Harriet Dobbs

Harriet Dobbs (August 27, 1808 – May 14, 1887), later Harriet Dobbs Cartwright, was an Irish-born Canadian philanthropist.

Harriet Dobbs
An older white woman seated, wearing a white bonnet with long wide ties; she has grey hair parted center, and is wearing glasses as she looks down into a small book.
Harriet Dobbs, later in life.
BornAugust 27, 1808
Dublin
DiedMay 14, 1887
Kingston, Ontario
Other namesHarriet Dobbs Cartwright
Known forPhilanthropic work in Kingston, 1830s-1880s
ChildrenRichard John Cartwright

Early life

Harriet Dobbs, a member of the family of Castle Dobbs, County Antrim, was born in Dublin. Her parents were Conway Edward Dobbs, a barrister, and Maria Sophia Dobbs.[1] She married Robert Cartwright, from Kingston, Upper Canada, in Dublin in 1832, and moved with her husband to Kingston in 1833.[2][3] Robert was the son of Richard Cartwright, a United Empire Loyalist. His twin brother, John Solomon Cartwright, became a respected lawyer, banker, businessman and politician.

In Canada

Because her husband was an Anglican clergyman, assistant to Archdeacon George Okill Stuart, Dobbs was soon drawn into church and charity work in Kingston.[4] She taught Bible study classes and Sunday school, held sewing and choir group meetings in her home, and joined the Female Benevolent Society of Kingston (FBS).[5] She managed the society's hospital along with others, and organized the annual fundraising bazaar. She also painted portraits to raise money for the FBS. After a fire closed the society's works for a few years, she restarted the FBS in 1839, as a charity focused on visiting, temperance, and caring for the city's poor.[2][3]

Harriet Dobbs was secretary of the Orphans' Home and Widows' Friend Society for 31 years, fundraising and overseeing an orphanage, school, and women's workshop. She visited women in prison, advocated for them, and organized Christmas parties for them with her brother, Francis Dobbs, a prison chaplain.[2][3]

Harriet Dobbs Cartwright was also a skilled watercolourist.[6]

Personal life

Dobbs married Robert David Cartwright in Dublin. He was the son of Richard Cartwright of Kingston, Upper Canada.[7] They had a daughter and four sons; one of their sons was banker and politician Richard John Cartwright, who served in the federal Cabinet under Sir Wilfrid Laurier.[8][9] Her first son died in infancy. She was widowed when Rev. Cartwright died from tuberculosis in 1843,[4] and she died in 1887, aged 78 years; her grave is in Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston.[2][3]

Her husband's twin brother, John Solomon Cartwright, was a well-respected businessman, lawyer and judge. He also died of tuberculosis, two years after her husband.[4]

Archives

There is a Cartwright Family Fonds with the Ontario provincial archives, consisting of documents from 1799 to 1913. The documents were generated by Richard Cartwright, his sons John Solomon Cartwright and the Reverend Robert David Cartwright, Robert's wife Harriet (Dobbs) Cartwright and their son, Sir Richard Cartwright.[10]

References
  1. O'Reilly, Rebecca (2004). "Harriet Dobbs Cartwright". The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies. 30 (2): 68–71. doi:10.2307/25515535. JSTOR 25515535.
  2. Angus, Margaret Sharp. "Harriet Dobbs (Cartwright)". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  3. McKenna, Katherine M. J. "'The Union between Faith and Good Works': The Life of Harriet Dobbs Cartwright, 1808-1887" in Elizabeth Gillan Muir and Marilyn Färdig Whiteley, eds., Changing Roles of Women Within the Christian Church in Canada (University of Toronto Press ): 284-298. ISBN 9780802076236
  4. McLeod, Susanna McLeod (2013-02-05). "Called by God to make Kingston better". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  5. Errington, Elizabeth Jane (1995-09-11). Wives and Mothers, School Mistresses and Scullery Maids: Working Women in Upper Canada, 1790-1840. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 178–182. ISBN 978-0-7735-6544-9.
  6. "Harriet Dobbs Cartwright". Watercolour World. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  7. Roberts, Sir Charles George Douglas; Tunnell, Arthur L. (1910). The Canadian Who's who. University of Toronto Press. p. 38.
  8. Who's who in Finance. Joseph & Sefton. 1911. p. 1011.
  9. "Cartwright, Sir Richard John", by Cecilia Morgan and Robert Craig Brown in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume XIV (1911-1920).
  10. Ontario Archives: Cartwright Family Fonds.
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