Major-General Sir Justin Sheil (2 December 1803 – 18 April 1871) was an Irish army officer and diplomat, the British envoy in Persia from 1844 to 1854.

Life

The son of Edward Sheil and Catherine McCarthy, and brother of Richard Lalor Sheil, he was born at Bellevue House, near Waterford, on 2 December 1803. Educated at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

, he was nominated to an East India Company cadetship. On arriving in India Sheil was posted as ensign to the

3rd Bengal infantry Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

(4 March 1820). Exchanged to the

35th Bengal infantry Military units *35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force *35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I *35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 July 1 ...

, of which he became adjutant, he was present at the Siege of Bharatpur. Becoming a captain on 13 April 1830, he was on 4 July 1833 appointed second in command of regular troops in Persia under Major Pasmore; Pasmore had recommended him to Lord William Bentinck and praised him highly. On 16 February 1836 Sheil was appointed secretary to the British legation in Persia, and in 1844 he succeeded Sir John McNeill as envoy and minister at the Shah's court. He held the post till his retirement in 1854. He was promoted to the rank of major on 17 February 1841, and became a major-general in 1859. In 1848 he was created a C.B., and in 1855 a K.C.B. Sheil died in London on 18 April 1871. Curiously he chose not to be buried alongside his wife, who had died in Ireland two years earlier.

Works

Sheil contributed notes on ''Koords, Turkomans, Nestorians, Khiva, ...'', to a book ''Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia'' (London, 1856), written by his wife. He published in vol. viii. of the ''Royal Geographical Society's Journal'' "Notes of a Journey from Kurdistan to Suleimaniyeh in 1836", and "Itinerary from Tehran to Alamut in May 1837".

Family

Sheil married the writer Mary Leonora Woulfe, daughter of

Stephen Woulfe Stephen Woulfe (1787 – 2 July 1840) was an Irish barrister and Whig politician. He served as Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1836 and as Attorney-General for Ireland in 1838. He was the first Roman Catholic to be appointed Chief Baron of the ...

, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and Frances Hamill. She died in 1869: she is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, far from her husband. They had ten children, including the politician

Edward Sheil Edward Sheil (1851 – 3 July 1915) was Irish nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Athlone from 1874 to 1880, for Meath from 1882 to 1885, and for South Meath from 1885 to 1892, taking his seat in the House of Commons o ...

, Mary Emily (died 1888), who married her cousin, the leading journalist John Woulfe Flanagan, and Laura, who married the Spanish diplomat Pedro de Zulueta and was the mother of Francis de Zulueta, Regius Professor of Civil Law (Oxford) at the Regius Professor of Law.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheil, Justin 1803 births 1871 deaths British East India Company Army officers British diplomats People from County Waterford British Indian Army generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath