Eccentric 18th-century bishop who cared more for architecture than for religion

In February 1768, 250 years ago, Frederick Augustus Hervey, who had been briefly bishop of Cloyne (1767-68), was translated to the diocese of Derry, then the wealthiest bishopric in the Church of Ireland whose revenues were greater than even those of the Archdiocese of Dublin.

On hearing of his appointment to the See of Derry, according to tradition, Dr Hervey was playing leapfrog with clergymen in the grounds of his palace at Cloyne.

He is reported to have said: “Gentlemen, I will jump no more. I have surpassed you all! I have jumped from Cloyne to Derry.”

If one was to suppose that a bishop playing leapfrog with his diocesan clergy suggests eccentricity one would be absolutely right. In 1886 J T Ball in his history of the Church of Ireland observed: “The family of which he was head was noted for eccentricity; and it used to be said that all the eccentricity of the race was concentrated in him.” Voltaire is credited with the observation: “When God created the human race, he made men, women and Herveys.”

On the death of the 3rd Earl in December 1779 Frederick Augustus Hervey became 4th Earl of Bristol in addition to being Bishop of Derry.

How did he become a Church of Ireland bishop? His eldest brother George, the 2nd Earl of Bristol, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1766. Although the 2nd Earl never actually visited Ireland during his short tenure of office, he appointed Frederick Augustus as his chaplain.

Being chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant was a well-established path to a bishopric and Cloyne, a comparatively poor diocese, was the first episcopal vacancy during 2nd Earl’s brief lord lieutenancy. At the earliest opportunity Frederick Augustus was translated to a better one which turned out to be the plum diocese of Derry.

C L Faulkner, the early 20th-century historian, described Hervey as “the most singular representative of the class of bishops who had been chosen to preside over the spiritual destinies of the Irish people”.

How the 18th-century Church of Ireland managed to survive such ecclesiastical leadership is pretty close to miraculous.

Often referred to as ‘the edifying bishop’, this is not a commentary on Hervey’s spiritual leadership but his architectural obsessions.

He embarked on building splendid palaces at Downhill and Ballyscullion (near Bellaghy) and then took pleasure in filling them with works of art from Italy and the continent. Also at Downhill he built a mausoleum for his brother and the celebrated Mussenden Temple (named after his cousin who died in 1785 shortly before its completion), set on the cliff-edge. It was modelled on the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, which Hervey initially wished to transport to Ireland but was prevented from so doing by the Pope. He commissioned John Soane, whom he met in Rome, to build dog-house and rotunda and an oval dining-room for Downhill. Ballyscullion was never completed and its portico was taken to Belfast and incorporated into St George’s in High Street (where it still may be admired).

His interest in architecture even extended to ecclesiastical buildings. He added a spire to the tower of St Columb’s Cathedral in 1776 (which was removed in 1802 because it was too heavy for the 17th-century tower) and built ambitious new Gothic churches at Ballykelly and Banagher and many minor Gothic structures throughout his diocese.

George III referred to Hervey as ‘that wicked prelate’ because he was a self-confessed agnostic. Because Hervey did not take his Anglicanism very seriously, he believed in religious equality for Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. He gave £200 towards the building of the Long Tower Chapel in Londonderry.

He was allegedly profane, worldly and licentious. He was separated from his wife and had a scandalous affair with Wilhelmine, Gräfin von Lichtenau, official mistress of King Frederick William II of Prussia.

Hervey was shameless in his abuse of patronage. In August 1784 a Church of Ireland cleric complained: “Lord Bristol has outdone his own doings … he has ordained his nephew Fitzgerald, the Fitzgerald who for years has been a nuisance to Society here, and when England was grown too hot to hold him he went over to Ireland, seized his own father, confined him, set the whole civil power of the country at defiance, and was the cause of a great deal of bloodshed.

“He has fought one duel even since he has been in orders. Church preferments to the amount of £2,000 a year are given to him or intended for him. I think this to be much the most indecent thing, not to say the greatest outrage to Society, that has happened in my time.”

In the early 1780s he immersed himself in politics. He believed that the parliamentary franchise should be extended to Roman Catholics and that the Irish House of Commons was in urgent need of radical reform.

He challenged the Earl of Charlemont for the leadership of the volunteer movement.

Whereas Charlemont was a cautious reformer unwilling to risk civil war for the sake of parliamentary reform, Hervey was a radical who euphemistically and irresponsibly dismissed civil war as “a little confusion”.

Hervey’s views were so extreme that shortly afterwards he narrowly avoided arrest for high treason.

Assuming a bishop avoided major scandal or heresy, prior to Disestablishment there was no mechanism to ensure that a bishop performed his religious duties.

A bishop held the appointment for life and was dependent upon no one for the continuation of his income and position.

The only check on his conduct was if he sought promotion to a better diocese.

Since Hervey already held Ireland’s plum diocese this check did not operate.

Thus Hervey could dabble in politics (although he tested the boundaries), be absent from his diocese (he spent nearly half of his 36-year episcopate out of the country and for the last 13 years he did not set foot in his diocese) and wander round Europe (on what was in effect an extended Grand Tour) to satisfy his insatiable appetite for adding to his art collection.