Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cartwright, Frances Dorothy
CARTWRIGHT, FRANCES DOROTHY (1780–1863), poetess and biographer, youngest child of the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, D.D. [q. v.] inventor of the powerloom, &c., by his first wife, Alice, was born 28 Oct. 1780. She was adopted by her uncle. Major Cartwright [q. v.], the energetic politician, on her mother's death, while she was still an infant; and was sent to school at Richmond. In 1802 she began to write small poems, and in 1823, being much interested by the Spanish patriots received by her uncle, she learnt Spanish and translated a few of Riego's poems into English. On the death of her uncle in 1824 she prepared her first published work, 'The Life and Correspondence of Major Cartwright,' published in 1826. She retired with Major Cartwright's widow to Worthing, and published her poems there anonymously, in a little volume, 'Poems, chiefly Devotional,' dated 13 Nov. 1835. Her translations of Riego's poems appeared, with her initials, in the poet's 'Obras Póstumas Poéticas' (1844). She died at Brighton 13 Jan. 1863, aged 83.
[Frances Cartwright's Life of her uncle, i. 163, 405, 408-12, ii. 163, 243, 245, 279. 301: her Poems. 18, 21-6. 41, 47, 48. 50; El Romancero and Obras Póstumas Poéticas of E. A. del Riego y Nuñez and R. del Riogo y Nuñez, on coloured leaves, not paged; Brighton Examiner, 20 Jan. 1863.]