John Sheehan (journalist)

John Sheehan (1812–1882) was an Irish journalist, writer and barrister.

Sheehan was the son of an hotel-keeper at Celbridge, County Kildare, where he was born. He was sent to the Jesuit college at Clongoweswood, where Francis Sylvester Mahony was his tutor for a time. About 1829 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, but did not graduate.

In 1830 Sheehan joined the Comet Club of young Irishmen, with Samuel Lover, Joseph Stirling Coyne, Robert Knox who became editor of The Morning Post, and Maurice O'Connell. The club issued pamphlets attacking the tithe system; the first, The Parson's Horn Book, which appeared in two parts with etchings by Lover, was popular. The club then issued The Comet, a satirical weekly paper opposing gthe Church of Ireland, with the first number appearing on 1 May 1831. Sheehan was appointed sub-editor. In a few weeks it had reached a circulation of several thousand copies, and until its closure at the end of 1833 was influential.

The government in the autumn of 1833 ordered the arrest of Thomas Browne, the editor The Comet, and Sheehan, for libel. They were defended by Daniel O'Connell and Robert Holmes, but were each sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined. The fine was then remitted, and the term of imprisonment was only partly served.

Sheehan, on his release, studied for the Irish bar, to which he was called in 1835. He shortly afterwards came to London. In 1836–7 he was in Paris and Madrid as representative of The Constitutional newspaper.

In 1839 Sheehan matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, though he took no degree. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1841, and was called to the bar in 1846. After a short career as a barrister he concentrated again on journalism. He was parliamentary reporter of the Morning Herald, contributing also poems and sketches to Bentley's Miscellany and other magazines.

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