The devout companion

6 April 1659 – 23 July 1741

Edward Synge, D.D., M.A., B.A., born at Inishannon in County Cork, was an Anglican clergyman who served in the Church of Ireland as Chancellor of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin (1705–14), Bishop of Raphoe (1714–16), and Archbishop of Tuam (1716–41). Part of a long line of clergy (his father, also named Edward, was Bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross), he had two sons, Edward and Nicholas, both of whom became bishops in their own right. Synge is also an ancestor of famous playwright John Millington Synge and the composer Mary Helena Synge. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, England, and Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. In the late 1600s he was made the rector of Holy Trinity Church, R…