Dion Boucicault

Deirdre McFeely (Trinity College Dublin)

Ed. by Ian Campbell Ross, Trinity College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

Born 26 Dec 1820
Died 18 Sep 1890
Activity 1841-1890

Places

Born in Ireland, Republic of (Eire)
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist

Resources

Boucicault's Works

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Dion Boucicault was born Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot in Dublin, Ireland, the fifth child of Samuel Smith Boursiquot and Anne Darley. Samuel, a Dublin wine merchant of Huguenot extraction, was forty-four when he married the eighteen-year old Anne in 1813. Her Irish Protestant family was distantly related to the wealthy Guinness brewing family, and her brothers, George Darley, a poet, and the Reverend Charles Darley, the first Professor of English Literature at Queen’s College, Cork, were both minor playwrights from whom Boucicault claimed to have inherited his literary talent. Samuel Boursiquot was under severe financial and personal strain by the time of his son’s birth in December 1820. As the marriage deteriorated, Anne embarked on an affair with an old childhood friend, Dionysius…

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2833 words

Citation: McFeely, Deirdre. "Dion Boucicault". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 November 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=500, accessed 24 November 2024.]