Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Irish satirist, a playwright and poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
1751 CE to 1816 CE
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (October 30, 1751 – July 7, 1816) is an Irish satirist, a playwright and poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
He is known for his plays such as The Rivals, The School for Scandal, The Duenna, and A Trip to Scarborough.
He is also a Whig MP for thirty-two years in the British House of Commons for Stafford (1780–1806), Westminster (1806–1807), and Ilchester (1807–1812).
He is buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
His plays remain a central part of the canon and are regularly performed worldwide.
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Warren Hastings, the former Governor-General of India, had been impeached in the House of Commons for crimes and misdemeanors during his time in India, especially for the alleged judicial killing of Maharaja Nandakumar.
He had had resigned in 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularize the nascent Raj created by Clive of India.
At first deemed unlikely to succeed, the prosecution was managed by MPs including Edmund Burke, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India, Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke two full days to read.
The house sat for a total of one hundred and forty-eight days over a period of seven years during the investigation.
The investigation was pursued at great cost to Hastings personally, and he complained constantly that the cost of defending himself from the prosecution was bankrupting him.
He is rumored to have once stated that the punishment given him would have been less extreme had he pleaded guilty.
The House of Lords finally makes its decision on April 24 1795, acquitting him on all charges.
The East India Company subsequently compensates him with four thousand Pounds Sterling annually.
Throughout the long years of the trial, Hastings has lived in considerable style at his town house, Somerset House, Park Lane.
Among the many who have supported him in print is the pamphleteer and versifier Ralph Broome.
Others disturbed by the perceived injustice of the proceedings include Fanny Burney.
The letters and journals of Jane Austen and her family, who knew Hastings, show that they followed the trial closely.
He had had resigned in 1784, after ten years of service, during which he helped extend and regularize the nascent Raj created by Clive of India.
At first deemed unlikely to succeed, the prosecution was managed by MPs including Edmund Burke, who was encouraged by Sir Philip Francis, whom Hastings had wounded during a duel in India, Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke two full days to read.
The house sat for a total of one hundred and forty-eight days over a period of seven years during the investigation.
The investigation was pursued at great cost to Hastings personally, and he complained constantly that the cost of defending himself from the prosecution was bankrupting him.
He is rumored to have once stated that the punishment given him would have been less extreme had he pleaded guilty.
The House of Lords finally makes its decision on April 24 1795, acquitting him on all charges.
The East India Company subsequently compensates him with four thousand Pounds Sterling annually.
Throughout the long years of the trial, Hastings has lived in considerable style at his town house, Somerset House, Park Lane.
Among the many who have supported him in print is the pamphleteer and versifier Ralph Broome.
Others disturbed by the perceived injustice of the proceedings include Fanny Burney.
The letters and journals of Jane Austen and her family, who knew Hastings, show that they followed the trial closely.