Francis Higgins (1746–1802)
Higgins, Francis [called the Sham Squire] (1746–1802), newspaper proprietor and spy
Francis Higgins, also called the "Sham Squire", (1746 – 19 January 1802) was an Irish newspaper proprietor and spy.
Biography
Higgins was the son of humble parents, who migrated from Downpatrick in Ulster to Dublin. Higgins passed his early years in menial employments, became an attorney's clerk, was converted to Protestantism, and, by practising gross deception, married a respectable lady, whose relatives in 1766 prosecuted him for fraud. Higgins was convicted, and was for some time imprisoned. To this incident was attributed Higgins's sobriquet of the ‘Sham Squire.’ After his release he formed lucrative connections with lottery-offices and gambling-houses. He was admitted an attorney at Dublin in 1780, and secured the posts of deputy-coroner and under-sheriff. Higgins became owner of the newspaper styled ‘The Freeman's Journal,’ which, with his own services, he placed at the disposal of the administrators of the government at Dublin. Thenceforth Higgins continuously assailed in his paper the opponents of the government, and Henry Grattan denounced in parliament the mendacities and unscrupulous conduct of the journal. In 1788 Higgins was appointed a magistrate by Lord-chancellor Lifford. John Magee, in his paper, the ‘Dublin Evening Post,’ published numerous satires in prose and verse on Higgins and his associate, Richard Daly.
“Francis Higgins (1746–1802)” enters the record as higgins, Francis [called the Sham Squire] (1746–1802), newspaper proprietor and spy. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Francis, Higgins and called can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18671192. VIAF identifies the subject as 44613366. The Library of Congress control number is n2004031767. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1746, 1802, 1766 and 1780.
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This entry incorporates text from “Francis Higgins (1746–1802)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.