Introduction

Biography

Philip was the son of Ri­chard Skel­ton, a farm­er, gun­smith and tan­ner, and Ar­a­bel­la Cath­cart.

He at­tend­ed a La­tin school at Lis­burn, start­ing in 1717. In June 1724 he en­tered Tri­ni­ty Col­lege, Dub­lin, as a si­zar, Dr. Pat­rick De­la­ny be­ing his tu­tor. He was elect­ed a schol­ar in 1726, and gra­du­at­ed BA in Ju­ly 1728.

After teach­ing in the en­dowed school of Dun­dalk, Skel­ton was nom­in­at­ed cur­ate to Dr. Sam­uel Mad­den of Drum­mil­ly, Coun­ty Fer­man­agh, and or­dained dea­con by Bishop Sterne of Clogh­er in 1729.

In 1732, he be­came cur­ate at Mo­na­ghan. In 1750 Skel­ton was gi­ven the liv­ing of Tem­ple­carn, a large par­ish in the coun­ties of Do­ne­gal and Fer­ma­nagh, con­sist­ing of wild moor­land su­rround­ing the Lough Derg.

Works

• A Vin­di­ca­tion of the Right Rev. the Lord Bi­shop of Win­ches­ter, 1736
• Some Pro­po­sals for the Re­viv­al of Chris­ti­a­ni­ty, 1736
• A Dis­ser­ta­tion on the Con­sti­tu­tion and Ef­fects of a Pet­ty Ju­ry, 1737
• The Ne­ces­si­ty of Till­age and Gra­na­ries, 1741
• The Can­did Read­er, 1744
• Rhapsody of Lord Shaftes­bu­ry, 1744
• A Let­ter to the Au­thors of the Di­vine An­al­o­gy and the Mi­nute Phi­lo­so­pher, 1744
• The Che­val­ier’s Hopes, 1745
• Ophiomaches, or De­ism Re­vealed, 1748
• The Dig­ni­ty of the Chris­tian Min­is­try: a Ser­mon, 1751
• Discourses Con­tro­ver­si­al and Prac­ti­cal on Va­ri­ous Sub­jects, 1754
• An Ap­peal to the Com­mon Sense of All Chris­tian Peo­ple, 1759
• Description of Lough Derg, 1759
• An Ap­peal to Com­mon Sense on the Sub­ject of Chris­ti­a­ni­ty, 1784
• Senilia, 1786