Elizabeth O'Shea Dillon

Elizabeth O'Shea Dillon (1842 – 1900) was an Irish writer.[1]

Elizabeth O'Shea Dillon
Born
Elizabeth O'Shea

1842
Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland
Died1900(1900-00-00) (aged 57–58)

Life

Elizabeth O'Shea Dillon was born in 1842 in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her parents were John and Mary Anne O'Shea (née Gill) of Summerhill, Nenagh. Her father was a journalist with The Nenagh Guardian. Her mother was a sister of the editor-proprietor of the Tipperary Advocate, Peter E. Gill, and the aunt of T. P. Gill. Her older brother John Augustus was a soldier, journalist and novelist, and her sister Marion emigrated to the United States where she married Robert Roosevelt. Another sister, Margaret (Mrs Kelly) (1854–1927) was noted as being fluent in a number of languages, and translated French works, and her brother Robert Gabriel (1854?–1882) was the London political correspondent for the Freeman's Journal.[1]

Dillon wrote a number of novels, including Sal o' the Wig which in 1869 was serialised in the Shamrock. Her 1884 Dark Rosaleen is considered her major work. It is a roman à clef about John Kenyon as the character Rev. John Kennedy. Kenyon was a close family friend of both the O'Sheas and the Gills. It was published under the name "Mrs J.J. O'Shea Dillon". Dark Rosaleen was serialised in William O'Brien's United Ireland.[1][2][3][4][5] Sal o' the Wig also drew on the stories relating to Kenyon, with this book drawing on the tales about the priest's house keeper, Sara Kennedy.[6]

She married Frederick William Dillon (born 1860),[7] BL in 1883, and left Ireland to live in Nagpur, India some time after that. Her father-in-law was an official at the high court of Allahabad, India, Luke Dillon. She died in 1900.[1]

Works
  • The bride of Raltard
  • The last of the leprechauns
  • Sal o' the Wig
  • Dark Rosaleen (1884)[1]

References
  1. Murphy, Nancy (2009). "Elizabeth O'Shea In O'Shea, John Augustus". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Sutherland, John (1989). The Stanford companion to Victorian fiction. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 482. ISBN 9780804718424.
  3. Snell, K. D. M. (2002). The bibliography of regional fiction in Britain and Ireland, 1800-2000. Hants, England: Ashgate. ISBN 9781351894012.
  4. "Elizabeth O'Shea Dillon". At the Circulating Library Author Information. Victorian Research. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  5. "Dark Rosaleen. By Mrs. O'Shea Dillon. (Tinsley Brothers.)". The Spectator. 5 April 1884. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  6. Fogarty, L (1921). Father John Kenyon: A Patriot Priest of 48. Dublin: Mahon's Printing Works.
  7. Foster, Joseph (1885). Men-at-the-bar : a biographical hand-list of the members of the various Inns of Court, including Her Majesty's judges, etc. London: Dalcassian Publishing Company. p. 125.
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