Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/463

Sheaffe  several of his friends belonged to the Society of United Irishmen, and through them he acquired a knowledge of some of the secrets of that association. In April 1798 the Earl of Clare, vice-chancellor of the university, held a visitation, at which he required the students severally to take an oath that they would inform against any whom they knew to be connected with the society. Shea, refusing to comply, was expelled from the university. He came to England, and obtained a mastership in a private school. But his knowledge of Italian soon procured him the post of chief clerk in a large mercantile establishment at Malta. While there he mastered Arabic, acquiring a knowledge not only of the classical language, but also of the chief current dialects. A project on the part of his employers to open a factory on the east coast of the Black Sea induced him to study Persian also. But the firm being compelled to withdraw from the Levant altogether, he was recalled to England. There he made the acquaintance of Dr. [q. v.], who found him employment as a private tutor in the house of Dr. Laurell, and afterwards by his interest procured him an assistant professorship in the oriental department of the East India Company's College at Haileybury. On the institution of the Oriental Translation Fund, Shea was made a member of committee, and applied himself to translating Mirkhond's ‘History of the Early Kings of Persia,’ which was published in London in 1832. He next essayed a more important task, the translation of ‘the Dabistán.’ Before its conclusion, however, he died at Haileybury College on 11 May 1836. The translation of the ‘Dabistán’ was completed by Anthony Troyer, and published in Paris in 1843, and in London in 1844.

 SHEAFFE, ROGER HALE (1763–1851), general, born in Boston, North America, on 15 July 1763, was the third son of William Sheaffe, deputy collector of his majesty's customs at Boston, by Susannah, eldest daughter of Thomas Child of Boston. On 1 May 1778, through the influence of Earl Percy, he received an ensigncy, and on 27 Dec. 1780 a lieutenancy in the 5th foot. He served in Ireland from January 1781 to May 1787, and in Canada from July 1787 to September 1797. Under the orders of Sir Guy Carleton, first baron Dorchester [q. v.], instructed by Lieutenant-governor John Graves Simcoe [q. v.], he was employed on a public mission in 1794 to protest against certain settlements made by the Americans on the south shore of Lake Ontario. On 5 May 1795 he obtained his company in the 5th foot, on 13 Dec. 1797 a majority in the 81st foot, and on 22 March 1798 a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 49th. He served in Holland from August to November 1799, in the expedition to the Baltic from March to July 1801, and in Canada from September 1802 to October 1811. The rank of brevet colonel was conferred on him on 25 April 1808, and that of major-general on 4 June 1811. He again served in Canada from 29 July 1812 to November 1813. On 13 Oct. 1812 the troops of the United States took Queenstown on the Niagara, but on the same day Sheaffe, on the death of General Sir Isaac Brock, assuming the command of the British forces, recaptured the town, the Americans losing heavily in killed, wounded, and prisoners. In the following year, on 27 April, he defended the town of York (now known as Toronto), when the losses of the Americans in taking the place exceeded the total numbers of those opposed to them. Sheaffe continued to command in the upper province and to administer its government until June 1813, and on his retirement received flattering testimonials from the executive council. For his services he was, on 16 Jan. 1813, created a baronet of Great Britain, and further rewarded by the colonelcy of the 36th foot on 20 Dec. 1829, and his nomination as a general on 28 June 1838. He had a residence at Edswale, co. Clare, but died in Edinburgh on 17 July 1851, when his title became extinct. He married, in 1810, Margaret, daughter of John Coffin of Quebec; she died at Bath on 1 May 1855.

[Royal Military Cal. 1820, iii. 166–8; Dod's Peerage, 1851, p. 426; Gent. Mag. June, 1855, p. 661; Annual Register, 1812 p. 202, 1813 p. 180; Appleton's American Biogr. 1888, v. 489, with portrait.]

 SHEARES, JOHN (1766–1798), United Irishman, fourth son of Henry Sheares, esq. of Cork, and Jane Anne, daughter of Robert Bettesworth of Whiterock, sister of Sergeant Bettesworth and a relative of the Earl of Shannon, was born at Cork in 1766. His father was a partner in the banking concern of Rogers, Travers, & Sheares, latterly generally known as Sheares's bank; he was an occasional contributor to the ‘Modern Monitor,’ the chief literary journal of Cork at the time. From 1761 to 1767 he represented the borough of Clonakilty in parliament, and