Edward Worth (bishop)

Edward Worth (c. 1620–2 August 1669) was a Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe, who is mainly remembered now as the founder of the Blue Coat School for the poor boys of Cork. In his own lifetime, he was known as an adroit political player, who skilfully negotiated his way through the turbulent world of seventeenth-century Irish politics, although he ended not in a position of great influence but as holder of a rather insignificant bishopric.

He was born in Newmarket, County Cork, the son of James Worth, a clergyman; his grandfather Jasper Worth came to Ireland from Prestbury, Cheshire, where the family had lived for several centuries. He entered Trinity College Dublin in 1638 and was awarded a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.).