Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Helen Selina Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye, later Helen Selina Hay, Countess of Gifford, born Helen Selina Sheridan, (1807-1867), was a British song-writer, composer, poet, and author. As well as being admired for her wit and literary talents, she was a fashionable beauty and a well-known figure in London society of the mid-19th century. Helen Sheridan came from a literary and theatrical family with political connections. Her father, Thomas Sheridan (1775-1817), an actor, soldier and colonial administrator, was the younger son of famous Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and her mother was Caroline Henrietta Sheridan(Callander) (1779-1851), a novelist. In 1813, Thomas took Helen and his wife with him to a post at the Cape of Good Hope, where he died four years later on 12 September 1817.