Walter Travers

Walter Travers came from a fellowship at Trinity College, Cambrige.¹ He was chosen by the Fellows on the strong recommendation of one of their number, Matthias Holmes, and had the support of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, a prime mover in the creation of the College and its first Chancellor. Travers had previously been employed as tutor to Burghley’s second son, Robert. He was sworn in as Provost on 5 December 1594 and left for England a few months after Burghley died in August 1598, leaving the College without a head until 1601. James Ussher was one of the scholars in residence at the time and would later achieve great eminence in scholarship and the Church.

1. J.V. Luce, Trinity College Dublin, The First 400 Years (Dublin, 1992), pp 5-6.