• Name: Cartwright, Major John
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 17  September  1740
• Death Date: 23  September  1824
• Occupation: political reformer

Cartwright joined the navy in 1758 and had a successful career. He returned to England in 1770 and began to read widely and write profusely. He developed sympathy - which he professed in writing - for the American colonists which caused him to refuse a commission in American waters in 1775. This ended his naval career but he continued to campaign for political reform. He became a member of the Society of Friends of the People. A testament to his lifelong struggle for the reform of parliament was his arrest for sedition in 1821 at the age of eighty-one.

We have coded all instances of 'Major Cartwright' as Major John Cartwright. There are other instances of 'Cartwright' in the diary. One feature about the entries is that there is a consistent link prior to 1811, with artists: The first call is with Barry; the second is at Johnson's with Fuseli; the third is at the Milton Gallery with Opie, Lawrence, Barry and others; and the fourth and fifth also at Johnson's with Fuesli. We have coded these entries as the artist John Cartwright who shared a house with Fuseli for a number of years and was influenced by him.

This leaves us with an unidentified final entry under Cartwright, where both the painter and reformer are dead. But that Cartwright seems to be someone with whom Mary Shelly is acting as an intermediary in 1826 - possibly someone in the book trade. This Cartright has been left uncoded, along with rev.Cartwright, whom he meets once at Horne Tooke's, and Miss Cartwright, whom he also meets just one.

• DNB

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.