Life
1750-1806; b. 12 Dorset St., Dublin, elder son of Thomas Sheridan [q.v.], br. of R. B. Sheridan, and to Frances Sheridan [née Chamberlaine, q.v.]; ed. at home by his father prior to 1754 when the family moved to London after a riot in his father's theatre in Dublin, returning in 1757, and afterwards moving to England after the Mahomet theatrical riot of 1758; appt. Sec. to the British envoy in Sweden, May 1777 and there witnessed the coup d'état conducted by Gustavus III - recording his impressions in History of the Late Revolution in Sweden (1778) which caused much offence in Sweden [trans. into French]; elected MP for Belturbet in the Irish Parliament, 1776, thanks to influence of Richard,with the new cabinet; entered Lincoln's Inn; took bar 1780, and served as counsel for the Barrack Board;
served as MP for Rathcormack, 1783-1800; publ. Observations, which related to the Right for Ireland to create its own laws (1779); appt. Sec. of War (viz., Under-Secretary for Ireland for the military department) under the Second Rockingham ministry, 1782; In . 1783, Sheridan married Letitia Christiana Bolton; they had several children together) elected for Rathcormack, 1783; he refused to resign office when the Whigs lost power, was and accused of lack of principle by Richard; removed from office, 8 August 1789, during the Regency Crisis; received a pension of £1,000 p.a. from George III; quit Irish Parliament 1790; occupied with experiments in chemistry and engineering; d. 24 June 1806 at Tunbridge Well,. ODNB WIKI
[ The article in Dictionary of Irish Biography is by Patrick Geoghegan (RIA 2009) ]
M. Skjönsberg, ‘Charles Francis Sheridan on the Feudal Origins and Political Science of the 1772 Revolution in Sweden’, in Journal of Historical Ideas, 83:3 (2022), pp.407-430: Gustav III’s royal coup in 1772 reestablished strong monarchy and ended the Age of Liberty (Frihetstiden) in Sweden. The event attracted much interest and commentary across Europe. The most detailed account of the episode and sophisticated analysis of its causes was Charles Francis Sheridan’s now forgotten History of the Late Revolution in Sweden (1778). Sheridan used Enlightenment history and political science to argue that the reasons for the Swedish revolution went beyond its flawed constitution and could be traced to the Swedish national character and the circumstances of its orders, determined by its longue durée history, laws, geography, and climate.’ (Summary given at National Library of Medicine [USA] - available online; accessed 24.01.2024.)
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