Regency Women of Character: Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye

Helen Blackwood nee Sheridan (1807-1867), Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye and later Countess of Gifford, was an Irish composer, poet, songwriter, and author who was not only admired for her wit and prominence in London society, but also her beauty. While much of her works were recognized in the early Victorian era, it was influenced by her early years during the long Regency.

Her mother, Caroline Sheridan nee Callander, was an English novelist who published three novels in the 1830s. Her father, Thomas Sheridan, was a fledgling politician and military man before becoming manager of Drury Lane Theare in 1806. He also managed the Lyceum Theatre around the same time. He wrote plays, melodramas, and poetry that was staged throughout his career managing Drury Lane, and also was known to perform as an actor and singer. Sheridan later moved abroad to aid his tuberculosis, and died in 1817.

Helen was the eldest of three sisters who were nicknamed the Three Graces for their beauty and accomplishments, with Caroline Norton (nee Sheridan) also becoming a writer and Georgiana marrying the Duke of Somerset. The newspapers called it “somewhat singular coincidence” that all three daughters were “united to heirs apparent or presumptive to titles” (Leamington Spa Courier – Saturday 24 September 1836). Helen’s fourth brothers also had varying successes.

Helen was engaged to Commander Price Blackwood at seventeen, and although the third son he succeeded to the baronetcy after his brother’s deaths. They married in 1825. The marriage was opposed by his parents, who had wanted him to marry someone with more money. As a result, Price and Helen lived in Florence for several years until the birth of their son, Frederick. At that point, Helen used her sisters for entree into fashionable circles and Blackwood succeeded to the title in 1839. However, he died of an accidental morphine overdose in 1841.

In 1862, she agreed to marry the Earl of Gifford, her friend, by special license following his traumatic injury trying to rescue a workman about to be crushed by a tree he was cutting down at Yester Castle. Helen had previously denied his proposal, but agreed after his accident. He suffered for sixteen months until he passed, and with no issue his brother inherited the title and estate.

From her early years in the theatre, she developed a talent for song writing. Her most popular ballad was The Irish Emigrant, which was globally published. In 1863, one of Helen’s plays was staged and her account of travelling up the Nile with her son was also published. Her book was a satire of travel literature, particularly those written by female travelers.

Helen died of breast cancer at the age of 60. Her son posthumously published a memoir with some of her songs and poems in 1894.

The Leisure Hour. (1852). United Kingdom: W. Stevens, printer.