Events from the year 1685 in Ireland. Incumbent Monarch: Charles II (until 6 February), then James II
Events 6 February – James II becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland upon the death of Charles II. 1 October – Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards is raised as a cavalry regiment of the British Army, the Earl of Arran's Regiment of Cuirassiers, by the regimenting of various independent troops, and ranked as the 6th Regiment of Horse.
Publications August? – the News-letter first published in Dublin. Rev. William Bedell's Old Testament translation into Irish, transcribed by Uilliam Ó Duinnín and revised by Rev. Narcissus Marsh with the aid of Jesuit scholars Andrew Sall and Paul Higgins and scientist Robert Boyle, is published posthumously in London in a new typeface designed by Sall and made by Joseph Moxon. Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh semi-mythical history of Ireland, Ogygia: seu Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia & etc., is published. Sir William Petty's Hiberniae Delineatio, the first printed atlas of Ireland (based on his Down Survey of 1655–6) is published.
Births
11 March – William Flower, 1st Baron Castle Durrow, politician (d.1746). 12 March – Bishop George Berkeley, philosopher and writer (d.1753). Samuel Haliday, Presbyterian minister (d.1739). Henry Ponsonby, soldier and politician (d.1745). approximate date Henry Colley, politician (d.1723/4). Alexander Cosby, soldier in Nova Scotia (d.1742). Edward England, born Edward Seegar, pirate (d.1720/1 in Madagascar) Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Graf von Taaffe, soldier (d.1769).
Deaths 17 March – Sir Richard Bulkeley, 1st Baronet, politician (b.1634). 18 March – Francis Harold, Franciscan scholar. William Alington, 3rd Baron Alington, peer (b. before 1641). John Eyre, Cromwellian settler and Mayor of Galway.
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