Robert Traill or Trail (1793–1847) was a clergyman in the established

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

. He was

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Schull Schull or Skull ( ; or ''Scoil Mhuire'', meaning "Mary's School") is a town on the south-west coast of County Cork in Ireland. Located on the southwest coast of Ireland in the Municipal district (Ireland), municipal district of West Cork, ...

, County Cork from 1832 until his death and part-owned a copper mine in the area. Traill complained of losing tithes from the Roman Catholic population due to the 1830s

Tithe War The Tithe War () was a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830 and 1836 in reaction to the enforcement of tithes on the Roman Catholic majority for the upkeep of the est ...

but was recognised for his compassion during the Great Famine in Ireland from 1846. He was depicted in an ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' article of the time and was the subject of a letter published in several newspapers.

Early career

Traill was born in

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

, County Antrim on 15 July 1793 and graduated from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

in 1814. He spent some time in France and Italy before travelling to England where he was ordained by

Henry Ryder Henry Dudley Ryder (21 July 1777 – 31 March 1836) was a prominent English evangelical Anglican bishop in the early years of the nineteenth century, most notably as Bishop of Lichfield. He was the first evangelical to be raised to the Ang ...

, Bishop of Gloucester in 1820. He afterwards worked as a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in Ireland. He earned the degree of

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

and afterward, in 1832, was appointed the

, County Cork. He antagonised some local people with his fervent

evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

. He translated some of the manuscripts of

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, a first-century Jewish historian, into English. In 1840 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

his proposer being

Thomas Stewart Traill Thomas Stewart Traill (29 October 1781 – 30 July 1862) was a British physician, chemist, meteorologist, zoologist and scholar of medical jurisprudence. He was the grandfather of the physicist, meteorologist and geologist Robert Traill Omon ...

. As an "ordinary" fellow this indicates his physical presence in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

at that time, possibly to visit his cousin. He probably stayed with Traill at his grand townhouse, 10 Albyn Place on the

Moray Estate The Moray Estate, also known as the Moray Feu, is an early 19th century building venture attaching the west side of the New Town, Edinburgh. Built on an awkward and steeply sloping site, it has been described as a masterpiece of urban plannin ...

. Traill is said to have discovered copper at the Dhurode mine on

Mizen Head Mizen Head () is traditionally regarded as the most southerly point of mainland Ireland although Brow Head is the actual southernmost point. It is at the end of the Mizen Peninsula in the district of Carbery in County Cork. Geography Mizen ...

which first operated between 1844 and 1846. He was a major shareholder in the mine and one of its six shafts was named after him. Traill was involved in the

, in which many Roman Catholics refused to pay tithes for the evangelical established Church of Ireland, a fellow clergymen was killed within 30 miles of Schull, and Traill lamented that "the ungodly are rising up, and these poor deluded Roman Catholics are caballing to deprive me of my tithes, alas! What wickedness is this?".

Great famine

At the outbreak of the Great Famine in 1845 Traill believed that the ventilation of the traditional storage of potatoes in pits would save them from the blight, and he worked on constructing these potato pit air shafts from October 1845. However he realised this would not be successful and by December was trying, in vain, to persuade the local landlords to let their tenants keep some grain so that they weren't forced to eat their seed potatoes. Traill established a relief committee for his parish and wrote widely to persuade people to subscribe to it. He was shown in the ''

'' visiting a dying man and his family, having been sketched by James Mahony who said of Traill that "his humanity at the present moment is beyond praise". Traill established a soup kitchen at his home to provide for the needy and wrote that "my house is more like a beleaguered fortress. Ere the day has dawned the crowds are already gathering. My family one and all are perfect slaves worn out with attending them; for I would not wish, were it possible, that one starving creature would leave my door without some-thing to allay the cravings of hunger". In February 1847 he showed Commander

James Crawford Caffin Admiral Sir James Crawford Caffin (1812–1883) was a British Royal Navy officer, who rose to the rank of admiral. Life He was son of William Caffin of the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich. He entered the navy in 1824, and in 1827 was midshipman of the ...

of HMS ''Scourge'' some of those in the parish affected by the famine. Caffin wrote to a friend that "In no house that I entered was there not to be found the dead or dying ... never in my life have I seen such wholesale misery, nor could I have thought it so complete." Caffin's letter was published in various newspapers, an act which brought some relief efforts from the British Government to Schull. However, by March this appeared to have ended when Traill stated "the distress was nothing in Captain Caffin's time compared with what it is now". Traill is said to have spent most of his income on relief for the needy.

Personal life and death

Traill was married to Anne Hayes, daughter of

Sir Samuel Hayes, 1st Baronet Sir Samuel Hayes, 1st Baronet (1737–1807) of Drumboe Castle, County Donegal was a Baronet in the Baronetage of Ireland and Member of Parliament for Augher in the Irish House of Commons between 1783 and 1790. Family Hayes’s father Charles Hay ...

, in 1829. Traill died of "famine fever" (

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

) in April 1847. Upon his death he left a large family including two sons, three-year-old Robert Walter Traill and baby Edmund. The family moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, where Robert studied civil engineering and Edmund medicine at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

before they abandoned their studies to become ranchers in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Robert Walter Traill's son was

Johnny Traill John Arthur Edward Traill (1882–1958) was the first Irish–Argentine 10-goal polo player. He was born in London 1882. Traill was a member of an old Anglo-Irish landed family, settled in County Down. All of his siblings were born in Argen ...

, the noted polo player. Another of Traill's grandsons was

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...

, the playwright. His great-great-great granddaughter is TV producer and writer

Daisy Goodwin Daisy Georgia Goodwin (born 19 December 1961) is an English screenwriter, TV producer and novelist. She is the creator of the ITV/ PBS show '' Victoria'' which has sold to 146 countries. She has written four novels: ''My Last Duchess'' or ''Th ...

. Goodwin wrote Traill into an episode of ITV's ''

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

'' which told the story of the Great Famine, portraying a fictional meeting between the two. Traill was played by

Martin Compston Martin Compston is a Scottish actor and former professional footballer. He played Anti-Corruption Unit Detective Inspector Steve Arnott in the BBC drama ''Line of Duty'', Liam in Ken Loach's '' Sweet Sixteen'', Paul Ferris in '' The Wee Man'', ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traill, Robert 1793 births 1847 deaths Christian clergy from Lisburn Ulster Scots people Irish Calvinist and Reformed Christians Irish mining businesspeople Deaths from typhus Irish translators Translators from Hebrew 19th-century Irish Anglican priests 19th-century Irish translators 19th-century Irish businesspeople People from Schull Businesspeople from County Antrim