Early Life of William Wordsworth - Parents

Parents

Wordsworth's parents were John Wordsworth, a legal agent for James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and Collector of Customs at Whitehaven, and his wife, Ann Cookson. John was the son of Richard Wordsworth, a land owner who served as a legal agent to the Lowther family.

Like his father, John became a legal agent for James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and was made Bailiff and Recorder for Cockermouth and Coroner for the Seigniory of Millon.

Ann was the daughter of William Cookson, a linen-draper, and Dorothy Crackanthorpe, daughter of a gentry family in Westmorland. They lived above Cookson's shop in Penrith, Cumbria. Ann's brother, Christopher "Kit" Crackanthorpe Cookson (later, Christopher Crackanthorpe) inherited the family estate of Newbiggin Hall.

John, at the age of 25, married Ann, 18, in 1766, and he used his connections with the Lowther family to move into a large mansion in the small town of Cockermouth, Cumbria, in the Lake District. John owned many properties, in Cockermouth and Ravenglass, and he inherited a property at Sockbridge, which was originally purchased by his father and given to John after his older brother, Richard, was disinherited by their father. However, the brother's relationship was not strained by this decision, and Richard would become guardian to John's children after his death.