Sophia King (writer)
British Gothic novelist, and poet (b. 1781/2, d. in or after 1805)
Sophia Fortnum (née King; b. 1781/2, d. in or after 1805) was a British Gothic novelist, and poet.
Life
She was one of three children of "the extraordinary self-made Jewish radical financier" John King, born Jacob Rey (c. 1753–1824), and his wife Sarah King (née Lara). Her sister Charlotte, later Charlotte Dacre (1771–1825), also became a writer. Their brother was Charles. King's year of birth is uncertain and she may have been closer in age to her sister than is generally believed. Their childhood was tumultuous as their father was involved in a series of highly publicized lawsuits and financial difficulties.
King married Charles Fortnum (1770–1860) in 1801 and had three children.
“Sophia King (writer)” enters the record as british Gothic novelist, and poet (b. 1781/2, d. in or after 1805). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sophia, King and writer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sophia King (writer)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sophia, King and writer provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18922292. VIAF identifies the subject as 78628000. The Library of Congress control number is nr90016275. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1781, 1805, 1753 and 1824.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sophia King (writer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sophia King (writer) primary sources, Sophia King (writer) archive and Sophia research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sophia King (writer)”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sophia King (writer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.