Richard Cartwright (Loyalist)

Richard Cartwright (February 2, 1759 – July 27, 1815) was a merchant, land speculator, judge, and legislative councillor in Upper Canada. An avowed Loyalist during the American Revolution, he was forced to leave his Albany, New York home in 1777. Cartwright's account of events during his time as John Butler's secretary provides a civilian's perspective of key events in the history of the Revolutionary War including the Battle of Wyoming and the Sullivan Campaign. He became a merchant at Fort Niagara in 1780, and relocated to what is now Kingston, Ontario after the war. Cartwright was appointed a judge in the Court of Common Pleas in 1788, and a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada in 1792.