Robert Gregg (bishop)

{{short description|19th-century Irish Anglican bishop}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Archbishop | honorific-prefix = [[The Right Reverend]] | name = Robert Gregg | honorific-suffix = | church = [[Church of Ireland]] | image = Abp Robert Samuel Gregg.jpg | see = Armagh | elected = 14 December 1893 | bishop_of = [[Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)|Archbishop of Armagh]] [[Primacy of Ireland|Primate of All Ireland]] | term = 1893–1896 | predecessor = [[Robert Knox (bishop)|Robert Knox]] | successor = [[William Alexander (bishop)|William Alexander]] | previous_post = [[Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin]] ''(1874–1878)'' [[Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross]] ''(1878–1893)'' | ordination = 1857 | ordained_by = | consecration = 30 March 1875 | consecrated_by = [[Richard Chenevix Trench]] | bishops = | birth_date = {{birth date|1834|5|3|df=y}} | birth_place = Kilsallaghan, County Dublin, [[Ireland]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1896|1|10|1834|5|3|df=y}} | death_place = [[Armagh]], [[County Armagh]], [[Ireland]] | buried = | education = | nationality = [[Irish people|Irish]] | religion = [[Anglican]] | parents = [[John Gregg (bishop of Cork)|John Gregg]], Elizabeth Nicola Law | spouse = {{marriage|Elinor Bainbridge|1863}} | children = 2 | alma_mater = [[Trinity College, Dublin]] }} '''Robert Samuel Gregg''' (3 May 1834 – 10 January 1896) was a 19th-century [[Anglican]] [[bishop]].<ref>[http://www.stpatricks-cathedral.org/people-at-the-cathedral/abbots-bishops/ Armagh Cathedral]</ref>

==Life== He was born at the rectory, of [[St. David's Church, Kilsallaghan|St. David's]] Kilsallaghan, [[County Dublin]], of which parish his father, [[John Gregg (bishop of Cork)|John Gregg]], was then rector, on 3 May 1834. His mother was Elizabeth Law. He was educated at [[Trinity College Dublin]], where he graduated as junior moderator in mathematics in 1856, being awarded M.A. in 1860.{{sfn|Falkiner|1901}}

In the same year Gregg was [[ordained]] for the [[curacy]] of Rathcooney, [[County Cork]], and three years later was appointed [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of Christ Church, [[Belfast]], an important cure which brought him in touch with the working-class population of the north of Ireland. In 1862 he returned to the [[Diocese of Cork]] as rector of Frankfield and chaplain to his father, then Bishop of Cork. Frankfield was perhaps the place with which he was to have the closest connection: his wife Elinor was a native of Frankfield, and they are both buried there. In 1865 he became rector of [[Church of St Peter, Carrigrohane|St Peter's Church, Carrigrohane]] and precentor of [[Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral]], Cork. Here he quickly acquired a high reputation for administrative ability, as well as for the qualities of sound judgment, moderation, and good sense by which he was subsequently distinguished in the episcopal office. In the controversies which followed, the disestablishment of the Irish church, particularly in regard to the revision of the prayer book, Gregg took the conservative side, but his influence was uniformly exerted in a conciliatory spirit. Gregg's principal service to his church at this time lay in devising for his own diocese of Cork the singularly successful financial plan which became the foundation of the financial system of the disendowed Church of Ireland, and on this and other occasions he showed a remarkable talent for finance. In 1873 he was presented by the University of Dublin with the degrees of B.D. and D.D., in recognition of his services to the [[Church of Ireland]].{{sfn|Falkiner|1901}} In 1874, Gregg was appointed [[Dean of Cork]], and in the following year was selected by the Irish bishops to succeed [[James Thomas O'Brien]] in the diocese of [[Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin|Bishop of Ossory]].<ref>“A New History of Ireland” Moody,T.M;Martin,F.X;Byrne,F.J;Cosgrove,F:By Theodore William Moody, Francis X. Martin, Francis John Byrne, Art Cosgrove: Oxford, [[Oxford University Press]], 1976 {{ISBN|0-19-821745-5}}</ref> Gregg, at forty-one years of age, thus became a member of the episcopal bench while his father was still [[Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross]]. On his father's death on 26 May 1878, the synods of [[Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross|Cork, Cloyne and Ross]] at once selected Gregg to succeed him. As Bishop of Cork, Gregg's most noticeable work lay in the completion of the cathedral of St. Finn Barre, which had been rebuilt during his father's episcopate at a cost of over £100,000. On the death in 1893 of Primate [[Robert Bent Knox]], Gregg was selected to succeed him as [[Archbishop of Armagh]]<ref>''Ecclesiastical Intelligence'' [[The Times]] Friday, Dec 15, 1893; pg. 11; Issue 34135; col C</ref> and Primate of all Ireland.{{sfn|Falkiner|1901}}

He married Elinor Bainbridge of Frankfield in 1863, and had two children, John and Amy. Amy in 1898 married, as his second wife, [[Robert Walsh (priest)|Robert Walsh]] the [[Archdeacon of Dublin]].

He died suddenly at the Palace, Armagh, on 10 January 1896, after about two years' of the primacy, and was buried at Frankfield beside his wife Elinor.{{sfn|Falkiner|1901}}

His nephew [[John Gregg (archbishop of Armagh)|John Gregg]] became [[Archbishop of Armagh]].

==Notes== {{Portal|Christianity}} {{Reflist}} ;Attribution {{DNBSupp|wstitle=Gregg, Robert Samuel|first=Cæsar Litton|last=Falkiner}}

{{S-start}} {{S-rel}} {{S-bef|before= [[James Thomas O'Brien]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin]]|years=1874 – 1878}} {{S-aft|after=[[William Pakenham Walsh]]}} {{S-bef|before= [[John Gregg (bishop of Cork)|John Gregg]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross]]|years=1878– 1893}} {{S-aft|after=[[William Edward Meade]]}} {{S-bef|before= [[Robert Bent Knox]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of Armagh]]|years=1893 – 1896}} {{S-aft|after=[[William Alexander (bishop)|William Alexander]]}} {{S-end}}

{{Anglican archbishops of Armagh}} {{Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross}} {{Bishops of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin}} {{Deans of Cork}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregg, Robert}} [[Category:1834 births]] [[Category:1896 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]] [[Category:Bishops of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin]] [[Category:Bishops of Cork, Cloyne and Ross]] [[Category:19th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:19th-century Anglican archbishops]] [[Category:Anglican archbishops of Armagh]] [[Category:Deans of Cork]]