Skelton, Philip

Skelton, Philip, a worthy and learned clergyman of Ireland, was born in the parish of Derryaghy, near Lisburn, February, 1707, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Soon after graduation he went to reside with his brother John at Dundalk, and was ordained deacon for the cure of Newtown-Butler, Fermanagh Co., about 1729. This, after two years, he resigned and returned to his brother's, where he remained until 1732, when he settled on the curacy of Monaghan, in the diocese of Clogher. In 1750 the living of Pettigoe, County Donegal, was given to him; and in 1759 he received the living of Devenish, Fermanagh Co., worth about three hundred pounds a year. In 1766 he removed to Fintona, in the County of Tyrone, from which, in 1780, he took his final leave and removed to Dublin to end his days. He died May 4, 1787. Mr. Skelton was somewhat eccentric, but was a very charitable, unassuming, and useful minister. He published, A Vindication of the Bishop of Winchester (1736): — Some Proposals for the Revival of Christianity (1736): — Dissertation on the Constitution, etc., of a Petty Jury (1737): —Necessity of Tillage and Granaries (1741): — Truth in a Mask (1743): — The Candid Reader (1744): — The Chevalier's Hopes (1745): — Deism Revealed (1749, 2 vols. 8vo; 2d ed. 1751, 2 vols. 12mo): — The Consultation (1753): — Discourses, Controversial and Practical (1754, 2 vols.). He published his works by subscription in 1770, 5 vols. 8vo; in 1784 vol. 6, and in 1786 vol. 7; also in the same year A Catechism. See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. s.v.; London Monthly Review, Dec. 1792; London Gent. Mag. 81, 104; 82, 349; 87, 58; Southey [R.], Life and Correspondence, ch. 32; Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.