Franc Sadleir

The son of a barrister, Franc Sadlier graduated in 1795 and was elected to Fellowship in 1805.¹ Thereafter his advancement was rapid: he was Bursar for nine years and Librarian for sixteen, and after a brief tenure of the Chair of Hebrew he was Professor of Mathematics for ten years from 1825, and Regius Professor of Greek for five years from 1833.  He was a convinced and consistent Whig and sat on two commissions for the Whig Government.  In 1837 he reaped his reward and was appointed Provost. For fourteen years he continued, though rather more cautiously, the reforming programme of Provost Lloyd, to whom he had given constant support on the Board.  The most significant constitutional change he presided over was the abolition of the celibacy rule for Fellows. ²

Painting Details

By John Henry Nelson
Oil on canvas

1. Anne Crookshank and David Webb, Paintings and Sculptures in Trinity College Dublin (Dublin, 1990), p. 117.
2. J.V. Luce, Trinity College Dublin, The First 400 Years (Dublin, 1992), p. 86.