Walter Blake Kirwan (1754-1805)

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Commentary
James Wills, The Irish Nation, Its History & Its Biography, 4 vols. (London 1871), notice on Kirwan [Modern Ecclesiastical]: ‘[...] In the year 1778 he obtained the appointment of chaplain to the Neapolitan embassy in London. Having left the embassy, he came over to see his Irish relations; here, circumstances soon occurred to alter his views in religion, and he conformed to the Church of England. The change was, as was then customary, ascribed to unworthy motives. Mr Kirwan’s professed reason was probably near the truth he thought he could do more good as a Protestant preacher; and if the secret impulse of ambition mingled, it will not be set down as unworthy of a man still young, and conscious of high and effective powers. But, considering the moral and intellectual character of the clean, gathered from all that is known of the subsequent life of a very public man, we may confidently say that it is quite improbable that he could for a day have entertained the notion of such a change, unless the reasons by which it might be warranted and justified had first occupied his attention. However unexpected by his friends, it is not to be presumed that the conversion of this eminent man was either sudden or without the maturest deliberation.   He was first introduced to the pulpit of the Church of England by the rector of St Peter’s Church, in Aungier Street, Dublin, in June 1787. Great numbers were attracted by curiosity. It was whispered by some that he would display a vindictive enmity towards the church he had left; by others it was expected that he would endeavour to recommend himself by denouncing it. All such anticipations must have been disappointed : he made no allusion to the subject.’ (p.371; also available at Internet Archive, online.)

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Sir Jonah Barrington (presum. in The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation; quoted in Wills, op. cit., 1871): ‘His manner of preaching was of the French school; he was vehement for a while, and then becoming, or affecting to become, exhausted, he held his handkerchief to his face; a dead silence ensued; he had skill to perceive the precise moment to recommence; another blaze of declamation burst upon the congrega- tion, and another fit of exhaustion was succeeded by another pause. The men began to wonder at his eloquence; the women grew nervous at his denunciations. His tact rivalled his talents, and at the con- clusion of one of his finest sentences, a “celestial exhaustion,” as I heard a lady call it, not unfrequently terminated his discourse in general, abruptly.’

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Patrick Sweezey: ‘Walter Blake Kirwan (1754-1805), having had a conventional education in the seminaries of Europe, at 33 adopted the protestant faith and became a preacher so eloquent that when he applied for charity, not only thousands of pounds overflowed the collection plates, but also the accessories of the congregation, including gold watches and jewellery. At his very last sermon his appeal was still so eloquent that he drew in enough money to found the children’s home, which still bears his name in Dublin. His son, Anthony La Touche Kirwan, took up the family tradition, becoming Dean of Limerick.’ (See Genealogy.com, online.)

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References
Dictionary of National Biography: Walter Blake Kirwan (1754-1805), dean of Killala, ed. St. Omer and Louvain; professor of natural and moral philosophy, Louvain, 1777; chaplain to Neapolitan ambassador at British court, 1778; became Protestant dean of Killala, 1800.

Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Notre Dame 1904), gives extracts from ‘The Christian Mother’ and ‘The Blessings of Affliction’.

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