Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Caulfield, Richard
CAULFIELD, RICHARD (1823–1887), Irish antiquary, was born in Cork on 23 April 1823, and educated under Dr. Browne at the Bandon endowed school, whence he was admitted a pensioner at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1841. He graduated B.A. in 1845, LL.B. in 1864, and LL.D. in 1866. He often referred to the benefit he derived while at college from the lectures in ancient philosophy of William Archer Burke [q. v.] In 1853 he published his 'Sigilla Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ Illustrata.' In 1857 he edited for the Camden Society the 'Diary of Rowland Davies, D.D., Dean of Cork,' 1689–90; and in 1859 he published 'Rotulus Pipæ Clonensis,' or Pipe Roll of Cloyne. In 1860 he discovered at Dunmanway House, co. Cork, the original manuscript of the autobiographical memoir of Sir Richard Cox, extending from 1702 to 1707, which had been used by Harris in his edition of Ware's 'Writers of Ireland,' and published the fragment in extenso. The Society of Antiquaries elected him a fellow on 13 Feb. 1862. While at Oxford in this year he discovered in the Bodleian Library the curious manuscript 'Life of St. Fin Barre,' which he copied and published in 1864. In the same year he became librarian of the Royal Cork Institution. In 1876 appeared his important edition of the 'Council Book of the Corporation of Cork,' followed in 1877 by 'The Register of the Parish of Christ Church, Cork.' Next year appeared the 'Council Book of the Corporation of Youghal,' with annals and appendices, to which succeeded the 'Council Book of the Corporation of Kinsale, 1652-1800.' He was also author of 'Annals of St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork,' 1871, and 'Annals of the Cathedral of St. Colman, Cloyne,' besides numerous contributions to antiquarian periodicals and especially to 'Notes and Queries.' As an archæologist and genealogist he had few rivals, and his assistance was seldom sought unsuccessfully. He was appointed in 1876, by royal sign manual, librarian to the Queen's College, Cork, and in 1882 was made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid. He was also a member for many years of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, and he was an active member of the committee for rebuilding Cork cathedral. He died, unmarried, at the Royal Cork Institution on 3 Feb. 1887, and was buried in the rural churchyard of Douglas, co. Cork.
[Cork Weekly News, 19 Feb. 1887; Times, 24 Feb. 1887; Athenæum, 1887, i. 290; Men of the Time, 12th edit.; Boase's Modern English Biography, i. 573; Brit. Mus. Cat.]