Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chaigneau, William
CHAIGNEAU, WILLIAM (1709–1781), novelist, was born in Ireland on 24 Jan. 1709, son of John Chaigneau, of Huguenot extraction (Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. 507–8). He lived at Dublin, being, as Tate Wilkinson describes him, ‘principal agent to most of the regiments on the Irish establishment’ (Wilkinson, Memoirs, i. 162); and having served in the army in Flanders he was familiarly called ‘Colonel.’ About 1740 he married, probably for the second time, and had an only child, a daughter, to whom he was strongly attached; she died in 1749. In 1752 he published anonymously an Irish novel, ‘The History of Jack Connor,’ for which ‘he would not have any gratuity from his bookseller’ (Carter, Letters, ii. 86, and note, and 88). In 1757 Chaigneau lent a house to Tate Wilkinson during an engagement at Sheridan's theatre in Dublin; he also showed many other kindnesses to the actor, and in 1765 adapted a farce from the French, ‘Harlequin Soldier,’ which was performed at Edinburgh, on 22 March, at Wilkinson's benefit. In 1774 Chaigneau went to Montauban, France, but returning to Dublin in June 1775, he died there 1 Oct. 1781, aged 72.
[Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. 11, 507–8; Gent. Mag. vol. lxvi. pt. ii. p. 611; Monthly Review, 1752, vi. 447–9; Wilkinson's Memoirs of his own Life, i. 13, 14, 155–70, 189–91, 198–9; iv. 6, 251–2, 262–3; Mrs. Carter's Letters, ii. 86, and note, and 88.]