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| ====== Thomas (Tom) Prior MA ====== | ====== Thomas (Tom) Prior MA ====== |
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| When Tom Prior died, he was lamented very much as a public benefactor. The inscription on his grave read:\\ | When Tom Prior died, Ireland lost a public benefactor. The inscription on his grave read:\\ |
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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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| 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. Tom 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, lauding 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 (as indeed it was). 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: the mixture of pine-tar and water was no cure for the diseases that accompanied poverty.\\ | 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. Tom 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, lauding 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.\\ |
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| 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 photo by David Godden (with me in 1985) indicates its size – around three metres high. The second photo, courtesy Tom 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:{{:mp16.jpg?300|}}{{:epitath.jpg?300|}}\\ | **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: Tom A. & Therese 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:{{:mp16.jpg?300|}}{{:epitath.jpg?300|}}\\ |
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| **3.** {{ :thomas_prior_bust.jpg?direct&200|}} | **3.** {{ :thomas_prior_bust.jpg?direct&200|}} |
| This photo of a bust of Tom M-P was taken by [[five_children|Nora Boyd]] when she visited Dublin. Sometime around the 1980s, I wrote on the back of the photo that my mother told me it was in Prior House. This was a building purchased by the Royal Dublin Society in the 1970s and subsequently renamed Prior House. It was later sold and in 2001 was a hotel. Presumably this bust is the same one that Fennelly states was sculptured for the Dublin Society by the sculptor who created his memorial in Christ Church Cathedral, John Van Nost the younger.((Fennelly, //Thomas Prior//,pp.63,74.)) | This photo of a bust of Tom M-P was taken by [[five_children|Nora Boyd]] when she visited Dublin. Presumably it is the one that was sculptured for the Dublin Society by John Van Nost the younger, who created Prior's memorial in Christ Church Cathedra.((Fennelly, //Thomas Prior//, pp.63,74.)) |
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| **4.** Tom M-P recalls another statue of Tom Prior in a chapel opposite Trinity College – a quest for the next person who visits Dublin?\\ | **4.** Tom A. M-P recalls another statue of Tom Prior in a chapel opposite Trinity College – a quest for the next person who visits Dublin?\\ |
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| \\ | **5.** Another memorial is the Thomas Prior Hall, in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge. The building was purchased by the Royal Dublin Society in the 1970s and subsequently renamed Prior House.((Fennelly, //Thomas Prior//, pp.63,74.)) It was later sold and, as at March 2018, it is part of Clayton Hotel. Only the front of the original building, with its name, survives.((see {{http://www.thomaspriorhall.com/history/}}; Geoffrey M-P pers. comm.))\\ |
| \\ | {{:scan_20180416_thom_prior_house.jpg?300|}}\\ (Above) Photo of J. Godden in front of Thomas Prior House, August 1985.\\ |
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| ==== Death and founding the Murray-Priors ==== | ==== Death and founding the Murray-Priors ==== |