Patrick Delany (1686 – 6 May 1768), was an Irish clergyman and described by A Compendium of Irish Biography as "an eloquent preacher, a man of wit and learning."[1]
He was educated at Trinity College Dublin (which he entered as a sizar), was elected a Scholar, and eventually rose to be a Senior Fellow.[2] He became well known as a preacher at Saint Werburgh's, attracting the attention of Lord Carteret, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Delany's Toryism resulted in clashes with the provost of Trinity, Richard Baldwin, who eventually forced Delany to resign from the college. Exchanging the Fellowship for the office of Chancellor of Christ Church, Dublin impoverished him in the late 1720s, but in 1731 he married Mrs Margaret Tenison, widow of Richard Tenison: "a rich Irish widow, and again found himself in a position to gratify his hospitable disposition and indulge his literary tastes".[1]