [Belfast]: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975, pp.31,86.)) The first photo,((Provenance: J. Godden, taken by David Godden)), with me (Judith Godden) looking at it in 1985 indicates its size – around three metres high. The second photo((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P)) is the bust of Thomas Prior on top of the monument. The effusive praise of Tom Prior on the monument was written by his friend Bishop Berkeley - in Latin. A later member of the family copied a translation into their Family Bible:((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P)){{:mp16.jpg?300|}}{{:epitath.jpg?300|}}\\ | **1.**{{:prior_memorial_enhanced.jpg?200|}}{{:top_of_prior_memorial.png?200|}} The Prior monument (Thomas Prior introducing Ceres to Hibernia by [[wp>John_van_Nost_the_younger|John Van Nost the younger]]), at entrance of [[wp>Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin|Christ Church Cathedral]], Dublin. The sculpture was erected in 1756 and abounds with symbols of Prior’s work for Ireland.((Homan Potterton, //Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880//, [Belfast]: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975, pp.31,86.)) The first photo,((Provenance: J. Godden, taken by David Godden)), with me (Judith Godden) looking at it in 1985 indicates its size – around three metres high. The second photo((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P)) is the bust of Thomas Prior on top of the monument. The effusive praise of Tom Prior on the monument was written by his friend Bishop Berkeley - in Latin. A later member of the family copied a translation into their Family Bible:((Provenance: T.A. & M.T. M-P)){{:mp16.jpg?300|}}{{:epitath.jpg?300|}}\\ |
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| **2.** Perhaps the most recent monument to Tom Prior is the one recorded by the Laois Heritage Forum: In 2017, the Forum stated that in 2016, at St Andrew’s Church of Ireland, the Square, Rathdowney, a plaque was unveiled in Thomas Prior's memory, not just as one of the founders of the Royal Dublin Society, but also as the founder of the (local) Ossory Show. | **2.** Perhaps the most recent monument to Tom Prior is the one recorded by the Laois Heritage Forum: In 2017, the Forum stated that in 2016, at St Andrew’s Church of Ireland, the Square, Rathdowney, a plaque was unveiled in Thomas Prior's memory, not just as one of the founders of the Royal Dublin Society, but also as the founder of the (local) Ossory Show. |