Wright, Frances (1795–1852)

FRANCES “FANNY” WRIGHT, a woman ahead of her time, was a reformer, a radical free-thinker, a utopian, and devoted to the public good. She was born in Scotland to an upper-middle-class family. She and her younger sister, Camilla, were orphaned as children and sent to live with family in London, England. The death of an uncle left the young girls with a sizeable fortune. When Wright turned 18, she fled to the home of another uncle in Glasgow, Scotland. She was self-educated.

Wright first visited the United States from 1818 to 1820. Following this visit, she published Views of Society and Manners in America. She was a disciple of the English radical thinker Jeremy Bentham. During a trip to France, she met the Marquis de Lafayette, ...