Thomas Meredith
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Thomas Meredith, F.T.C.D. (1777 – 1819) was an Irish clergyman, mathematician, and Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.
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[edit] Early life
Thomas Meredith was born at Templerainy House, Co. Wicklow in 1777, and baptised at the Protestant church in Rathdrum. He was the eldest son of Ralph Meredith (1748-1799) N.P., of Templerainy House, Co. Wicklow, and later Attorney Exchequer of Dublin, by his wife Martha (1752-1834), daughter of Thomas Chaytor of Charlemont Place, Dublin, after whom he was named.
Not long after Thomas Meredith was born his father moved the young family to Dublin and Templerainy was passed to Thomas' uncle, William Meredith (1752-1791) of Ballykilcavan, Co. Leix. Ralph and William were the sons of John Meredith (1711-1786) of Templerainy House, Co. Wicklow, who c.1750 had his portrait painted by William Hoare (1706-1799) R.A., of Bath. Templerainy was originally acquired by John's uncle, Rice Meredith (1660-1732), who lived at Rearymore House, Co. Leix.
[edit] Education
Initially educated privately by a Mr Crump, Thomas's father signed him into Trinity College, Dublin in 1791 (spelling his name 'Meredyth'). Two years later, in 1793, he was elected a scholar of the College, and in 1795 he graduated with a B.A. Presumably he spent the next few years working on mathematical theories, whilst living in one of his family's properties on Charlemont Place, which clearly impressed the senior fellows of Trinity as in 1805 he was not just awarded his M.A., but he was also elected a Fellow of the College (F.T.C.D.).
In 1810 Meredith was tutor to the future Bishop of Meath, The Most Rev. Charles Dickinson (1792-1842) D.D., P.C. Dickinson's biography[1] states that 'Dr Meredith, reckoned by many as the best lecturer and tutor of his time in college, was so impressed with the manly talents of his pupil, that he urged him to direct his thoughts to the bar, as the certain road to speedy and high advancement'. Dickinson was a close friend of Charles Wolfe and Hercules Henry Graves (1794-1817), Thomas's brother-in-law.
In 1811 he obtained his B.D. degree, and the following year, in 1812, he was awarded a D.D. degree. He retired his fellowship in 1813, leaving his home at 1 Fitzwilliam Square to take the position of Rector of Ardtrea, Co. Tyrone, holding that position until his untimely death. Meredith is remembered as a distinguished mathematician.
[edit] Family life
At Dublin on 7 July 1807, Thomas married Eliza (Elizabeth) Maria (1791-1855), the eldest daughter of The Very Rev. Richard Graves (1763-1829) D.D., S F.T.C.D., Dean of Ardagh, Co. Cork, by his wife, Elizabeth Maria (1767-1827), the eldest daughter of The Rev. James Drought (1738-1820) D.D., S.F.T.C.D., of Ballyboy, King's Co. (Co. Offaly). The marriage settlement, dated the same day, was signed by the bride and groom, Thomas' brother John Meredith (1784-1866) of Dublin & Fairview House, Co. Wicklow, the bride's father, one of the bride's paternal uncle's, John Graves of Fort William, Co. Limerick, and one of the bride's maternal uncles, Robert Seymour Drought of Ridgemount House, King's County. Eliza Meredith was described as ‘a lady of much culture and refinement, and possessed also of great energy and force of character.’ She died on 31st March, 1855, at 84 Great King Street, Edinburgh.
Thomas and Eliza Meredith left seven children:
- Anne (or Mary-Anne) Meredith (b.1808 or 1809), ‘both beautiful and accomplished. A born actress, she could move her hearers to tears or laughter, and a musician too’. Anne died in early adulthood, unmarried.
- Harriet Meredith (1810-1906). In 1841 she married William Henry Kittson (1810-1882), Collector of H.M. Customs at Hamilton and Cobourg, Upper Canada. He was the son of George Kittson (1759-1832) of Sorel, Quebec.
- The Rev. Richard Graves Meredith (1810-1871), Rector of Knockavilly and Timoleague, Co. Cork. He was married twice, firstly in 1841 to Maria (d.1848), second daughter of Thomas Johnston of Fort Johnston, Co. Monaghan, by his wife Martha, daughter of The Rev. James Hingston (1755-1840) J.P., of Aglish House, Co. Cork, Vicar-General of Cloyne. In 1850 he married Ellen (1822-1873), granddaughter of Randal Howe of Glanavirane House, High Sheriff of Co. Cork.
- Chief Justice The Hon. Sir William Collis Meredith (1812-1894) Q.C., D.C.L. of Quebec. In 1847 he married Sophia Naiters (1820-1898), the youngest daughter of William Edward Holmes (1796-1825) Esq. M.D., of Quebec, by his wife Anne (1788-1865), daughter of Colonel James Johnston (1724-1800) J.P.
- (Ralph) Henry Howard Meredith (1815-1892) of Rosebank House, Port Hope, Upper Canada. In 1840 he married Margaret (1818-1901), the third daughter of The Hon. John Brown (1790-1842) M.L.A., of Port Hope.
