ABSTRACT
James Ussher was born on 4 January 1581, one of nine children in the parish of St Nicholas in Dublin, in which church he was undoubtedly baptised, though no records remain. The Usshers were Old English, but their lineage would appear to be less clear than his biographers have tended to assume. The young Ussher received his pre-school education from two maiden aunts who, though blind from birth, possessed a remarkable capacity for learning, being able to recite from heart large sections of the Bible. In 1613, Ussher was made Doctor of Divinity in a ceremony which included a stately procession through the city wearing scarlet robes and hood. Ussher was employed by Parliament at a very early stage in the 1640s. The House of Lords appointed him to a committee to review the doctrine and discipline of the Church and reduce the current tension.
