Edgeworth, Henry Essex (1745–1807)

Irish priest who became confessor and chaplain to the French Bourbon dynasty during the French Revolution. He was present at the execution of Louis XVI in 1793.

Born in Edgeworthstown (now Mostrim), County Longford, where his father was rector, Edgeworth converted to Catholicism in 1748. He went to Toulouse in France, was ordained a priest, and took the surname De Firmont. He was appointed confessor to the princess Elizabeth in 1791, and in 1793 to her brother, Louis XVI. In 1796 he went to England, and was made chaplain to the exiled Louis XVIII.