David Shea (1777–1836) was an
Irish orientalist and translator.
Life
The son of Daniel Shea, a farmer, he was born in
County Limerick. He entered
Trinity College, Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
on 3 June 1793, and in 1797 obtained a scholarship in classics. Several of his friends belonged to the
Society of United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
. In April 1798
John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare
John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare PC (Ire) (1748 – 28 January 1802) was Attorney-General for Ireland from 1783 to 1789 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1789 to 1802.
He was a controversial figure in Irish history, being described var ...
, vice-chancellor of the university, held a visitation, at which he required students to take an oath that they would inform against anybody whom they knew to be connected with the society. Shea, refusing to comply, was expelled from the university.
He came to England, and found a mastership in a private school. His knowledge of Italian gained him the post of chief clerk in a large mercantile establishment at
Malta. While there he mastered Arabic, acquiring a knowledge not only of the classical language, but also of current dialects. A project on the part of his employers to open a factory on the east coast of the
Black Sea induced him to study Persian also. But the firm being compelled to withdraw from the
Levant altogether, he was recalled to England.
He made the acquaintance of
Adam Clarke, who found him employment as a private tutor in the house of Dr. Laurell, and afterwards by his interest procured him an assistant professorship in the oriental department of the East India Company's
Haileybury College. On the institution of the Oriental Translation Fund, Shea was made a member of committee, and started by translating
Mirkhond
Muhammad ibn Khvandshah ibn Mahmud, more commonly known as Mirkhvand ( fa, میرخواند, also transliterated as Mirkhwand; 1433/34 – 1498), was a Persian historian active during the reign of the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara (). He is ...
's ‘History of the Early Kings of Persia,’ which was published in London in 1832. He moved on to the translation of the ''
Dabistán''. Before finishing however, he died at Haileybury College on 11 May 1836. The translation of the ''Dabistán'' was completed by Anthony Troyer, and published in Paris in 1843, and in London in 1844.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, David
1777 births
1836 deaths
Writers from County Limerick
Linguists from Ireland
Irish translators
Translators from Persian