Lots of discussion of Frances Wright's ancestry:
'Frances "Fannie" Wright, the abolitionist and social activist, might
be eligible. There are bios. of her in both the DNB (under her
married name of "Darusmont") and the DAB. The DAB entry reads, in
part,
"WRIGHT, FRANCES (Sept. 6, 1795-Dec. 13, 1852), reformer, free
thinker, was born in Dundee, Scotland, the daughter of James Wright, a
man of means and radical opinions who promoted the circulation of
Thomas Paine's _Rights of Man_ in his environment. Her mother, who
was part English, was a daughter of Duncan Campbell, an army officer.
Both parents died when Frances was barely two and a half years old,
leaving to the child the heritage of an inquiring mind and a large
fortune. She was brought up and educated by conventional relatives of
her mother in London, but was a difficult and rebellious child and as
soon as her legal status permitted turned her back on London and
returned to Scotland ..."
This is not necessarily promising for someone looking for a royal
line. But William Randall Waterman's biography, _Frances Wright_,
published in 1924 in Columbia University's series, "Studies in
History, Economics and Public Law," is more explicit:
p. 14: "Frances Wright was of Scotch parentage, and was born in
Miln's Buildings, Nethergate, Dundee, the sixth of September, 1795.
Her father, James Wright, was the descendant of a long line of wealthy
merchants, who appear as large property holders in Dundee as early as
the year 1500. On the mother's side she came of both Scotch and
English ancestry. Her maternal grandfather was Duncan Campbell, an
officer in the British army. Her uncle, General William Campbell,
rose to prominence in the Indian service in which he eventually lost
his life. Of her English ancestry the most interesting connections
were her mother's uncle, Richard Robinson, first Baron Rokeby and
Primate of Ireland, and the brilliant Mrs. Montagu, her mother's
great-aunt."
p. 16: a great-uncle was "James Mylne, professor of Moral Philosophy
in the University of Glasgow."
p. 16: "Frances herself, at the wish of her maternal grandfather,
General Duncan Campbell, was taken to England, and brought up as a
ward of chancery in the Campbell home in London, or at Luscombe in
Devonshire."
p. 257: "What remains of the large collection of letters and other
documents left by Frances Wright D'Arusmont is now in the possession
of her grandson, the Reverend William Norman Guthrie, Rector of St.
Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie, New York City."
The "brilliant Mrs. Montagu, her mother's great-aunt" must be,
according to the Oxford DNB--
Montagu [née Robinson], Elizabeth (1718-1800), author and literary
hostess, was born at York on 2 October 1718, the first daughter and
fifth child of Matthew Robinson (1694–1778) of Edgeley and West
Layton, Yorkshire, and his wife, Elizabeth (c.1697–1746), daughter of
Robert Drake, recorder of Cambridge, and his wife, Sarah Morris. A
second daughter, Sarah (1720–1795) [see Scott, Sarah], three infants
who did not survive, and three more living sons completed the Robinson
family. The families of both parents were wealthy and well connected.
Elizabeth's eldest brother, Matthew (1713–1800) [see Morris, Matthew
Robinson-], succeeded his father's cousin, Richard Robinson,
archbishop of Armagh, as second Baron Rokeby in the Irish peerage in
1794. Mrs Robinson's brother Morris Drake Morris inherited the large
Kent holdings of their maternal grandfather, Thomas Morris, about
1717.
Does anybody know of any royal lines for these people?'
'The IGI has an extracted record for the marriage, 11 April 1792 at
Dundee, of James Wright and Camilla Elisth. Campbell. This must be the
marriage of Fannie's parents, as she had a sister Camilla.
The marriage of her maternal grandparents may be that of Duncan
Campbell to Jane Robinson, 16 July 1776 at St. Leonard's Shoreditch,
London, but that's making Camilla Campbell awfully young at marriage.'
'The ODNB bio. of Mrs. Montagu's brother, Matthew Robinson-Morris, 2nd
Baron Rokeby, states that they were descendants of Rev. Matthew
Robinson (1628-1694), also covered in the ODNB, the son of "Thomas
Robinson, barrister of Gray's Inn, and his wife, Frances, daughter of
Leonard Smelt, of Kirby Fleetham, Yorkshire."
P. 104 of the 1665 Yorkshire Visitation ("Smelt of Kirby Fleetham")
shows that Frances (Smelt) Robinson was granddaughter of an Anne
(Conyers) Smelt. This line might eventually yield an RD....'
