Born: 1842, Ireland
Died: 1900
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Elizabeth O’Shea Dillon
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Nancy Murphy. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Elizabeth O’Shea (Mrs Dillon), born in Nenagh in 1842, wrote The bride of Raltard, The last of the leprechauns, and ‘Sal o’ the Wig’, which was serialised in the Shamrock in 1869. Her major work, Dark Rosaleen, a roman à clef (1884), had been serialised in United Ireland, the newspaper of William O’Brien, in 1882–3. The central character, Rev. John Kennedy, is based on John Kenyon, parish priest of Templederry near Nenagh, orator, writer, Young Irelander, and a close friend of the O’Sheas and Gills. Elizabeth went to live in Nagpur, India, some time after her marriage (1883) to Frederick William Dillon, BL, son of Luke Dillon, official at the high court of Allahabad, India.