- Edmund Allen Meredith (1817-1899), Under Secretary of State, Canada. In 1851 he married ‘Fanny’, Anne Frances (1830-1919), eldest daughter of William Botsford Jarvis (1799-1864) of Rosedale House, High Sheriff of York (Toronto), by his wife Mary Boyles Powell, granddaughter of William Dummer Powell (1755-1834), Chief Justice of Upper Canada.
- Thomas L. Meredith (1819-1843), died unmarried in Ireland.
In Dublin the Merediths lived at No.1 Fitzwilliam Square where Thomas kept a collection of books and maps. he inherited land in Co. Wicklow and, from his mother's family, houses in Dublin. When the family moved to Ardtrea in 1813, Thomas was remembered to have never turned a man away from his door, always having a silver piece for those who came to him.
[edit] Shooting a Ghost
There is a curious story told about Meredith shooting at a ghost with a silver bullet in a book called Memorials to the Dead (published 1903, page 462), in regards to the ‘sudden and awful visitation’ that took his life in 1819. The excerpt below is taken from a letter by The Rev. W. Ernest R. Scott, written in 1924 to Lt.-Colonel Colborne Powell Meredith (1874-1966) of Ottawa, one of Thomas’s grandsons.
The Rev. Ernest Scott, then the Rector of Ardtrea, was married to Adelaide, daughter of Sir James Creed Meredith (1842-1912), by his third wife Ellen Graves Meredith, a daughter of Thomas Meredith’s eldest son, The Rev. Richard Graves Meredith (1810-1871):
"In the parish of Ardtrea, in the County of Tyrone, Ireland, stands the big rectory in which I took up my abode, with my family, on my appointment to the living in 1914. It is a curious house, with a curious history - a huge, grim, rambling building standing in the midst of forty-five acres of grounds (which would have been more in the time of Thomas Meredith). Erected over a century ago (1805) for a wealthy incumbent (the man who Meredith succeeded), at a time when parochial values were very different from what they are today, the atmosphere of the place seems to be impregnated with that peculiar blend of mystery and superstition which surrounds so many old houses of the kind. The rectory of Ardtrea, however, would appear to have more justification than most for the mixed feelings with which it is regarded by the simple country folk around."
"Its very situation lends itself to thoughts of the mysterious. Magnificent beech trees stand upon the lawn (which it is said were planted by the sons of Thomas Meredith), and other forest giants and mournful yews are ringed about the grey old mansion. The long carriage-drive, too, is guarded by a noble avenue of great trees, and thick masses of ivy cluster upon the walls which flank the great wooden door enclosing the courtyard."
"If its situation and appearance bears the impress of the unusual, so likewise do its traditions. One of its first inhabitants (the second), Dr Thomas Meredith, a former Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, Rector of Ardtrea for six years, and great-grandfather of my wife, died within its doors in 1819 from a ‘sudden and awful visitation’, as his tombstone states."
"Exactly what this was no one seems to know, but the story runs that a governess employed by Dr Meredith was troubled by a ghost, which took the form of a lady arrayed in white - possibly, averred local tradition, the Virgin Saint Trea, who lived hereabout in the fifth century. This apparition greatly troubled the good doctor, and on the advice of a friend he charged a gun with a solid silver bullet and lay in wait for the midnight visitor. In due course a report (shot) was heard, and next day the Rector lay dying upon the flagged floor of a basement room. From that hour the country-people looked a skant upon the ‘haunted’ house, and avoided it whenever possible."
Another variation of the story appears in True Irish Ghost Stories by John Drelincourt Seymour, a relative of Thomas' wife, under the chapter 'Legendary and Ancestral ghosts'.[2]:
"In the Parish Church of Ardtrea, near Cookstown, is a marble monument and inscription in memory of Thomas Meredith, D.D., who had been a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and for six years rector of the parish. He died, according to the words of the inscription, on 2nd May 1819, as a result of "a sudden and awful visitation." A local legend explains this "visitation," by stating that a ghost haunted the rectory, the visits of which had caused his family and servants to leave the house.
The rector had tried to shoot it but failed; then he was told to use a silver bullet; he did so, and next morning was found dead at his hall-door while a hideous object like a devil made horrid noises out of any window the servant man approached. This man was advised by some Roman Catholic neighbours to get the priest, who would "lay" the thing. The priest arrived, and with the help of a jar of whisky the ghost became quite civil, till the last glass in the jar, which the priest was about to empty out for himself, whereupon the ghost or devil made himself as thin and long as a Lough Neagh eel, and slipped himself into the jar to get the last drops. But the priest put the cork into its place and hammered it in, and, making the sign of the Cross on it, he had the evil thing secured. It was buried in the cellar of the rectory, where on some nights it can still be heard calling to be let out."
