Charlotte Turner Smith

(b. May 4, 1749, King Street, St James's Square, London – d. Oct. 28, 1806, Tilford, Surrey )

Gender: F

Charlotte Turner (1749-1806) was the daughter of Nicholas Turner and Anna Towers; after her mother’s early death, her father’s reckless spending forced her, at the age of fifteen, to marry Benjamin Smith, a violent and profligate man with whom she had twelve children, only six of whom survived her. She spent time with him in debtors’ prison and also in France, where he had fled to escape his creditors. Eventually, after twenty-two years of marriage, she left Smith and began to write novels to support her family; although her father-in-law had left her a significant inheritance, it was tied up in the court of chancery for nearly forty years, and the case was not settled until seven years after Turner Smith’s death. Her novels, which included the Orphan of the Castle, were sentimental and didactic, and their subjects often reflected her own situation, featuring innocent women left without legal recourse against faithless or cruel husbands. Turner Smith was conscious that legally all the income from her writing was the property of her husband, and argued through her novels for legal reforms to improve the situation of married women. She became involved with the English radicals who supported the American and French revolutions, but was also associated with Charles Burney (father of Fanny Burney), Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Erskine, Mary Hays and Richard Sheridan, and was a friend of Anne Radcliffe. She published, on average, one work a year for twenty-two years, but by 1803 had descended into poverty and could barely afford food. She suffered from gout, and died after a painful illness.

Also known as:

Charlotte Smith (née Turner)

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