Anglo-Irish clergyman and reformer.

Rector of Donyatt, Somersetshire. Soon moved to Ireland, where he served as dean of Clogher (1764-81), chancellor of St. Patrick’s (1772-78), rector of Louth (1778), and bishop of Cloyne (1781). Advocated Catholic emancipation and a compulsory system of poor relief on the English model. Author of An Argument in Support of the Right of the Poor in the Kingdom of Ireland, to a National Provision (Dublin, 1768) and The Present State of the Church in Ireland (Dublin, 1787).

Son of Francis and Elizabeth (Bird) Woodward of Grimsbury, Gloucestershire. Educated by his stepfather Josiah Tucker, dean of Gloucester, and at Wadham College, Oxford (B.C.L. 1749, D.C.L. 1759). Married Susannah Blake; six children.