Thackeray, Elias
Year 1854
Reference number: 369Find it on the map
Inscription:
To the memory of the Revd Elias Thackeray A.M. for fifty years vicar of Dundalk and rector of Castletown. Unceasing in his exertions to render this church a suitable temple for the worship of his Divine Master, untiring in his advocacy and support of Scriptural education throughout Ireland, foremost in originating and carrying out the several institutions within the parish and unbounded in his private charities. The members of his congregation have erected this monument to evince their deep sense of his Christian merits and sincere affection for one who was both their minister and their friend. He departed this life 29th April 1854 aged 83 years. J.R. Kirk A.R.H.A. sculptor Dublin.
Bio:
Rev. Elias Thackeray was born in 1771 in England; he was educated in Eton and King’s College, Cambridge. He studied for Holy Orders, but became a member of the Fencible Dragoons and was sent to Ireland in 1797. During his time in Ireland, he was chosen by the Commander in Chief, the Earl of Cavan to escort Theobald Wolfe Tone to Dublin. It was during this journey that Elias Thackeray rested in the town of Dundalk, it is local rumour that Elias was so taken with the town that he wished to reside there. In Derry Elias married Rebecca, daughter of Sir Robert Hill, Bart & M.P. He had keen interest in education and was in charge of the local Erasmus Smith school that was attached to the parish of St. Nicholas’ Church in Dundalk. Rev. Thackeray was the cousin of the travelling writer William Makepeace Thackeray, and when he travelled to Dundalk in 1842. The Wellington Hall school was documented in this visit, and the writer notes that the local children who attended the school were of all faiths. Rev. Thackeray was a champion of education. He was integral to the development of the Charter School created by the Hon. Mrs Anne Hamilton. With the assistance of Rev. Thackeray, it was developed it into a secondary school of the Incorporated Society. Known as the Educational Institution, its site is now occupied by Dundalk Grammar School.