Ancestry. INTRODUCTION LIFE OF SHERIDAN OUR first interest in the Sheridan name is Dr. Thomas Sheridan, clergyman and schoolmaster at Dublin in the first part of the eighteenth century, connected with literary history through his friendship with Dean Jonathan Swift. The son of this Dr. Sheridan, also called Thomas, was born in Dublin in 1719, was trained at Westminster School and Trinity College, Dublin, and was intended by his parents for the ministry. However, young Thomas Sheridan, ardently fond of public speaking and the theatre, turned to the stage as the best training-school for his talents. As a capable actor and a progressive manager, he rendered worthy service to the English drama of the time. Frances Chamberlaine, who afterwards became the wife of Thomas Sheridan and the mother of the great dramatist, was born of English parents at Dublin in 1724. She was widely recognized as a woman of accomplishment and of literary distinction. |
