Gideon Ouseley (24 February 1762 – 13 May 1839) was born into an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

gentry family in

Dunmore, County Galway Dunmore () is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It is located on the N83 road (Ireland), N83 national secondary road at its junction with the R328 road (Ireland), R328 and R360 road (Ireland), R360 Regional road (Ireland), regional roads. The tow ...

Biography

His father, although a

deist Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

, intended that his son enter the clergy, but Ouseley spent much of his

childhood A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

in the cabins of peasant neighbours. He was tutored with his cousins

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...

and

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

, and all three had notable careers. Married at age 20, Ouseley led a wild life that dissipated both his own and his wife's fortunes. After losing an eye when shot in a

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

brawl, a loss that reputedly left him with a frightening appearance, Ouseley left his wild ways behind him. In 1791 he was converted to

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

by English soldiers stationed in Dunmore, and he set out in turn, to convert and reform others. Ouseley preached the gospel, mostly in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, until his death, preaching up to 20 sermons a week. His knowledge of the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

and of

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

mores— not to mention his eccentric preaching astride a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

— won him renown as Methodism's 'apostle to the Irish'.

Works

*''A Short Defence Of The Old Religion'' (1812
2nd Ed. 1829
*''Rare discoveries'' (1823)
''Old Christianity''
(1827)
''Four letters''
(1829)

Oliver St. John Gogarty Oliver Joseph St. John Gogarty (17 August 1878 – 22 September 1957) was an Irish poet, author, otolaryngologist, athlete, politician, and conversationalist. He served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses ( ...

wrote an autobiographical novel ''Tumbling in the Hay'' and two plays under the pseudonym Gideon Ouseley, ''A Serious Thing'' and ''The Enchanted Trousers''. The writer John Mulvey Ousley was of a later generation of the same family.

Notes

External links

Gideon Ouseley, From A Compendium of Irish Biography, 1878Dun Laoghaire Methodist Church: How it began
1762 births 1839 deaths People from County Galway Irish Methodists 18th-century Anglo-Irish people 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Converts to Methodism from Anglicanism People from Dunmore, County Galway {{Ireland-reli-bio-stub