Life
1815-1892, Irish antiquarian; b. Charleville, Cork, ed. TCD; Berkeley
medallist; BA 1835; MB, 1837; master of diocesan school in Ballymena,
Co. Antrim; deacon of Hillsborough, 1838; Ecclesiastical Antiquities
of Down, Connor and Dromore (1847); made vicar of Lusk on the success
of his edition of Vita Sancta Columbae (Life of Columba
or Colum Cille, 1857) with Dr. James Henthorn Todd, who had the
living in his gift; ed., with Todd, The Martyrology of Donegal (1864);
other writings incl. Acts of Archbishop Colton (1850); edited Adamnan’s
Vita S. Columbae as Life of St. Columba (1857), being a
superior collection of materials of early Irish Church history; elected
Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore, 1886; Pres. RIA 1891; ed. works of
James Ussher; biography by Lady Ferguson, The Life of Rt. Rev. William
Reeves, DD (1893); succeeded in securing Book of Armagh
for TCD; engaged in diplomatic edition of Book of Armagh at
his death, subsequently issued by Rev. John Gwynn, DD (RAI 1913); a life
by Lady Ferguson (1893), incl. port. and a bibliography of his works incl.
unpub. RIA papers; his manuscript materials, including some in Irish,
were donated to Marsh’s Library by Dean C. A. Webster of Ross in
1941; Lady Ferguson issued a life of Reeves (1893). DIW DNB DIB DUB
OCIL
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Works
Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor & Dromore (1847);
Acts of Archbishop Colton on his Visit to Derry (1850); Abbatial
Succession in Ireland (1857); Vita Sancta Columbae: The
life of St. Columba founder of Hy, written by Adamnan, ninth Abbot of
Iona, edited from 8th c. codex [for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic
Assoc.] (Dublin UP 1857), and Do., [new edn. ... prepared under
the superintendence of the Bishop of Brechin and the notes rearranged
by W. F. Skene] (Edinburgh: Edmonton & Douglas 1874), clxxxiv, 385pp.,
8o.; Notices of Certain Crannogs, or artificial islands ... in the
Counties of Antrim and Londonderry (1860); Dr. Reeves on the Culdees
(n.d.); Memoir of Octavian del Palacio (1875); Nendhrum - Mahee
Island (1902); On Augustin[e] (n.d.); A Sermon
(1869).
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Criticism
Lady Ferguson, The Life of Rt. Rev. William Reeves, DD (Dublin:
Hodges 1893), 210pp.
Review of William Reeves Ecclesiastical Antiquities [of Down, Connor and Dromore] (1847), in Dubln University Magazine, Vol. 31, Feb. 1848, pp. 207-77.
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Notes
Dictionary of Ulster Biography, ed. Kate Newmann (Belfast:
QUB/IIS 1993), cites Reeves as rector of Tynan and librarian at Armagh
in 1861-86, and purchaser of Book of Armagh for that collection.
Brian Cleeve & Anne Brady, A Dictionary of Irish Writers (Dublin: Lilliput 1985); ordained Derry, 1839; wished to practice medicine among the poor of his parish; Life of Columba (1857), enthusiastically received by scholars throughout Europe, still remains the best and fullest collection of materials on the early Irish Church in one volume; Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, &c. (1847), narrower in scope but also an essential reference book for its subject. DNB as supra.
Library of Herbert Bell, Belfast, contains Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor & Dromore [signed copy], 1847; also The Diocese of Derry [presum. Archbishop Colton] (Dublin 1850).
Belfast Public Library holds Abbatial Succession in Ireland (1857); Acts of Archbishop Colton on his Visit to Derry (1850); Dr. Reeves on the Culdees (n.d.); Memoir of Octavian del Palacio (1875); Nendhrum - Mahee Island (1902); Notices of Certain Crannogs, or artificial islands ... in the Counties of Antrim and Londonderry (1860); On Augustin (n.d.); A Sermon (1869).
Book of Armagh: In 1855, through the intervention of William Reeves,
the Book of Armagh was presented to TCD; see J. Gwynn, ed., Liber
Armachanus (1913); and Richard Sharpe, ‘Palaeographical Considerations
in the Study of the Patrician Documents in the Book of Armagh’, Scriptorium, XXXVI (1982) [contrib. Sharpe].
Samuel Ferguson refers to Reeves with approbation in the Preface to Congal, where he writes, ‘It is in order and presentation of his facts that this great master of Scottish topographical history - using the word Scottish in its old acceptation - excels all who have gone before him.’ (Congal, 1867, p.154).
Portraits: A portrait of Reeves in included in Lady Ferguson, Life of the Right Rev. William Reeves, DD (1893), also a bibliography of his works incl. unpub. RIA papers [Hyland 219; 1995].
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)