Mary O'Brien (
fl.
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
1785 – 1790), was an Irish poet and playwright who wrote during and about the Regency period.
Biography
Very little is known about the personal life of Mary O'Brien except that she was the wife of Patrick O'Brien Esq. as she wrote both under her name and as Mrs Patrick O'Brien. She was in favour of Irish economic independence and an independent Irish parliament as well as being a supporter of
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...
and
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, writer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1812, representing the constituencies of Stafford, Westminster and I ...
. She believed that
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
should be replaced by a Regent while he was unwell. O'Brien hoped that this would also remove
William Pitt from his position. Her work was considered satyrical and political. She wrote poetry and plays.
Bibliography
* ''The political monitor; or Regent's friend'', (1790)
* ''The Fallen Patriot'', (1794)
* ''Charles Henley''
* ''The pious incendiaries'', (1785)
References and sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Brien, Mary (writer)
18th-century Irish people
19th-century Irish poets
19th-century Irish women writers
19th-century Irish writers
Irish women poets