ABSTRACT
Major John Cartwright, the parliamentary reformer, and the Rev. Dr. Edmund Cartwright, the inventor of the power-loom and the woolcombing machine, were brothers. The Cartwrights were an old-established Nottinghamshire family, being seated at Marnham in the north-east of the county in the eighteenth century. The four sons of William Cartwright all achieved distinction. John and Edmund are the most celebrated, but the explorer George ('Labrador') Cartwright not only impressed the people of Mansfield and Nottingham with his herculean physique and remarkable career, but is also notable for having caused a sensation in London society by bringing four Eskimos to this country. The remaining brother, Charles, became a distinguished naval commander. Later, one of Edmund's daughters became famous as Mrs. Elizabeth Markham, the writer of historical literature for young people. Major John Cartwright is best known as a would-be political reformer and Halévy expressed the opinion that he was the founder of English radicalism.
