# Thomas Nulty > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Nulty > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Nulty.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nulty > Source revision: 1327611755 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Bishop The Most Reverend Dr. Thomas Nulty, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath from 1864–1898 The Most Reverend Dr. **Thomas Nulty** or Thomas McNulty (1818–1898) was born to a farming family in Fennor, [Oldcastle](/source/Oldcastle%2C_County_Meath), Co. Meath,[1][2] on 7 July 1818, and died in office as the Irish Roman Catholic [Bishop of Meath](/source/Bishop_of_Meath)[3] on Christmas Eve, 1898.[4] ## Biography Nulty was educated at Gilson School, [Oldcastle, County Meath](/source/Oldcastle%2C_County_Meath), [St. Finians](/source/St._Finian's_College), [Navan](/source/Navan) Seminary and [Maynooth College](/source/Maynooth_College). He was ordained in 1846. Nulty was a cleric during the [Great Famine](/source/Great_Famine_(Ireland)). During the course of his first pastoral appointment, he officiated at an average 11 funerals of famine victims (mostly children or the aged) a day, and in 1848 he described a large-scale eviction of 700 tenants in the diocese,[5] thought to have been near [Lough Sheelin](/source/Lough_Sheelin), a freshwater [lough](/source/Lough) at a meeting point of Counties [Westmeath](/source/County_Westmeath), [Meath](/source/County_Meath) and [Cavan](/source/County_Cavan). Nulty rose to become the Most Reverend Bishop of Meath and was known as a fierce defender of the [tenant rights](/source/Tenant_Right_League) of Irish [tenant farmers](/source/Tenant_farmer) throughout the 34 years that he served in that office, from 1864 to 1898.[6][7] Nulty was in agreement with the economic ideas of the progressive reformer [Henry George](/source/Henry_George). Nulty read George's book *[Progress and Poverty](/source/Progress_and_Poverty)* multiple times and agreed with every word.[8] Henry George even said that '[Georgism](/source/Georgism)' could just as well be known as 'Nultyism'.[9] Thomas Nulty is famed for his 1881 tract *Back to the Land*, wherein he makes the case for [land reform](/source/Land_reform) of the Irish land tenure system.[10] Nulty was a friend and supporter of the Irish nationalist [Charles Stewart Parnell](/source/Charles_Stewart_Parnell) until Parnell's [divorce crisis](/source/Charles_Stewart_Parnell#Divorce_crisis) in 1889.[11][12] Dr. Thomas Nulty, who had attended the [First Vatican Council](/source/First_Vatican_Council) in 1870, said his last mass on 21 December 1898. Catholic Church titles Preceded by John Cantwell Bishop of Meath 1866–1898 Succeeded by Mathew Gaffney v t e Roman Catholic Bishops of Meath Thomas Dease Anthony MacGeoghegan Edmund Mac Teige Patrick Plunkett James Cusack Patrick Tyrrell. Luke Fagan Stephen MacEgan Augustine Cheevers Patrick Joseph Plunkett Robert Logan John Cantwell Thomas Nulty Mathew Gaffney Laurence Gaughran Thomas Mulvany John D'Alton John Anthony Kyne John McCormack Michael Smith Thomas Deenihan ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** The Tablet (31 December 1898). ["Obituary. The Most Rev.Dr.Nulty, Bishop of Meath"](http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/31st-december-1898/27/obituary). Retrieved 8 June 2014. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Navan & District Historical Society. ["Nulty, Bishop Thomas"](https://www.navanhistory.ie/index.php?page=thomas-nulty). Retrieved 8 June 2014. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Eubel, Conrad (1913). *Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi* (in Latin). Vol. 8. Monasterii Sumptibus et typis librariae Regensbergianae. pp. 195, 382. Digitized, University of Toronto. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Canning, Bernard (1988). *Bishops of Ireland 1870–1987*. [Ballyshannon](/source/Ballyshannon): [Donegal Democrat](/source/Donegal_Democrat). pp. 143–145. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1870963008](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1870963008). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** The Tablet. ["Ireland (From our Correspondent)"](http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/8th-april-1871/20/ireland). Retrieved 8 June 2014. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** D. Bank & A. Esposito, *British Biographical Index*, London, K.G. Saur, 1990, Vol. 3 J-O ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-86291-393-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-86291-393-4)), p. 1380 (referencing article on corresponding microfiche 824, 206, and which article cites the *[London Times](/source/London_Times)* for 26 December 1898 at page 4 and Brady's 1877 *The Episcopal Succession*, ii 361, as its sources) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Navan Historical Society – Nulty, Bishop Thomas"](https://www.navanhistory.ie/index.php?page=thomas-nulty). Navanhistory.ie. Retrieved 26 November 2013. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Louis F. Post and Fred C. Leubusher, Henry George’s 1886 Campaign: An Account of the George-Hewitt Campaign in the New York Municipal Election of 1886 (New York: John W. Lovell Company, 1887). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** George, Henry (18 June 1887). ["Bishop, Archbishop and Guest"](http://henrygeorgethestandard.org/volume-1-june-18-1887/). *The Standard*. **1**: 1. Retrieved 1 February 2016. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["'Back to the Land' (1881) by Dr. Thomas Nulty, Bishop of Meath | Lux Occulta"](https://lxoa.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/back-to-the-land-by-dr-thomas-nulty-bishop-of-meath/). Lxoa.wordpress.com. 29 May 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2013. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Lawlor, David (2010). ["Political priests: the Parnell split in Meath"](https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/political-priests-the-parnell-split-in-meath/). *historyireland.com/*. Retrieved 8 June 2014. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** O'Beirne Ranelagh, John (2012). [*A Short History of Ireland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zAEgAwAAQBAJ&q=bishop+nulty+and+parnell&pg=PA161) (3 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 300. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1139789264](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1139789264). Retrieved 8 June 2014. ## External links - [Catholic Hierarchy](http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmcul.html) - [Copy of 31 December 1881 letter from Thomas Nulty to the Dublin *Freeman* newspaper](http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZT18820317.2.26) [Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals): - [Biography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Biography) - [Catholicism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Catholicism) - [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Ireland) Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat National United States People Ireland Other IdRef Open Library SNAC Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Nulty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nulty) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nulty?action=history)). 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