Life

He was the eleventh and youngest son of Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris and Cheadle, but the eldest by his second wife, Agnes, daughter of Thomas Needham of Stenton. He was thus half-brother of Sir Richard Bulkeley. He entered at the beginning of 1587 as commoner Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

, where he proceeded B.A.; he afterwards moved to St. Edmund Hall, where he took his M.A. degree in 1593. On 13 November of the same year he was ordained deacon by Hugh Bellot

Hugh Bellot

Hugh Bellot was bishop of Bangor and then bishop of Chester. He assisted William Morgan in his Welsh language translation of the Bible. He was also a reputed misogynist.-Life:...

, bishop of Bangor

Bishop of Bangor

The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire...

.

Some years later he became archdeacon of Dublin, and he was promoted to its see in 1619. Subsequently he was named by James I an Irish privy councillor. He revived the controversy regarding the primacy of Ireland

Primacy of Ireland

The Primacy of Ireland was historically disputed between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin until finally settled by Pope Innocent VI. Primate is a title of honour denoting ceremonial precedence in the Church, and in the Middle Ages there was an intense rivalry between the two...

, and on the question being submitted to Thomas Wentworth

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...

, lord deputy, the precedency was given to Armagh.

Bulkeley was one of the council who in 1646 issued a proclamation confirmatory of peace concluded in that month between the Marquis of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde PC was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the second of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom. He was the friend of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who appointeed him commander of the Cavalier forces in Ireland. From 1641 to 1647, he...

 and the Roman catholics. For resisting the act prohibiting the use of the Book of Common Prayer

Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...

he was in 1647 committed to prison. On 8 March 1649 it was decreed that all honours, castles, etc. belonging to the archbishopric of Dublin should be vested in General Henry Ireton

Henry Ireton

Henry Ireton was an English general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War. He was the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.-Early life:...

, president of Munster.

The archbishop died at Tallaght

Tallaght

Tallaght is the largest town, and county town, of South Dublin County, Ireland. The village area, dating from at least the 17th century, held one of the earliest settlements known in the southern part of the island, and one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres.Up to the 1960s...

 on 8 September 1650, in his eighty-second year, and was buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

Saint Patrick's Cathedral , or more formally, the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Patrick is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Dublin, Ireland which was founded in 1191. The Church has designated it as The National Cathedral of Ireland...

 under the communion-table. By his wife Alice, daughter of Roland Bulkeley of Conwy

Conwy

Conwy is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208...

, he had a family. He was the author of a pamphlet, Proposals for sending back the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland.