Edward Worth (bishop)

Edward Worth (c. 1620–2 August 1669) was a Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe, mainly remembered now as the founder of the Blue Coat School for the poor boys of Cork.

He was born in County Cork, son of James Worth; his grandfather Jasper Worth came to Ireland from Prestbury, Cheshire, where the family had lived for several centuries. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) by the University of Dublin. He was appointed Dean of Cork in 1645. During the political and religious conflicts of the 1640s and 1650s, Worth was described as "an adroit political player", who made his peace with the change of regime, but emerged at the Restoration of Charles II with his reputation for loyalty to the English Crown unquestioned. He was raised to the episcopacy as Bishop of Killaloe in 1660 by Letters Patent of King Charles II. He was consecrated in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin on 27 January 1661.

He died in Hackney, London, in 1669 and was buried in St. Mildred's Church, Bread Street, London.

He married Susannah Pepper, daughter of Dennis Pepper, and sister of Captain George Pepper of Ballygart, County Meath. The Peppers were relatives of the Earl of Cork. The marriage was a troubled one as Susannah became a Quaker in 1656, and was arrested for attending a Quaker meeting in Dublin in 1664. This led to an estrangement which was seemingly never made up, as her husband in his last will urged her sternly to consider "how she had fallen", and to "perform her first act" (i.e. of repentance).

They had fours sons:

• William Worth (c.1646-1721), lawyer and judge, who held office as Recorder of Cork and Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland),[1]
• Edward Worth junior, a doctor,
• Michael, who seems to have died young,
• John Worth (1648-1688), Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, who was the father of:
  • Edward Worth, the noted politician, physician and book collector.[2]

They also had a daughter:

• Susannah, who married Epinetus Crosse: their descendants included John Wandesford, 1st Earl Wandesford.

He left lands and money to found St Stephen's Hospital in Cork, popularly known as the Blue Coat School for poor boys, for which act of benevolence he is now mainly remembered.[3]