Author: Sulivan, Stephen
Biography:
SULIVAN, Stephen (1742-1821: ancestry.com)
The only surviving son of Elizabeth (Owen) and Laurence Sulivan, he was born in Bombay (Mumbai), India, on 22 Oct. 1742. His father, born in Ireland about 1713, was a merchant and administrator in India from about 1739 and married there. Having made a substantial but not enormous fortune, he returned to England in 1753 and in 1761 purchased Ponsbourne Park, Hertfordshire. He was elected a director of the EIC in 1755 and continued with the Company until his death in 1786; he was also an MP 1762-74, specialising in EIC affairs. With a good education and independent means, Stephen Sulivan divided his time between Hertfordshire and London—although his father suffered financial reverses and left the estate encumbered with debts. He returned sometimes to India, perhaps to look after business interests. His prose translation of Select Fables from Gulistan (1774) had three editions before 1800. On 3 Mar. 1778, at St. Anne’s, Soho, he married Elizabeth Anne Forde (1755-1815); their only child, Laurence, was baptised in Calcutta on 18 Feb. 1783. He stood unsuccessfully for parliament in 1789. He died at his London home, Munster House in Fulham, on 9 June 1821, and was buried at St. George’s, Hanover Square, on 14 June. (ancestry.com 13 Dec. 2024; findmypast.com 13 Dec. 2024; historyofparliamentonline 13 Dec. 2024; ODNB 13 Dec. 2024 [father]; Gloucester Journal 6 Apr. 1789; Morning Post 14 June 1821) HJ