Charlotte Richardson or Charlotte Smith (5 March 1775 – 26 September 1825) was a British poet.

Life

Richardson was born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in 1775 and by 1790 she had attended the basic Grey Coats School in York and she had become an orphan. She gave up her job as a cook/maid and married a shoemaker in 1802 but two years later he died of tuberculosis and she was a single parent. Her benefactor was Catherine Cappe who knew her from her four years at school and her brother had been the Richardson family's doctor. Cappe was involved with education in York and she was the second wife of the Unitarian minister Newcombe Cappe.G. M. Ditchfield, ‘Cappe, Newcome (1733–1800)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 201
accessed 15 Nov 2016
/ref> Cappe was impressed by her poetry and arranged for ''Poems on Different Occasions'' to be published. She ensured these were bought by writing to

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

. Over 600 books were sold by subscription and a second printing enabled Richardson to open a small school. Another edition was printed in the USA.J. R. de J. Jackson, ‘Richardson , Charlotte (1775–1825)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 15 Nov 2016
/ref> By 1809 the school was gone and Richardson was ill. Cappe had a second book of poetry published titled ''Poems Chiefly Composed during the Pressure of Severe Illness'' (1809). Richardson died in Acomb, North Yorkshire in 1825. Her poetry refers to her thoughts on French invasion, the slave trade and her reading of Thomas Clarkson and

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Charlotte 1775 births 1825 deaths Writers from York 19th-century English poets 20th-century English poets English women poets 20th-century English women writers 19th-century women writers Writers from Yorkshire 19th-century English women