Benjamin Plunket

Benjamin John Plunket was a 20th-century Anglican bishop.^[1]

Plunket was the son of William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket,^[2] and Ann Lee Guinness (sister of the Lord Ardilaun).^[3] Born in Bray on 1 August 1870, he was educated at Harrow and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.^[4][5] Ordained in 1896,^[6] he began his career with a curacy at St Peter's Phibsboro.^[7] He was then Rector of Aghade with Ardoyne and subsequently Vicar of St Ann’s, Dublin.^[8] In 1913 he became Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry,^[9] and in 1919 was translated to Meath. He retired in 1925,^[10] and died on 26 January 1947.^[11]

He was left the St. Annes Park estate in Rahney in Dublin, formerly the residence of his uncle Lord Ardilaun, following the death of Lady Ardilaun, in 1937 due to the cost of the estate he sold it to Dublin Corporation, keeping Sybil Hill and 30 acres as his residence, his former residence is now St. Paul's College, Raheny.

In 1904 he married Dorothea Butler (1874-1936), the daughter of Sir Thomas Butler, 10th Bt. Their daughter Olive married Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam in 1933.

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