The Chamberlaine Family

Frances (Chamberlaine) Sheridan


Father: Dr. Phillip Chamberlaine, Prebendary of Rathmichael

Married: Thomas Sheridan in 1747, in Dublin, Ireland (by her brother Rev. Walter Chamberlaine)

Children:

Notes: In 1746, Thomas Sheridan wax involved in an altercation and lawsuit to do with a disturbance in the theatre. During the controversy, Frances wrote a poem called The Owls which was published in a Dublin newspaper and addressed "to Mr. Sheridan on his late affair at the Theatre".
Envy will Merit still pursue,
As shade succeeds to light;
And though a shade obstructs the view,
It proves the substance right

If Worth appears, and gets its due,
(But oh! how rare that gain!)
The satyrs and the mimic crew
Shall grin behind the scene.

The poem found its target; Thomas Sheridan discovered the writer of the verses, and the two were married the next year. Frances was an accomplished playwright in her own right. Her play The Discovery opened  at Drury Lane on 5 February 1763, to positive acclaim. She also wrote The Dupe and her unpublished play A Journey to Bath helped inspire the work of her more famous son, Richard. In addition she wrote prose romances such as Memoirs of Sidney Bidulph (1761) and The History of Nourjahad (1767). She is the subject of a biography, The Memoirs of Mrs. Frances Sheridan, by Alicia Lefanu.

Death: 1766, in Blois, France

Sources:

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