Hugh Boulter was the Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

 Archbishop of Armagh

Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)

The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh is the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the Province of Armagh and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Armagh....

, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death. He also served as the chaplain to George I

George I of Great Britain

George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....

 from 1719.

Background and education

Boulter was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....

 before attending Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

. However, after only a year at Christ Church he transferred to Magdalen College

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

.

Career

After leaving the university in 1700 Boulter served as a chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 to several prominent individuals, including Sir Charles Hedges

Charles Hedges

Sir Charles Hedges , of Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, an English lawyer and politician, was a judge in Admiralty Court who later served as one of Queen Anne's Secretaries of State.-Life:...

, the Secretary of State for the North

Secretary of State for the Northern Department

The Secretary of State for the Northern Department was a position in the Cabinet of the government of Great Britain up to 1782. Before the Act of Union, 1707, the Secretary of State's responsibilities were in relation to the English government, not the British. Even after the Union, there was...

, and Thomas Tenison

Thomas Tenison

Thomas Tenison was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.-Life:...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

, before being awarded his D.D.

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

 in 1708.

After spending seven years working as a rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

, Boulter was appointed as the archdeacon of Surrey in 1715. In 1719 Boulter was announced as the successor to George Smalridge

George Smalridge

-Life:George Smalridge was born at Lichfield, son of the Sheriff of Lichfield Thomas Smalridge, George received his early education, this being completed at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford....

 as both the dean of Christ Church college and as the bishop of Bristol

Bishop of Bristol

The Bishop of Bristol heads the Church of England Diocese of Bristol in the Province of Canterbury, in England.The present diocese covers parts of the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire together with a small area of Wiltshire...

. Boulter was controversially offered the primacy of the Church of Ireland in 1724, William King

William King (archbishop)

William King, D.D. was an Anglican divine in the Church of Ireland, who was Archbishop of Dublin from 1703 to 1729. He was an author and supported the Glorious Revolution.-Early life:...

, as Archbishop of Dublin

Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)

The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland...

 the natural successor to the title, being passed over due to his opposition to the Toleration Act

Act of Toleration 1689

The Act of Toleration was an act of the English Parliament , the long title of which is "An Act for Exempting their Majestyes Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certaine Lawes".The Act allowed freedom of worship to Nonconformists who had pledged to the...

. As Archbishop of Armagh Boulter was a keen supporter of the so-called English interest, the filling of top judicial, political, and ecclesiastical posts in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 with Englishmen in order to maintain English power in the country, a position that made him unpopular in Ireland.

Despite his staunch political allegiance to England, Boulter did attempt to do his best for the people of Ireland, although his actions were often viewed with suspicion by the people of Ireland, including Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...

. When the harvest failed in 1729 in Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

 he bought food and supplied it to the region. He also opened a charter school

Irish Charter Schools

Irish Charter Schools were operated by The Incorporated Society in Dublin for Promoting English Protestant Schools in Ireland. The Charter Schools admitted only Catholics, under the condition that they be educated as Protestants...

in the country, as well as forcing through a bill that revalued the price of gold in 1738, to the benefit of the poor.