The Mitred Earl

I'm reading The Mitred Earl: An Eighteenth-Century Eccentric at the moment.

It is written by Brian Fothergill for National Trust Classics.

The Right Honourable and Right Reverend Frederick Hervey was 4th Earl of Bristol and 48th Lord Bishop of Derry.

He was appointed to his first bishopric (Cloyne) by his brother, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and 2nd Earl of Bristol.

The desired See of Derry was not vacant at that time; though Hervey was almost immediately translated to the said diocese on the death of the previous bishop.

Derry was said to be the richest and most lucrative bishopric in the established Church of Ireland.

The Earl-Bishop's income from the bishopric was £20,000 in the 18th century.

When he became 4th Earl of Bristol, his annual income doubled by £20,000 to £40,000, in the region of £6 million in today's money.