Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/813

Rh S H E S H E 787 Weston Park and Museum, occupying the grounds and mansion house of Weston Hall, which the town council purchased in 1873. The grounds are about 13 acres in extent, and the museum includes in addition to the Mappin Art Gallery, now (1886) being erected from the bequest of John Newton Mappin a picture gallery, a natural history collection, and an extensive collection of British antiquities. The Firth Park, on the north-east of the town, 36 acres in extent, was purchased by Mark Firth, and presented to the town, the opening ceremony by the prince and princess of Wales taking place 16th August 1875. The Norfolk Park, 60 acres in extent, is granted by the duke of Norfolk for the use of the town, but remains his property. The botanical gardens, 18 acres in extent, situated in the western suburbs, are the property of a com- pany, but on certain days they are open to the public at a small charge. The Bramall Lane cricket ground is the scene of most of the Yorkshire county cricket matches. The prosperity of Sheliield is chiefly dependent on the manu- facture of steel and the application of it to its various uses. The smelting of iron in the district is supposed to date from Roman times, and there is distinct proof carrying it back as far as the Norman Conquest The town had become famed for its cutlery by the 14th century, as is shown by allusions in Chaucer. There was an important trade carried on in knives in the reign of Eliza- beth, and the Cutlers' Company was incorporated in 1624. In early times cutlery was made of blister or bar steel ; afterwards shear steel was introduced for the same purpose ; but in 1740 Benjamin Huntsman of Handsworth introduced the manufacture of cast steel, and up to the present time Sheffield retains its supremacy in steel manufacture, notwithstanding foreign competition, especially that of Germany and the United States, its trade in heavy steel having kept pace with that in the other branches. It was with the aid of Sheffield capital that Henry Bessemer founded his pioneer works to develop the manufacture of his invention, and a large quantity of Bessemer steel is still made in Sheffield. The heavy branch of the steel manufacture includes armour plates, rails, tyres, axles, large castings for engines, steel shot, and steel for rifles. The cutlery trade embraces almost every variety of instrument and tool, spring and table knives, razors, scissors, surgical instru- ments, mathematical instruments, edge tools, saws, scythes, sickles, spades, shovels, engineering tools, hammers, vices, &c. The manufacture of engines and machinery is also largely carried on, as well as that of stoves and grates. The art of silver plating was introduced by Thomas Bolsover in 1742, and the manufacture is still of importance. Among the minor industries of the town are tanning, confectionery, cabinetmaking, bicycle-making, iron and brass founding, silver refining, and the manufacture of brushes and combs and of optical instruments. On account of various outrages perpetrated by artisans in workshops against per- sons obnoxious to them, a Government commission was in 1867 appointed to make inquiries, the result being the exposure and suppression of confederacies in connexion with various workmen's unions. The town trust for the administration of property belonging to the town dates from the 14th century, and in 1681 the number and manner of election of the " town trustees " was definitely settled by a decree of the Court of Chancery. Additional powers were conferred on the trustees by an Act passed in 1874. The annual income of the trust property now amounts to about 5000. Sheffield obtained municipal government in 1843, and is divided into nine wards. The number of aldermen is sixteen. Since 1864 the town council have had control of the police, of the maintenance of the streets, and of the drainage and sanitary arrangements, but the supplies of water and gas are in the hands of private companies. The markets belong to the duke of Norfolk, lord of the manor. The town first returned members to parliament in 1832. In 1885 the representation was increased from two to five members, the parliamentary divisions being Attercliffe, Brightside, Central, Ecclesall, and Hallam. The area of the municipal and parliament- ary borough is 19,651 acres. From 45,755 in 1801 the population had increased by 1841 to 110,891, by 1871 to 239,947, and by 1881 to 284,508 (141,298 males, 143,210 females). Sheffield was the capital of Hallamshire from the Norman Con- quest, and it is siipposed that the "aula" of the Saxon Lord Waltheof mentioned in Domesday was on the