Background
John Cartwright was born at Marnham in Nottinghamshire, being the elder brother of Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the power loom and the younger brother of George Cartwright, trader and explorer of Labrador.
John Cartwright was born at Marnham in Nottinghamshire, being the elder brother of Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the power loom and the younger brother of George Cartwright, trader and explorer of Labrador.
John Cartwright was educated at Newark Grammar School and Heath Academy, he entered the navy about 1758, and was present at the capture of Cherbourg.
When the disputes about taxation began with the American colonies, Cartwright became a staunch supporter of their cause. He was present, in his first year of service, at the capture of Cherbourg, and served in the following year in the action between Sir Edward Hawke and Admiral Conflans.
Engaged afterwards under Sir Hugh Palliser and Admiral Byron on the Newfoundland station, he was appointed to act as chief magistrate of the settlement; and the duties of this post he discharged for five years (1765 - 1770).
Ill-health necessitated his retirement from active service for a time in 1771.
When the disputes with the American colonies began, he saw clearly that the colonists had right on their side, and warmly supported their cause.
But he declined to fight against the cause which he felt to be just.
In 1774 he published his first plea on behalf of the colonists, entitled American Independence the Glory and Interest of Great Britain.
His first work on parliamentary reform, Take Your Choice (1776), was expanded in a second edition as The Legislative Rights of the Commonalty Vindicated (1777).
In 1778 he conceived the project of a political association, which took shape in 1780 as the " Society for Constitutional Information, " including among its members some of the most distinguished men of the day.
From this society sprang the more famous ' ' Corresponding Society. "
He was one of the witnesses on the trial of his friends, Horne Tooke, John Thelwall and Thomas Hardy, in 1794, and was himself indicted for conspiracy in 1819.
He was found guilty in the following year, and was condemned to pay a fine of £100.
In his writings John Cartwright advocated universal suffrage, the abolition of slavery, annual parliaments, and, later, the emancipation of Greece.
John Cartwright was married in 1780, but had no children. He adopted his niece Frances Dorothy Cartwright, daughter of his brother Edmund.