Thomas Sheridan (1687 – 10 October 1738) was an Anglican divine, essayist, playwright, poet, schoolmaster and translator.
He ran a school in Capel Street, Dublin, in the 1720s, whose pupils included children of many prominent families such as Anthony Foster, the future Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and Philip Tisdall, the future Attorney General for Ireland.
[1] His marriage was extremely unhappy, and, though in general a cheerful and easy-going man, he spoke of his wife with something close to hatred: "I have been tied to the Devil for 24 years".
Swift often stayed at Sheridan's country house in County Cavan and wrote part of Gulliver's Travels there[2][3][1] On the much debated question of whether Swift was secretly married to Esther Johnson ("Stella"), Sheridan was a strong if not conclusive witness that the marriage did take place; according to his friends his source for the story was Stella herself.
[1] Sheridan collapsed and died suddenly while having dinner at a friend's house in Rathfarnham, County Dublin.