Thomas Sheridan

Thomas Sheridan (1687 – 10 October 1738) was an Anglican divine, essayist, playwright, poet, schoolmaster and translator. He is chiefly remembered for his friendship with Jonathan Swift. Family and early career He was born in Cavan, Ireland, the son of James Sheridan, and grandson of The Reverend Dennis Sheridan. Two of his uncles were Church of Ireland prelates: The Rt Rev. William Sheridan, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, and The Rt Rev. Patrick Sheridan, Bishop of Cloyne. After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, he married Elizabeth MacFadden and the couple first lived in Dublin in King James's Mint. He inherited from his father-in-law a substantial property at Quilca, near Mullagh, in County Cavan. He ran a school in Capel Street, Dublin, in the 1720s, whose pupils included children of many prominent families such as Anthony Foster, the future Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and Philip Tisdall, the future Attorney General for Ireland. The school shut in the early 1730s, having declined in reputation as Sheridan's health failed. He was the father of Thomas Sheridan, a celebrated actor and elocutionist, who was in his turn the father of the celebrated playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan; he had two other sons and one daughter. His marriage was extremely unhappy, and, though in general a cheerful and easy-going man, he spoke of his wife with something close to hatred: "I have been tied to the Devil for 24 years".