The Glorious First of June premiered on 2 July 1794 at the Drury Lane Theatre and concerns the naval battle between France and Britain in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle began when the British Channel Fleet, under the command of Admiral Lord Howe, attempted to block the passage of a French grain convoy going to France from America. The social upheavals in France during the revolution and a particularly poor harvest had led to an impending famine. The decision had been made to purchase goods in America and to export food from French colonies to send home. Howe attacked the French Atlantic Fleet, commanded by Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse and inflicted severe damages on the ships. However, it was insufficient to prevent the convoy reaching safety. It was a battle that resulted in thousands of casualties and it was used by both sides to increase patriotic fervour.
The Glorious First of June was for years credited to James Cobb, the eighteenth century English librettist, and was considered to be simply a celebration of the naval victory. However, in Naval Engagements: Patriotism, Cultural Politics and Royal Navy 1793-1815, Timothy Jenks states that the play as it was performed was significantly different from the version given to the government censors before it opened. He writes that the author made changes to the text on the afternoon before it premiered and argues that these alterations were important in undermining the idea that the play should be understood as a ‘loyalist text’ (p37). He proposes that the 1794 production ‘continued the debate over naval patriotism and the meaning of the battle’ (p36). Sheridan donated the proceeds from the work to funds for the families of those killed in the battle, serving to highlight the ‘social costs’ and ‘disruptive effects of war’ (p36).