Castle Hill. After the execution of Waltheof for a conspiracy against the Conqueror in 1075 the manor for some time remained in the hands of his countess, but in 1080 was possessed by Roger de Busli. After- wards it passed to the De Lovetots, barons of Huntingdonshire, one of whom had a castle at Sheffield. A number of people, workers in iron, gathered round the castle and formed the nucleus of the town. Through an heiress of the De Lovetots it passed in the reign of Richard I. to the De Furnivals, one of whom, Thomas de Furnival, strengthened and completed the castle, and obtained from Edward I. a charter under the great seal for a market and annual fair. After the extinction of the male line of the Furnivals in 1406, the manor passed to the Talbots, of whom John, referred to in Shakespeare's Henry VI. , was created earl of Shrewsbury in 1442. Cardinal Wolsey, during his disgrace, was for some time placed in Sheffield Castle under the charge of George, fourth earl of Shrews- bury ; and Queen Mary remained a prisoner in it under the care of George, sixth earl, from the autumn of 1570 to the autumn of 1584. During the Civil "Wars the castle was seized in 1642 by the Parliamentary party, who garrisoned it and threw up entrench- ments round the town, but after the capture of Rotherham in April 1643 they, on the approach of the earl of Newcastle, left it in panic and fled to Derbyshire. It was, however, recaptured by the party in the following year, and was subsequently demolished. In 1654 the estate passed by marriage to the Howards, dukes of Norfolk. See Hunter's HaUamshire, 1819, new ed. by A. Gatty, 18C9 ; Leader, Sheffield Castle and Mary Queen of Scots, 1869 ; Gatty, Sheffield Past and Present, 1873 ; W. de Gray Birch, Original Documents relating to Sheffield, 1874 ; Leader, Reminiscences of Old Sheffield, 1875 ; Taylor, Pictorial Guide to Sheffield, 1879. SHEFFIELD, JOHN. See BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, DUKE OF. SHEIL, RICHARD LALOR (1791-1851), Irish political orator, was the eldest son of Edward Sheil, an Irishman who had acquired considerable wealth in Spain, and after the passing of the Act permitting Catholics in Ireland to purchase and transmit property in fee had returned to Ireland, where he purchased the estate of Bellevue, Tipperary. The son was born 17th August 1791, at Drumdowney, Tipperary. He received instruction in French and Latin from the Abbe" de Grimeau, a French refugee, and afterwards at Kensington House school, London, presided over by a French nobleman, the Prince de Broglie. In October 1804 he was removed to the college at Stoneyhurst, Lancashire, and in November 1807 entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he specially distinguished himself in the debates of the Historical Society. He graduated B.A. in July 1811, and on 13th November of the sam6 year entered Lincoln's Inn, preparatory to being called to the Irish bar. He was admitted a member of the Irish bar at the Hilary term 1814, and meanwhile resolved to support himself by writing plays. His play of Adelaide, or the Emigrants, was played at the Crow Street theatre, Dublin, 19th February 1814, with complete success, and on the 23d May 1816 was performed at Covent Garden. The Apostate, produced at the latter theatre on 3d May 1817, firmly established his reputation, and encouraged him to continue his dramatic efforts till his legal and political duties absorbed the greater part of his leisure. His principal other plays are Sellamira (written in 1818), Evadne (1819), Huguenot, (1819), and Montini (1820). In 1822 he began, along with W. H. Curran, to contribute to the New Monthly Magazine a series of papers entitled Sketches of the Irish Bar, which attracted considerable attention by their raciness and graphic vigour. Those written by Sheil were published in 1855 in two volumes, with a sketch of his life. Sheil was one of the principal founders of the Catholic Associa- tion in 1823, and drew up the petition for inquiry into the mode of administering the laws in Ireland, which was presented in the same year to both Houses of Parliament. After the defeat of the Catholic Relief Bill in 1825^ he suggested the formation of the New Catholic Association, and, along with O'Connell, was the principal leader of the agitation persistently carried on till Catholic emancipation was granted in 1829. In the same year he was returned to parliament for Melbourne Port, and in 1831 for Louth. He took a prominent part in all the debates relating to Ireland, and his brilliant eloquence gradually captivated the admiration of the House. In August 1839 he became vice-president of the board of trade in Lord Melbourne's