William Delany, SJ (1835–1924) was an Irish

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest and educator who served as president of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

Life

Delany was born in 1835 in

Leighlinbridge Leighlinbridge (; ) is a small town on the River Barrow in County Carlow, Ireland. It is 11 km south of Carlow town, on the R705 road. The N9 national primary route once passed through the village, but was by-passed in the 1980s. It c ...

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...

and received his early education in

St. Patrick's, Carlow College St Patrick's, Carlow College, is a liberal arts college located in Carlow, Ireland. The college is the second oldest third level institution in Ireland and was founded in 1782 by James Keefe, then Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, a ...

before going on to

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was of ...

he pursued further studies in the Gregorian University, Rome. In 1856 he entered the Jesuits at St. Acheul, near Amiens in France. He returned to Ireland and taught classics and mathematics at the Jesuit

Clongowes Wood Clongowes Wood College SJ is a Catholic voluntary boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodg ...

College and

St Stanislaus College St Stanislaus College (often called Tullabeg College) was a Jesuit boys boarding school, novitiate and philosophy school, in Tullabeg, Rahan, County Offaly. St Carthage founded a monastery of 800 monks there in 595 before founding his monaste ...

(Tullabeg), and was Rector of

Crescent College Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, formerly known as the College of the Sacred Heart, is a Catholic secondary school located on of parkland at Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland. The college is one of a number of Jesuit schools in Ireland. The ...

in Limerick. He returned to the jesuit

, Tullabeg(Rahan), County Offaly, as master of novices and prepared them for BA examinations to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

similar to Carlow and Thurles Seminaries, with the establishment of the Royal University students were prepared for its examinations instead. He became rector of Tullabeg in 1870. He also served as rector of St. Ignatius' College, Dublin for a year. In 1883 Delany became the first President of

, until 1888, technically he was the first president of UCD since previously the post was called Rector, the university flourished under his leadership. After serving as a priest in England he returned again President of University College, Dublin, serving from 1897 until 1909. In 1909 he was appointed Provincial of the Society of Jesus(Jesuits) in Ireland, a post he held for three years. Fr Delany served on the Senate of the

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was a university in Ireland that existed from 1879 to 1909. It was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the ...

from 1885 until its abolition in 1909, and subsequently was on the Senate of its replacement the new

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

until 1919.''Towards a national university: William Delany, SJ (1835-1924) : an era of initiative in Irish education'' by Thomas J. Morrissey, SJ. His brother Thomas Delany was also a priest, supported tenants rights during the Land League campaign. In 1924 Fr. Delany died in Dublin.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delany, William 1835 births 1924 deaths 19th-century Irish Jesuits 20th-century Irish Jesuits Alumni of Carlow College Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Alumni of the Royal University of Ireland Presidents of University College Dublin People from Leighlinbridge Christian clergy from County Carlow