Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dopping, Anthony
DOPPING, ANTHONY, D.D. (1643–1697), bishop successively of Kildare and Meath, was born in Dublin on 28 March 1643, educated in the school of St. Patrick's Cathedral, admitted into the university of Dublin on 5 May 1656, and elected a fellow of Trinity College in 1662 (B.A. 1660, M.A. 1662, B.D. 1669, D.D. 1672). In 1669 he was appointed vicar of St. Andrew's, Dublin. By the favour of the Duke of Ormonde, to whom he was chaplain, he was promoted to the see of Kildare, by letters patent dated 16 Jan. 1678–9, and on 2 Feb. he received episcopal consecration in Christ Church, Dublin. With his bishopric he held the preceptory of Tully, and some rectories in the diocese of Meath in commendam. He was translated to the see of Meath by letters patent dated 11 Feb. 1681–2. These letters patent contained an unusual clause, that he should be admitted to the privy council. Accordingly on 5 April 1682 he was sworn a privy councillor, and so continued till the death of Charles II and the dissolution of the council by James II, soon after his accession in February 1684–5.
As early as January 1685–6 he attacked ‘popery’ from the pulpit with such energy as to cause King James to remark upon the circumstance in a letter to Lord Clarendon. When Marsh, archbishop of Dublin, had to withdraw for his personal security to England, Dopping was chosen administrator of the spiritualities of that diocese by the two chapters of Christ Church and St. Patrick's. Throughout the troubles of this period he was a fearless supporter of the protestant interest in Ireland; he frequently applied by petition to the government on behalf of the established church, and in 1689 he spoke with great freedom in the House of Lords against the proceedings of James II, in co-operation with the parliament assembled at Dublin. Accompanied by Digby, bishop of Limerick, and all the clergy in Dublin and its vicinity, he attended the triumphal procession of William III to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the king publicly returned thanks for his success at the battle of the Boyne. On the following day Dopping, at the head of the protestant clergy, waited upon the king at his camp, and delivered an excellent congratulatory speech. At his suggestion a general fast was by royal proclamation ordered to be observed during the continuance of the struggle between William and James, and a form of prayer was printed for use on these occasions. In December 1690 he was again sworn of the privy council. He died in Dublin on 25 April 1697, and was buried in St. Andrew's Church.
His works are: 1. ‘Preface to the Irish New Testament,’ published in 1681 at the charge of the Hon. Robert Boyle. 2. ‘A Speech in Parliament on 4 June 1689, against the Repeal of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation.’ Printed in Archbishop King's ‘State of the Protestants of Ireland,’ edit. London, 1692, p. 401. 3. ‘A Form of Reconciliation of lapsed Protestants, and of the Admission of Romanists to our Communion,’ Dublin, 1690. Reprinted in some editions of the Book of Common Prayer. 4. ‘A Speech when the Clergy waited on King William III on 7 July 1690,’ Dublin, 1690, fol.; reprinted in the ‘Somers Tracts.’ 5. ‘Sermon on the Day of Thanksgiving for the reduction of Ireland, preached 26 Nov. 1691.’ Manuscript in Lambeth Library, 929, No. 61. 6. ‘Modus tenendi Parliamenta et Consilia in Hibernia. Published out of an antient record,’ Dublin, 1692, 1772, 12mo. This, with a preface of his own in vindication of the antiquity and authority of the document, he published from an old record then in his possession, and formerly preserved in the treasury of the city of Waterford. 7. ‘Sermon preached at Christ's Church, Dublin, November 18, 1693, at the funeral of Francis [Marsh], archbishop of Dublin,’ Dublin, 1694, 4to. 8. ‘The Case of the Dissenters of Ireland, considered in reference to the Sacramental Test,’ Dublin, 1695, folio (anon.). 9. ‘Tractatus de Visitationibus Episcopalibus,’ Dublin, 1696, 12mo. His son Anthony, born in 1695, became bishop of Ossory, and died in January 1743.
[Ware's Bishops (Harris), 160, 394; Ware's Writers (Harris), 257; Cotton's Fasti, i. p. vii, ii. 233*, 284, iii. 119***; Mant's Hist. of the Church of Ireland, i. 685, 701, 702, 732, ii. pref. pp. vii, viii, 89, 90; Shirley's Cat. of the Library at Lough Fea, 92; Killen's Eccl. Hist. of Ireland, ii. 167 n., 169, 176; Todd's Cat. of Dublin Graduates (1869), 163; Addit. MSS. 25796, f. 3, 28876, f. 162; Todd's Cat. of Lambeth MSS. 200; Taylor's Univ. of Dublin, 376; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, i. 587, ii. 142.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.101
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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