Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 52.djvu/27

 [q. v.], was born at Bellevue House, near Waterford, on 2 Dec. 1803. Educated at Stonyhurst, he was nominated to an East India cadetship. On arriving in India he was posted as ensign to the 3rd Bengal infantry (4 March 1820). Exchanged to the 35th Bengal infantry, of which he became adjutant, he was present at the siege of Bhurtpore (1826). Becoming a captain on 13 April 1830, he was on 4 July 1833 appointed second in command of the disciplined troops in Persia under Major Pasmore, who had specially recommended him to Lord W. Bentinck for this service. ‘He is sensible and well-informed,’ Pasmore wrote, ‘and his temper is mild and conciliatory.’ On 16 Feb. 1836 he was appointed secretary to the British legation in Persia, and in 1844 he succeeded Sir [q. v.] as envoy and minister at the shah's court. That position he held till his retirement in 1854. He had been promoted to the rank of major on 17 Feb. 1841, and became a major-general in 1859. In 1848 he was created a C.B., and in 1855 a K.C.B. He died in London on 18 April 1871. He married a daughter of Stephen Woulfe, chief baron of the Irish exchequer. Lady Sheil died in 1869.

Besides contributing notes on ‘Koords, Turkomans, Nestorians, Khiva,’ &c., to a book called ‘Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia’ (London, 1856), written by his wife, he published in vol. viii. of the ‘Royal Geographical Society's Journal’ ‘Notes of a Journey from Kurdistan to Suleimaniyeh in 1836,’ and ‘Itinerary from Tehran to Alamut in May 1837.’



SHEIL, RICHARD LALOR (1791–1851), dramatist and politician, born on 17 Aug. 1791 at Drumdowney, co. Kilkenny, was the eldest son of Edward Sheil and Catherine MacCarthy of Spring House, co. Tipperary. Shortly before he was born, his father, who had acquired a fair fortune in trade with Spain, purchased the estate of Bellevue, near Waterford. Educated at first under the superintendence of an old French abbé, Richard was, when eleven years of age, sent to a school at Kensington kept by a M. de Broglie, also a French émigré. A year or two later (October 1804) he was removed to Stonyhurst College, where he remained till 15 Nov. 1807, when he entered Trinity College, Dublin. The bankruptcy of his father a year later threatened to put an end to his academic career, but by the generosity of a connection of his mother he was enabled to complete his studies there, and to prepare himself for the bar. He graduated B.A. in July 1811, and in November entered Lincoln's Inn. During his residence in London he lived with his uncle, Richard Sheil. Ambitious, despite his defective utterance, of becoming a great orator, Sheil had as a graduate made a not altogether unsuccessful appearance on the platform at an aggregate meeting of catholics in Dublin, and shortly after his return to Ireland he spoke before the catholic board on 3 Dec. 1813 in opposition to a motion reprobating securities as a condition of emancipation. His speech commanded O'Connell's praise. His call to the bar was delayed by his reluctance to draw on the attenuated resources of his family, and, in the hope of earning money for himself, he turned during the winter to the composition of a tragic drama. The subject of ‘Adelaide, or the Emigrants,’ was drawn from an incident connected with the emigration of the noblesse during the French revolution; but, with the exception of some passages of considerable poetic beauty, the play is too stilted and artificial in situation and diction to command much interest. The principal character was avowedly written to suit Miss O'Neill [see ], and, being accepted by her, was performed with considerable success at the Crow Street Theatre on 19 Feb. 1814. A subsequent performance at Covent Garden on 23 May 1816 fell rather flat.

Sheil was called to the bar in Hilary term 1814. But in the absence of briefs the time hung heavily on him, and he devoted himself to the production of another tragedy, ‘The Apostate.’ In the interval he married Miss O'Halloran, and, his play having been accepted for production at Covent Garden, he and his wife repaired to London to witness its representation on 3 May 1817, with Young, Kemble, Macready, and O'Neill in the principal parts. Founded on the sufferings of the Moors in Spain, the play was a complete success, and showed in every respect a marked improvement on his first effort. It ran through the season, and brought its author 400l., in addition to 300l. that Murray paid for the copyright. Its success tempted him to a further effort, and the tragedy of ‘Bellamira, or the Fall of Tunis,’ performed at Covent Garden with the same cast in the spring of 1818, drew from Leigh Hunt a not unfriendly notice in the ‘Examiner.’ Murray purchased the copyright for 100l., and from the theatre he received 300l. as his share in the profits. His next adventure, ‘Evadne,’ produced on 10 Feb. 1819, owed its origin to an attempt to adapt Shirley's ‘Traitor’ to the