Betsy Sheridan (1758–1837)

Anne Elizabeth "Betsy" Sheridan, later Lefanu, was an Anglo-Irish writer, a daughter of theater manager-actor Thomas Sheridan and his wife, novelist Frances Chamberlaine Sheridan. She was the sister of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and playwright Alicia Sheridan Lefanu. In 1791, she married Captain Henry Lefanu, whose brother Joseph Lefanu was married to her older sister Alicia. Betsy wrote novels, including The India Voyage (1804) and The Sister (1810); but she is best known for her journal and letters, which she sent weekly to Alicia in Dublin. The letters provided a lively, witty account of Betsy's social world, including her extensive contacts with the theater and the aristocracy through her brother Richard. They were first published in 1960 as Betsy Sheridan's Journal: Letters from Sheridan's Sister, edited by her relative William LeFanu. The extended family of Lefanus and Sheridans included numerous other authors, including Betsy's daughter Alicia Lefanu (1791–1867).