Australian Dictionary of Biography entry:
James Harold (1744–1830)
by Harold Perkins

This article was published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, 1966, online in 2006.

James Harold (1744-1830), Catholic priest, was a member of an old family of Wicklow, Ireland, said to have been descended from King Harold of England, one of whose sons settled in the Dublin Hills. He was ordained in 1774, studied at Antwerp till 1779 and became parish priest of Rathcoole in 1794. A United Irishman, he wrote propagandist verse, but in March 1798, in obedience to Archbishop Troy, he preached restraint and bade his parishioners surrender arms and swear allegiance. However, he clashed with officers enforcing the disarmament and sheltered a wounded prisoner, Felix Rourke. When the rebel plot for the seizure of Rathcoole was discovered, Harold went to Drogheda for a written 'protection' from the commanding general. In his absence he was blamed before a military court for the treason of parishioners and his house was burned. On his return, 'protection' notwithstanding, he was arrested and imprisoned in June, and in November placed on a hulk. Thrice his friends obtained habeas corpus writs, which were ignored by his keepers. He petitioned for a trial on 28 February 1799, but whether his petition was rejected or whether he was banished under the amnesty of 22 August 1798 is not clear. Writing to relations he denied the published allegations against him, but spoke of an apostleship and of his 'persecutors' as instruments of providence.

He arrived in Sydney in the Minerva in January 1800, but as he was not permitted to minister in New South Wales he sought leave to depart. Governor John Hunter sent his petition to London. Meantime unrest among Irish convicts exposed him to suspicion, though he claimed that he 'tried at all times to prevent any disturbance and to preserve the peace of the community'. His refusal to incriminate others angered the inquiring magistrates. Several Irishmen were flogged, and Harold with others was banished to Norfolk Island. There he conducted a school when his health permitted, and lived near John Drummond, beach-master. He repeatedly petitioned Governor Philip Gidley King for permission to minister but was ignored. When Father James Dixon was released, Harold succeeded to his private ministry at Parramatta in 1808. He was among the Irishmen pardoned by Governor Macquarie in June 1810, and left the colony in the Concord in July.

In March 1811 he was with his nephew, Rev. W. V. Harold, vicar-general at Philadelphia, and became a pastor and trustee of the cathedral, but the other trustees, at variance with his nephew, never accepted him. He was old, a nervous wreck, temperamental, irrepressible. Under episcopal pressure both Harolds resigned. At the election for trustees in April 1813 only Haroldites were elected, and the notorious Trustee Schism began. Later that year the Harolds returned to Ireland. In 1815-16 James Harold served at Kilcullen, and in 1818-20 at Fairview-Clontarf. He died on 15 August 1830 and was buried in Old Richmond cemetery, Dublin.

Select Bibliography

Historical Records of New South Wales, vol 4
Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 2-4
P. F. Moran, Spicilegium Ossoriense. Letters and Papers Illustrative of the History of the Irish Church from the Reformation … to 1800 (Dublin, 1874-84)
P. F. Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australasia (Syd, 1895)
T. J. Kiernan, Transportation from Ireland to Sydney: 1791-1816 (Canberra, 1954)
M. I. J. Griffin, ‘Rev James Harold’, American Catholic Historical Researches, 17 (1900)
Diocesan archives (Dublin)
Bonwick transcripts, biography (State Library of New South Wales).

Citation details
Harold Perkins, 'Harold, James (1744–1830)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/harold-james-2156/text2755, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 29 June 2025.

This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (Melbourne University Press), 1966.

Reproduced by permission of Australian Dictionary of Biography. Original biography: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/harold-james-2156.

Dictionary of Irish Biography entry, by Seán P. Donlan, https://www.dib.ie/biography/harold-james-a3813:

