The Rev Richard Buggy died on 7 November 1864[1] and at the time was the parish priest of Clonaslee Catholic parish, Laois. According to his death certificate, he was about 62 years old when he died giving an approx year of birth of 1802.[2] The RootsIreland database has a listing for a Richard Buggy born in 1802 in Co. Kilkenny and a Richard Patrick Buggy born in Co. Laois in 1804.
In the early years of his vocation he was a curate in the Catholic parish of Ballyadams, Laois in the late 1830s.[3] Before Ballyadams the Rev. Buggy worked as a curate in the village of Borris, Carlow. While there he was central to disturbances that occurred following the election of Thomas Kavanagh, Esq. as a representative for county Carlow. A letter signed by Buggy and the other Catholic clergymen outlined how a local magistrate and body of militia had disturbed religious worship on consecutive Sundays in 1835. A reply from the Lord Lieutenants office, via a local magistrate, countered that the Catholic clergymen had been central to inflaming some parishioners to turn against others who had voted for Kavanagh. You can read the full account here.
[1] Keogh, Very Rev. Canon. 1865. Catholic Directory Almanac and Registry of Ireland England and Scotland. Dublin: John Mullany
[2] Mountmellick Registration District, Ireland, Death Certificate, 1864, vol 18:383, Richard Buggy; General Registrars Office, Dublin.
[3] Author Unknown. 1838. The Catholic Directory and Annual Register for the year 1838. London: James Smith
Buggy Name History 