[edit] Relationship with Charles Wolfe
The Rev. Charles Wolfe (1791-1823) of Blackhall, Co. Kildare, was much attached and a great admirer of Thomas Meredith, although fourteen years his younger. He was the Curate of nearby Donoughmore, and a frequent guest at Ardtrea. Remembered today for his poem The Burial of Sir John Moore, Wolfe also wrote the inscription on Meredith's memorial at the Church of Ardtrea made of black and white marble and surmounted by the Meredith crest and coat of arms (the lion rampant, halved with three goat's heads):
Sacred to the memory of THOMAS MEREDITH D.D., Formerly Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, And 6 years Rector of this Parish. A man who gave to learning a beauty not its own, And threw over Science and Literature the lustre of the Gospel And the sweet influence of Christianity. The talents which he clothed in humility And his silent and unobtrusive benevolence Were unable to escape the respect and admiration of society: But those who witnessed him in the bosom of his family And shared the treasures of his conversation Seldom failed to find the ways of wisdom more pleasant than before And to discover fresh loveliness in that Gospel Upon which his hopes and his ministry were founded He was summoned from a family of which he was the support and delight And from the flock to which he was eminently endeared On 2nd May 1819 in the 42nd year of his age By a sudden and awful visitation but he knew That his Redeemer lived. ‘Erected by his Sons’.
Wolfe wrote a letter in 1817 demonstrating how he valued Meredith’s friendship :
"I am surrounded by grandees, who count their income by thousands, and by clergymen innumerable; however, I have kept out of their reach; I have preferred my turf-fire, my books, and the memory of the friends I have left, to all the society that Tyrone can furnish… with one bright exception. At Meredith’s I am indeed every way at home; I am at home in friendship and hospitality, in science and literature, in our common friends and acquaintance, and in topics of religion."
In a brief memoir to Charles Wolfe's life, published in 1842, by The Ven. John A. Russell (Archdeacon of Clogher), Meredith is introduced as follows :
"The following letter (quoted below) gives an affecting account of the death of a valued friend, to whom he (Wolfe) had lately become particularly attached, the Rev. Dr Meredith, formerly a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and then rector of Ardtrea. He was esteemed one of the most distinguished scholars in the university to which he belonged. His genius for mathematical acquirements especially, was universally allowed to be of the first order; and his qualifications as a public examiner and lecturer were so eminent, as to render his early retirement from the duties of a fellowship a serious loss to the college. Of our author's talents he entertained the highest opinion; and his congeniality of disposition soon led him to appreciate fully the still higher qualities of his heart."
BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES WOLFE [1]
[edit] Obituaries
Wolfe wrote a letter to a friend, headed ‘Castle Caulfield, May 4th, 1819’, expressing his anguish at Meredith’s death and expressing his deep friendship towards him :
"My Dear… I am just come from the house of mourning! Last night I helped to lay poor Meredith in his coffin, and followed him this morning to his grave. The visitation was truly awful. Last Tuesday (this day week) he was struck to the ground by a fit of apoplexy, and from that moment until the hour of his death, on Sunday evening, he never articulated. I did not hear of his danger until Sunday evening, and yesterday morning I ran ten miles, like a madman, and was only in time to see his dead body. It will be a cruel and bitter thought to me for many a day, that I had not one farewell from him, while he was on the brink of the world. Oh… one of my heart-strings is broken ! The only way I have of describing my attachment to that man, is by telling you, that next to you and Dickinson, he was the person in whose society I took the greatest delight. A visit to Ardtrea was often in prospect to sustain me in many of my cheerless labours. My gems are falling away; But I do hope and trust, it is because 'God is making up his jewels'. Dr Meredith was a man of a truly Christian temper of mind. We used naturally to fall upon religious subjects; And I now revert, with peculiar gratification, to the cordiality with which 'we took sweet counsel together' upon these topics. You know that he was possessed of the first and most distinguishing characteristic of a Christian disposition, humility. He preached the Sunday before for _, and the surmon was unusually solemn and impressive, and in the true spirit of the Gospel. Indeed, from several circumstances, he seems to have had some strange presentiments of what was to happen. His air and look some time before his dissolution had, as _ told me, an expression of the most awful and profound devotion."
The Very Rev. Richard Graves (1763-1829), Dean of Ardagh (Co. Cork) wrote in 1819 :
"… and now another apparently most calamitous visitation presents itself, in the sudden death of my beloved and excellent son-in-law, by apoplexy, a disorder of which of all men he seemed least liable."
An article was written for the Dublin University Magazine in 1842 by Robert Perceval Graves (son of John Crosbie Graves (1776-1835), a first cousin of Thomas Meredith’s wife, Eliza) celebrating the achievements of his friend Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865). Thomas Meredith was one of the first to recognise Hamilton’s extraordinary intellectual abilities:
"We well remember to have heard, long before we ever saw our friend, of Dr Meredith, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, and a man of great learning and ability, reporting with expressions of astonishment, that he had examined in the country a child of six or seven, who read and translated and understood Hebrew better than many candidates for fellowship; this child was young Hamilton."
On his death in 1819, Freeman’s Journal of Dublin reported:
"Learned, amiable, and unassuming, he (Thomas Meredith) was unfeignedly respected and sincerely beloved by his numerous acquaintance and friends, all of whom deeply deplore his premature departure. He has left behind him an amiable and disconsolate widow and a family of seven children, most of whom are yet too young to feel the irreparable loss which they have sustained."
