Richard Marlay

Richard Marlay was Dean of Ferns from 1769 to 1787; and Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1787 to 1795[1] when he was translated to Waterford and Lismore.

[3] He was the youngest surviving son of Thomas Marlay, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and his wife Anne Delaune, daughter of Charles Delaune.

He was the nephew of another Church of Ireland bishop, George Marlay, Bishop of Dromore; George's branch of the family gave their name to Marlay Park.

Richard's elder brother was the soldier Colonel Thomas Marlay.

His father had purchased Celbridge Abbey in County Kildare, best remembered as the home of Esther Vanhomrigh, the beloved Vanessa of Jonathan Swift, in 1723, and Richard had it extensively rebuilt in the 1780s.