Forger of Shakespeare manuscripts, born in London, UK. He was articled to a London conveyancer where he had access to Elizabethan parchment and legal documents. Impressed with the story of Chatterton, he forged deeds and signatures of or relating to Shakespeare, and gradually more and more documents which his father eventually put on display. Many men of letters and experts believed in what they saw, but the material was denounced as a forgery by specialists such as Malone. Ireland then found a new historical play entitled Vortigern and Rowena, which was produced by Sheridan at Drury Lane in 1796 with Kemble in the cast, but damned at once. His father finally began to suspect, and Ireland confessed in a public statement (1796) which he later expanded into his Confessions (1805). Employed by publishers in London, he sold imitations of his forgeries, and published ballads, narrative poems, romances, and other works of some literary merit.
Samuel William Henry Ireland (1777–1835) was a forger of would-be Shakespearean documents and plays.
Early life
William Henry Ireland was born in London in 1777. His father, Samuel Ireland, was a successful publisher of travelogues, collector of antiquities and collector of Shakespearian plays and "relics".
Son William also became a collector of books. When he was apprenticed to a mortgage lawyer, Ireland begun to experiment with blank, genuinely old papers and forged signatures on them.
First forgeries
In December 1794, William told his father that he had discovered a cache of old documents belonging to an acquaintance who wanted to remain unnamed, and that one of them was a deed with a signature of Shakespeare in it.
Ireland went on to make more findings – a promissory note, a written declaration of protestant faith, letters to Anne Hathaway (with a lock of hair attached), and to Queen Elizabeth – all supposedly in Shakespeare's hand.
In January 1796, Samuel Ireland published his own book about the papers – Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments under the Hand and Seal of William Shakespeare. More people took interest in the matter and the plot begun to unravel.
"The Solemn Mockery"
At the age of 18, Ireland became bolder and produced a whole new play – Vortigern and Rowena. Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan acquired rights for the first production of the play at London's Drury Lane Theatre for 300 pounds, and a promise of half of all profits to the Irelands.
Sheridan read the play and noticed it was relatively simplistic compared to Shakespeare's "other" works.
Vortigern and Rowena opened on April 2, 1796 but Kemble used the chance to hint at his opinion by adding a phrase "and when this solemn mockery is o'er," and the play was greeted with the audience's catcalls.
Forgeries exposed
When critics closed in and accused Samuel Ireland of forgery, his son published a confession – An Authentic Account of the Shaksperian Manuscripts – but many critics could not believe a young man could have forged them all by himself.
In 1805 William Henry published The Confessions of William Henry Ireland, but thorough confession did not help his reputation and he moved to France.
There has been recent scholarly interest in his later gothic novels and his poetry. Reprinted in 2005, (Jeffrey Kahan, editor), Zittaw Press ISBN 0-9767212-1-X Gondez the Monk: A Romance of the Thirteenth Century 1805, gothic, reprinted in 2005, (Jeffrey Kahan, editor), Zittaw Press ISBN 0-9753395-8-3 The Confessions of William Henry Ireland 1805 Reprinted 2001, Elibron Classics. ISBN 1-85699-213-6 A New and Complete History of the County of Kent (4 volumes), 1831, reprinted 1919, London: Virtue. A New and Complete History of the Isle of Thanet ISBN 1-905477-10-4 Ireland's History of Woolwich ISBN 1-85699-202-0 Ireland's History of Chislehurst ISBN 1-85699-197-0 Ireland's History of Gravesend ISBN 1-85699-211-X Vortigern: an Historical Play, with an Original Preface, 1832, London: Joseph Thomas. Ireland (1801-1815) Including the Poet's Imitations, Satires, Romantic Verses, and Commentaries on Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, and Others, 2003 Mellen Press.
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