Harold, James (1744–1830), priest and prisoner, was born into a Co. Wicklow family that claimed descent from King Harold (d. 1066) of England. He was ordained (1774), studied at Antwerp (c.1779), and was PP of Saggart and Rathcoole, Co. Dublin (1794–8). Most of the details of his life remain unclear or contested. He was sympathetic to the United Irishmen and may have written verse in support of their cause. On the orders of Archbishop John Thomas Troy (qv), he preached restraint and allegiance. This was almost certainly disingenuous, and he clashed with the military authorities enforcing disarmament. He seems, in fact, to have sheltered the wounded Felix Rourke (qv), a United Irish colonel. Harold was blamed for his parishioners’ treason; pikeheads were said to have been found at his home, and it was burned by the authorities. Some years later, following the abortive rebellion of 1803, Rourke was hanged from the remaining rafters of Harold's home. Early pro-government accounts of the rebellion also linked the priest with the treason and execution in 1798 of another United Irishman, John Clinch. Though he may have been promised protection, Harold was arrested and imprisoned. He petitioned Lord Castlereagh (qv) for trial (28 February 1798), claiming ‘that instead of even countenancing the late unhappy rebellion he has used every means in his power to suppress it’ (Rep. Novum, i (1956), 493). The petition and writs of habeas corpus were ignored and he was summarily convicted and sentenced to transportation.

Harold eventually left on the Minerva and was the first catholic priest to arrive in Australia's penal colonies (11 January 1800). While not officially permitted to minister, he appears to have celebrated clandestine masses. Within the year, Harold notified the authorities of potential disturbances. As he would not provide names, however, he was implicated in the subsequent Parramatta plot. He was forced to witness several savage floggings at Toongabbie adjacent to the victim, with his hand on the tree to which the prisoner was tied. He was then transferred to the notorious penal settlement of Norfolk Island (1800–07), some 1,400 miles from the mainland. There he befriended a fellow convict, the Rev. Peter O'Neill, and was allowed to conduct a school. Harold was eventually sent (1807) to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). He succeeded (1808) to the Parramatta ministry of Fr James Dixon (qv), later the first prefect-apostolic of Australia, and was assisted by Peter Ivers of Carlow. After ten years in the colonies, Harold was conditionally pardoned by Governor Macquarie and left Sydney on the Concord (July 1810). Vestments and other religious items arrived after his departure, confirming his private ministry.

By way of Rio, and perhaps Ireland, Harold arrived in Pennsylvania (c. March 1811). Through a nephew, the Rev. William Vincent Harold, vicar-general of Philadelphia, he became pastor and trustee of St Mary's, the city's first catholic cathedral. His relationship proved contentious, and a controversy erupted, with the lay trustees of the church claiming the privilege of electing and disposing of their pastors. Although their role is unclear, relations deteriorated between the Harolds and Michael Egan (1761–1814), the first catholic bishop of Philadelphia (and a native of Co. Galway), with whom they resided at St Joseph's church. Their insubordination in the so-called ‘Haroldite schism’ saw both resign and, after further difficulties, return to Ireland (1815). James Harold served at Kilcullen (1815–16) and Fairview–Clontarf (1818–20) and was administrator at Coolock, Co. Dublin (1818–19), before resigning due to illness. He died 15 August 1830. He is buried beside the Rev. William D. Harold in Goldenbridge (formally Richmond) cemetery.

Sources
Madden papers, NLI, MS 291; Richard Musgrave, Memoirs of the different rebellions of Ireland (3rd ed., 1802), 207–8; Cox's (1812), 59; Nicholas Donnelly, A short history of some Dublin parishes (1905?), xiv, 29; T. J. Kiernan, The Irish exiles in Australia (1954), esp. 35–6; John Meagher, ‘Father Nicholas Kearns and state prisoners’, Rep. Novum, i (1956), 204, 493; H. Perkins, ‘Father Harold’, Journal of the Australian Historical Society, iii (1971), 6; Con Costello, ‘The convicts: transportation from Ireland’, Colm Kiernan (ed.), Australia and Ireland 1788–1988 (1986); ADB; Keith Amos, The Fenians in Australia (1988), 4–6; James Hugh Donohue, The catholics of New South Wales 1788–1820 and their families (1989), 208; Peter O'Shaughnessy (ed.), A rum story (1988), 178–9; Patrick O'Sullivan, ‘Introduction’ in id. (ed.), Religion and identity (1996), 21, n. 56; Anne-Maree Whitaker, ‘The convict priests’, ibid.; Frank Molloy, ‘“Exile of Erin”: Irish experience and colonial reactions’, Richard Davis, Jennifer Livett, Anne-Maree Whitaker, and Peter Moore, Irish-Australian studies (1996); Vivien Igoe, Dublin burial grounds & graveyards (2001), 123, 126

Publishing information
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.003813.v1
Originally published October 2009 as part of the Dictionary of Irish Biography
Last revised October 2009
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