The nephew of the Shakespeare critic Thomas Whately (d. 1772); he was educated at Oriel College, Oxford where he was professor of political economy (1829-31) and was archbishop of Dublin (1831-63). A prolific writer, he offered a rationalist defense of Anglicanism.

REFERENCES TO Richard Whately, archbishop of Dublin:

Sir Walter Scott to Joanna Baillie, 10 February 1822 in Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 7 vols (Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1837)

John Whishaw to Charles Romilly, 14 July 1835 in The “Pope” of Holland House: Selections from the Correspondence of John Whishaw and his Friends 1813-1840 (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906)

Sydney Smith to John Archibald Murray, [June] 1841 in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin 2 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855)

John Gibson Lockhart to Henry Hart Milman, 17 January 1843 in The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897)