Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1751, Richard Brinsley Sheridan was the second son of Thomas Sheridan, an actor and theater manager, and of Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan, a playwright and novelist. His father was Irish, his mother of English ancestry, and Sheridan took pride in both heritages. The O’Sheridans, as his father’s family was originally called, converted in the seventeenth century from the Catholic faith to Protestantism. As a boy, Richard attended Samuel Whyte’s grammar school in Dublin, then became a student at Harrow, a famous boarding school in England. In 1768, two years after his mother’s death, Sheridan left Harrow and rejoined his family, who by this time lived in Soho, England. In late 1770, the family moved to Bath, where Thomas Sheridan had founded a new Academy of Oratory, a project with which both his sons were expected to assist. During this time, Richard Sheridan met 16- year-old Elizabeth Ann Linley, a musician’s daughter, reputed to be one the best singers of her day. The couple married in 1773, Sheridan defying his father, who had ordered him to forget Elizabeth and study for a career in law. Sheridan decided instead to become a playwright.
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