Robert Jephson (1736 – 31 May 1803) was an Irish
dramatist
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and politician.
Life
He was born in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, a younger son of John Jephson,
Archdeacon of Cloyne
The Archdeacon of Cloyne was a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Cloyne until 1835; and then within the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross until 1986 when it merged with the Archdeaconry of Cork. As such he was responsible for t ...
. He entered
Trinity College, Dublin in 1751, but left without a degree. He then joined the British Army, with a commission in the
73rd Regiment of Foot (1758), and served in the Caribbean. He left, for health reasons.
Jephson then lived in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, at
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
, with
William Gerard Hamilton.
There he was the friend of
David Garrick,
Joshua Reynolds,
Oliver Goldsmith,
Samuel Johnson,
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
,
Charles Burney and
Charles Townshend. His appointment as master of the horse to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland took him back to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
.
He published, in the ''Mercury'' newspaper, a series of articles in defence of the lord-lieutenant's administration which were afterwards collected and issued in book form under the title of ''The Bachelor, or Speculations of Jeoffry Wagstaffe''. A pension of £300, later doubled, was granted him, and he held his appointment under twelve succeeding
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
s.
Jephson entered the
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...
in 1773 and sat for
St Johnstown (County Longford) until 1776. Between 1777 and 1783, he served as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Old Leighlin
Old Leighlin () is a small village in County Carlow, Ireland, 3.5 km west of Leighlinbridge. The site was at one time one of the foremost monastic houses in Leinster, with 1500 monks in residence. It was the location for a church syno ...
and subsequently represented
Granard
Granard () is a town in the north of County Longford, Ireland, and has a traceable history going back to AD 236. It is situated just south of the boundary between the watersheds of the Shannon and the Erne, at the point where the N55 nation ...
from 1783 to 1790. He died at Blackrock, near Dublin.
Works
From 1775 Jephson took up writing plays. Among others, his
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
''
Braganza'' was successfully performed at
Drury Lane in 1775, ''
The Conspiracy'' in 1796, ''
Julia
Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...
'' in 1797, ''
The Law of Lombardy'' in 1779, and ''
The Count of Narbonne'' at
Covent Garden in 1781, adapted from
Horace Walpole's ''
The Castle of Otranto
''The Castle of Otranto'' is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – ''A Gothic Story''. Se ...
'' and ''
The Campaign'' at the
Smock Alley Theatre
Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley.
The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...
in 1784.
In 1794 he published an heroic poem ''Roman Portraits'', and ''The Confessions of Jacques Baptiste Couteau'', a satire on the excesses of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Library Ireland bio*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jephson, Robert
1736 births
1803 deaths
18th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights
18th-century Irish male writers
19th-century Irish people
Irish male dramatists and playwrights
Irish MPs 1769–1776
Irish MPs 1776–1783
Irish MPs 1783–1790
Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Carlow constituencies
Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Longford constituencies