author

Caroline Frances Cornwallis

1786–1858

A self-taught 19th-century English writer and thinker, she published on religion, philosophy, and history while living much of her life outside literary circles. Her work drew notice for its seriousness and independence of mind, and her letters later helped preserve a fuller picture of her life.

1 Audiobook

Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century

Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century

by Caroline Frances Cornwallis

About the author

Born in Kent in 1786, Caroline Frances Cornwallis was the daughter of the Rev. William Cornwallis, rector of Wittersham and Elham. Reference works describe her as an unusually precocious child who wrote from a very young age and continued studying despite recurring ill health.

She went on to become an English author known for wide-ranging interests that included theology, philosophy, and historical subjects. Accounts of her life note that she spent many years in relative retirement, yet kept writing steadily and earned respect for the originality and seriousness of her ideas.

Cornwallis died in Kent on January 8, 1858. Her reputation was later supported in part by published selections from her letters, which offered readers a more personal view of a thoughtful and disciplined literary life.