Chichester, Sophia (1795–1847)

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Chichester, Sophia (1795–1847)

English radical. Born Sophia Catherine Ford in 1795 in Staffordshire, England; grew up in London; died in 1847; dau. of Francis Ford (Barbados sugar plantation owner and MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, died 1801) and Mary Anson (granddau. of the first Lord Vernon); sister of Georgiana Welch (1792–1879); became the 3rd wife of Colonel John Palmer Chichester, 1822 (died 1823).

Following husband's death, lived with sister at Ebworth Park; became critical of state and church that upheld unjust marriage laws; corresponded with Richard Carlile and was mentored by the mystic, James Pierrepont Greaves; attempted to enlighten the villagers near Ebworth Park by issuing tracts; financially supported radicals, including Robert Owen and James E. Smith; appointed president of the British and Foreign Society for the Promotion of Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food (c. 1842); translated The Phalanstery from the French (1841).

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