Introduction

Biography

De Cour­cy was edu­cat­ed at Tri­ni­ty Col­lege, Du­blin. Hav­ing re­ceived Dea­con’s Or­ders, he be­came cur­ate to Wal­ter Shir­ley in 1767.

However, his theo­lo­gy be­ing ob­nox­ious to Dr. Smythe, Arch­bish­op of Dub­lin, he was re­fused Priest’s Or­ders and pre­vent­ed from preach­ing.

These cir­cum­stanc­es led to his be­ing in­vit­ed by La­dy Hunt­ing­don to Eng­land, and his join­ing her band of preach­ers. Af­ter some time, through Lady Hunt­ing­don’s in­flu­ence, he re­ceived Priest’s Or­ders from the Bi­shop of Lich­field.

In 1770 he be­came cur­ate of Shaw­bu­ry, Shrop­shire, and in 1774 vi­car of St. Alk­mond’s, Shrews­bu­ry (where he stayed the rest his life).

His theo­lo­gic­al views, work, and oth­er mat­ters con­cern­ing him, are dwelt up­on in some de­tail in the Life and Times of the Count­ess of Hunt­ing­don, 1839.

Works

• Some Ele­gi­ac Lines on the Death of the Rev. G. White­field, 1771
• A Col­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns Ex­tract­ed from Dif­fer­ent Au­thors (Shrews­bu­ry: De­cem­ber 6, 1775). Sec­ond edi­tion, 1782.
• Christ Cru­ci­fied, a re­ply to Dr. Priest­ley, in two vol­umes, 1791
• Various Ser­mons, etc.