James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh From an engraving by George Vertue of a picture by Sir Peter Lely. James Ussher (sometimes spelled Usher) (4 January 1581?1 March 1656) was Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625?656 and a prolific religious scholar who most famously published a chronology which calculated the date of Creation as October 23, 4004 BC.