Priest, soldier, spy: he wore many hats
RICHARD FERRIS (1754–1828), priest and adventurer, was born at Ballymalis, near Killarney, Co Kerry, youngest among four sons of Daniel Ferris, tenant farmer; his mother was a Hassett, apparently a protestant. Following in the footsteps of his brothers, in 1769 Richard went to France, where he enlisted in the Irish Brigade. He decided to study for the priesthood, attending the Irish College at Paris, followed by university and law school. By 1778 he was a priest, a doctor of civil and canon law, a lawyer for the parlement of Paris and an administrator for the Collège de Montaigu at the Sorbonne. In 1788 he became canon of Amiens cathedral and promoter of the Amiens clergy.
In 1790 he refused to take the clerical oath required by the revolutionary government and lost his five posts and the considerable income that went with them. He rejoined his regiment and was promoted to captain. His subsequent movements are not known until he resurfaced in 1793, passing himself off to the ministry of foreign affairs as a representative of the Irish revolutionary committee in France. He was despatched to London as a spy and went to the British foreign secretary, offering to act as a British agent. The French and British soon became suspicious of his opportunism, and he was kept under surveillance.
He disappeared but was arrested on a charge of espionage in Paris in April 1799. He was soon released and became involved in the running of the Irish colleges that had been united with the English and Scots colleges in 1802. In 1810 he became administrator and superior of the United Colleges, where he was soon enjoying an extravagant lifestyle. In 1813 and 1814 the Irish bishops requested his removal, and after the restoration of Louis XVIII he was replaced by a Dublin priest, Paul Long. Ferris returned as rector during Napoleon’s hundred days but was replaced by Long after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. In 1816 the colleges were again reformed, and Ferris created much difficulty before he finally relinquished all authority.
Extremely wealthy, he returned to his legal practice and was soon appointed president of a commission to investigate French reparations for damages done to British people during the revolution. He had the reparations reduced considerably and King Louis XVIII made him a chevalier of France. He retired from public life in 1824 and died June 16th, 1828. It was alleged that he married but there is no evidence for this.
Patrick M Geoghegan
