Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richardson, John (1664-1747)
RICHARDSON, JOHN, D.D. (1664–1747), Irish divine, the son of Sir Edward Richardson, knight, was born at Armagh in 1664. After private tuition, he was entered, on 23 Jan. 1682, at Trinity College, Dublin, where his tutor was St. George Ashe. He became a scholar in 1686, and graduated B.A. in 1688. He was ordained, and in 1693 was appointed to the rectory of Annagh, a parish in Cavan, which includes the town of Belturbet. He lived in a house built after the siege of Belturbet, and called Manse Maxwell from Robert Maxwell, D.D., prebendary of Tynan, at whose charge it was built. He was a friend of Philip MacBrady [q. v.], vicar of Innishmacgrath, co. Leitrim, and from him and from John O'Mulchonri received much information on Irish literature and history. He lived constantly in his parish, where he had service daily, and often preached in Irish. He was appointed chaplain to James, duke of Ormonde, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1710 visited London to obtain help in printing religious books in Irish. He published in Dublin in 1711 ‘A Proposal for the Conversion of the Popish Natives of Ireland,’ in which he advocated the ordination of Irish-speaking ministers, the distribution of Irish bibles, prayer-books, and catechisms, and the establishment of charity schools. In London, in 1711, he published ‘Seanmora ar na Priom Phoncibh na Chreideamh,’ printed by Elinor Everingham in well-formed Irish type, a volume containing a long sermon of his own in Irish, a sermon by Archbishop Tillotson translated into Irish by Philip MacBrady, and three sermons by William Beveridge, bishop of St. Asaph, translated into Irish by John O'Mulchonri. In 1712 he issued from the same press ‘The Church Catechism explained and rendered into Irish,’ with which were printed ‘Ornaigh le haghaidh usaide na scol charthanais,’ prayers for charity school children, and brief ‘Elements of the Irish Language.’ In the same year he published in London ‘A Short History of the Efforts for the Conversion of the Popish Natives of Ireland,’ which contains among much interesting information an account of the first teachers of Irish in Trinity College, Dublin. An appendix to the second edition, which came out also in 1712, contains paragraphs of English printed in the Irish character to display its resemblance to Roman type and the ease with which it may be read. He enlisted the aid of the new Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in his project of printing and distributing Irish bibles, and a committee was appointed by the Irish House of Commons for furthering his plans. But, though at first supported by the Duke of Ormonde and Sir Robert Southwell, Richardson's efforts subsequently excited opposition in the Upper House of Convocation and elsewhere as likely to injure the English interest in Ireland. His money losses in printing were considerable, but, although recommended more than once for a benefice by King, he received only the small deanery of Kilmacduagh, worth about 120l. a year (July 1731).
He published in 1727 ‘The Great Folly and Superstition and Idolatry of Pilgrimages in Ireland,’ which treats principally of the pilgrimages to Lough Derg, co. Donegal, which he had visited. His love for Irish stories is shown by his relation of a grotesque local legend of Conan Mael.
Richardson died in Archdeacon John Cranston's house at Clogher, 9 Sept. 1747.
[Extract from Matriculation Book of Trinity College, Dublin; Anderson's Historical Sketches of the Native Irish, 2nd edit., Edinburgh, 1830; General Advertiser, 29 Sept. 1747; Mant's Hist. of the Church of Ireland, vol. ii. passim; Gough's Topographical Anecdotes, p. 686; Gent. Mag. 1747, p. 447; Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hibern. iv. 204; Richardson's Works.]