Charlotte Biggs

Born Rachel Charlotte Williams around 1763, she is usually identified as Rachel Charlotte Biggs after her marriage. Some basic details of her early life remain uncertain, but scholars connect her to Bristol and later to Yorkshire through her family background.

She is best known for A Residence in France during the Years 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, first published anonymously in 1797. That work drew on her time in France during the Revolution and presented the country through a strongly loyalist, anti-revolutionary lens. Later research has confirmed her authorship and corrected earlier misattributions.

Beyond that book, she wrote political material including A Maximum; or the Rise and Progress of Famine (1801), corresponded with leading British politicians, and claimed a major role in promoting the Royal Jubilee of 1809. Records also suggest that she returned to France after her first published account and continued writing about politics, travel, and public affairs well into the 1810s. She died in 1827.