Frances Sheridan, Mother of the Irish Novel

Frances Sheridan 1724–66 (taken from Lefanu 1824).

Early discouragement and encouragement

​Frances Chamberlaine – or Miss Fanny as she was styled – was born in 1724 to a family of English extraction. Her mother (formerly Whyte) died soon after Frances was born and her father, Dr Philip Chamberlaine, was an Anglican minister and long-time rector of the Church of St Nicholas Within in Dublin city, where the family lived. As an infant, Frances suffered an accident and thereafter, was slightly lame needing assistance on long walks. While an admired preacher, Dr Chamberlaine was considered an eccentric by many and among his greatest aversions was female education. Writing, he considered, was wholly unnecessary for females as he claimed that this knowledge could only lead to the ‘multiplication of love-letters’ (Lefanu 1824, 4).

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