William Ralph Cartwright (30 March 1771 – 4 January 1847) was an English landowner and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1797 and 1846.

Life

Cartwright was the son of Thomas Cartwright of

Aynhoe Park Aynhoe Park, is a 17th-century country estate consisting of land and buildings that were rebuilt after the English Civil War on the southern edge of the stone-built village of Aynho, Northamptonshire, England. It overlooks the Cherwell valley tha ...

and his wife Mary Catherine Desaguilliers. In 1793 a highwayman was transported for robbing him of £32 10s worth of goods and money. In 1797 on the retirement of Thomas Powys, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. He held the seat until 1831. In the 1832 general election he was elected MP for

South Northamptonshire South Northamptonshire was, from 1974 to 2021, a district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council was based in the town of Towcester, first established as a settlement in Roman Britain. The population of the Local Authority District Council in ...

and held the seat until he resigned in 1846. Cartwright was lieutenant-colonel in the local militia during the Napoleonic wars, and was responsible for the Brackley Battalion. Aynho - Minutes of April 2009 meeting - The Cartwright papers
/ref> In the time of agricultural depression and increasing population, Cartwright helped settle many dozens of his surplus agricultural labourers in

Wellington County, Ontario Wellington County is a county located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada and is part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The County, made up of two towns and five townships, is predominantly rural in nature. However many of the residents in the so ...

from the late 1820s until his death. He ran up huge debts, mainly from playing the stock market, which he did unsuccessfully.

Family

Cartwright married Hon. Emma Mary Maude daughter of

Viscount Hawarden Viscount Hawarden is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. Creation It was created in 1793 for Sir Cornwallis Maude, 3rd Baronet, who had earlier represented the borough of Roscommon in the Irish House of Commons. He had succeeded his older bro ...

on 12 April 1794. They had children

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

who became a diplomat and

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

who became a lieutenant general. These had respectively sons

William Cornwallis Cartwright William Cornwallis Cartwright (24 November 1825 – 8 November 1915) was an art collector, author and a Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885 Biography Cartwright was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Cartwright, ...

and Fairfax Cartwright who were both MPs. Cartwright's wife died in 1808 and he married again on 29 May 1810 to Julia Frances Aubrey, with whom he had five children including

Henry Cartwright Henry Cartwright (1 September 1814 – 26 July 1890) was a British Conservative Party politician. Cartwright was the second of five children of former Northamptonshire and South Northamptonshire Tory and Conservative MP William Ralph Cartwrigh ...

References

External links

*
Portrait
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, William Ralph 1771 births 1847 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies British MPs 1796–1800 UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 English landowners People from Aynho