Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Irish playwright and Whig politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1751. At the age of 21, following a romantic elopement, he married the daughter of composer Thomas Linley, Elizabeth. The couple set up housekeeping in London on a grand scale with no money and no prospects beyond Elizabeth's dowry. Sheridan's first play, The Rivals, produced at Covent Garden in 1775, became a success despite its mediocre premiere and established his reputation as a playwright. He bought a share in the Drury Lane Theatre and later became its sole owner. There he directed his most famous play, The School for Scandal (1777), and the subsequent play, The Critic (1779). Sheridan entered parliament in 1780 for the Whigs and retained his seat until 1812. He died in poverty in 1816, and was buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.