Sir Richard Sullivan, 1st Baronet
(1752-1806)
BIRTH
December 10, 1752
PLACE
County Cork, Ireland
DEATH
July 17, 1806
PLACE
Thames Ditton, Surrey, England
FAMILY
BROTHER
George Sullivan
(1771–1838)
BROTHER
William Kirby Sullivan
(1821-1890)
CHILDREN
Benjamin Sullivan
(1720-1767)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
ROYAL SOCIETY FELLOW, SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES FELLOW
AWARDS
Sir Richard Joseph Sullivan (1752–1806) was an Irish-born traveller, writer and British MP. East India Company employment brought him a fortune and material for books on Indian history and society. Returning to England in 1778, he toured Britain and published his travels. He represented New Romney and later Seaford, supported William Pitt, and became a baronet in 1804. His historical and philosophical works earned scholarly recognition but mixed reviews.
EARLY LIFE
Richard Sullivan was born on Dec 10, 1752. The surviving biographical summary provides only limited evidence about childhood, schooling, and the daily circumstances of the household, so those details are not reconstructed here without documentation. What can be stated securely is that this person belonged to the interconnected family world from which HistoryGPS traces participants, relatives, and later descendants of the Revolutionary generation.
Richard Sullivan made his first fortune in the service of the East India Company, going to India with his brother John through the influence of their relation Laurence Sulivan. Returning to England in 1778, he toured England, Scotland and Wales and published an account in two volumes in 1780. His Indian experience also supplied material for An Analysis of the Political History of India, issued in 1779 and later translated into German. Thoughts on Martial Law appeared in the same year.
He pursued a varied literary career alongside politics. Philosophical Rhapsodies, published in three volumes in 1784–85, discussed the laws, customs and religions of societies in Asia, Africa and Europe. He was elected to the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society in 1785. Later works included Thoughts on the Early Ages of the Irish Nation and A View of Nature, in Letters to a Traveller among the Alps. The latter filled six volumes in 1794 and received mixed reviews before appearing in a German edition.
Sullivan entered Parliament for New Romney in 1787 and retained the seat until 1796. He returned to the Commons for Seaford in 1802. A supporter of William Pitt, he received a baronetcy in May 1804 after Pitt resumed office, although he voted against the ministry's Additional Force Bill the following month. His parliamentary service continued alongside his historical and philosophical writing until his death in 1806. The fuller name in biographies is Sir Richard Joseph Sullivan.
CAREER
DEATH
East India Company employment brought him a fortune and material for books on Indian history and society. Returning to England in 1778, he toured Britain and published his travels. Sullivan entered Parliament for New Romney in 1787 and retained the seat until 1796. He returned to the Commons for Seaford in 1802. A supporter of William Pitt, he received a baronetcy in May 1804 after Pitt resumed office, although he voted against the ministry's Additional Force Bill the following month. His parliamentary service continued alongside his historical and philosophical writing until his death in 1806. The fuller name in biographies is Sir Richard Joseph Sullivan. He lost his seat in 1796, but on 5 July 1802 was elected for Seaford, another of the Cinque ports. On 22 May 1804, on Pitt's return to office, he was created a baronet of the United Kingdom. Richard Sullivan died on Jul 17, 1806, in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
This entry concerns Sir Richard Joseph Sullivan (also spelled Sulivan), the traveller, writer and MP, not the nineteenth-century India official Richard John Sullivan. The CSV name is preserved; the books use the author’s historical spelling Sulivan. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, biographical reference and related studies clearly labelled.
1. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1790–1820 — R. G. Thorne (editor). [Biographical reference] Find on Amazon
2. An Analysis of the Political History of India — Richard Joseph Sulivan. [Primary political writing] Find on Amazon
3. Observations Made During a Tour Through Parts of England, Scotland, and Wales — Richard Joseph Sulivan. [Autobiographical travel writing] Find on Amazon
4. A View of Nature, in Letters to a Traveller Among the Alps — Richard Joseph Sulivan. [Primary philosophical writing] Find on Amazon
5. Philosophical Rhapsodies: Fragments of Akbur of Betlis — Richard Joseph Sulivan. [Primary philosophical writing] Find on Amazon
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