The aim of this work has been to give Succession Lists of the Clergy of the Church of Ireland in the Diocese of Armagh from the earliest possible period, together with biographical and genealogical information under each name, and historical notes about each parish, so that it might be readable and of general interest. References to the sources of information have, as a rule, been given: this being a prominent feature of the book.
Few persons can form an adequate conception of the immense labour and research involved in the work. The names in the Index, though of Clergy alone, number over 2,400. The Diocese of Armagh is rich in manuscript material for such research, as can be seen from the List of Authorities used. The connection of Bishop Reeves with the Diocese was to it a veritable endowment ; for, although he published little concerning it, he left behind him many manuscripts, in his beautifully concise writing, full of information for a Diocesan historian. If he were alive to-day, no one would be more delighted, I believe, at the issue of such a book than Bishop Reeves, at whose hands I received Deacon's Orders.
