Author: Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
Biography:
SHERIDAN, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816: DIB)
The second surviving son of Thomas Sheridan, manager of Dublin’s Smock Alley theatre and orthoepist, and his wife Frances Chamberlaine, novelist and playwright, he was born in Dublin and baptised Thomas but called Richard. A sister, Alicia Sheridan, later Le Fanu (q.v.), was born in 1753 and became a poet and novelist. He had an unsettled childhood with long periods of separation from his parents, particularly after his father’s financial situation became precarious following the Smock Alley riots in 1754. At different times he was educated at home, at Samuel Whyte’s Grafton Street Academy, by a tutor, and, from 1762, at Harrow school. At Harrow he met Nicholas Brassey Halhed (q.v.) with whom he wrote a farce and published translations from Aristenatus. In 1770 Thomas Sheridan took the family to live in Bath and there Richard first met Elizabeth Ann (Eliza) Linley, a celebrated beauty and gifted soprano. They were married on 13 Apr. 1773 but only after various misadventures including an invalid marriage in France, two duels, and a storm of parental opposition on both sides. They lived in London where, for a short time, Sheridan was a student in the Middle Temple. By 17 Jan. 1775 when his The Rivals was performed at Covent Garden he had abandoned the law. The play, after some rewriting, proved immensely—and enduringly—popular. In 1776 Sheridan negotiated to buy a controlling share of Drury Lane theatre; he purchased the remaining share in 1778. However, Sheridan, who had been introduced to the influential Whig circle in London and was friends with Charles James Fox, decided to enter public life and leave management of the theatre to Eliza’s father. He was elected MP for Stafford in 1780 and held the seat for 26 years. A highly successful politician and brilliant orator, he tended to espouse views on issues such as civil liberties, political reform, and Ireland’s legislative independence that were seen as radical even by other Whigs. Meanwhile his home life had become increasingly fraught and Eliza died in 1792 after giving birth to the daughter of United Irishman Edward Fitzgerald; Sheridan (who was notoriously unfaithful to his wife) raised the child as his own. In 1795 he married Esther Jane Ogle; they had at least two sons and one daughter. He returned to managing Drury Lane theatre in the 1790s but was financially ruined when it was destroyed by fire in 1809. His political career ended when he was defeated in the 1812 election. As ever he lived beyond his means and was arrested for debt in 1814 although his increasingly infirm state saved him from imprisonment. He died at home in Savile Row on 7 July 1816 and was buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, near the grave of David Garrick. (ODNB 24 Nov. 2021; DIB 25 Nov. 2021; ancestry.co.uk 25 Nov. 2021)
Other Names:
- R. B. Sheridan
- Sheridan