William Magee (18 March 1766 – 18 August 1831), Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, was born at Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was elected fellow in 1788. He was ordained in 1790. Two sermons, preached in the college chapel in 1798 and 1799, form the basis of his Discourses on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice (1801), a polemic against Unitarian theology, which was answered by Lant Carpenter.
Magee was appointed professor of mathematics and senior fellow of Trinity in 1800, but in 1812 he resigned, and undertook the charge of the livings of Cappagh, County Tyrone, and Killyleagh, County Down. Next year he became dean of Cork. He was well known as a preacher and promoter of the Irish Second Reformation, and in 1819 he was consecrated Bishop of Raphoe.
In 1822 the Archbishop of Dublin was translated to Armagh, and Magee succeeded him at Dublin. Though in most respects a tolerant man, he steadily opposed the movement for Catholic Emancipation. He gained notoriety for prohibiting the Catholic inhabitants of Glendalough from celebrating Mass "as they had theretofore done in their ancient and venerated cathedral of St. Kevin".[1]
He died on 18 August 1831. He was the grandfather of Archbishop William Connor Magee of York.
| Religious titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John George de la Poer Beresford |
Archbishop of Dublin 1822–1831 |
Succeeded by Richard Whately |