Cecily Hanson

**Cecily Hanson** was the daughter of Ralph Hanson. She was a very educated young woman and a staunch supporter of the abolitionist cause. Her family and especially her father, were against the cause and this put her and Ralph at odds.

## Biography

### Early life

Cecily was the daughter of Ralph Hanson, a wealthy mahogany merchant, and an unknown woman. She was raised by her mother because Ralph lived and worked in Honduras. Because of that, she and her father were strangers when she was growing up.

Cecily had educated herself and she was very intelligent and independent. She supported the abolitionist cause, unlike her father who used slavery so he had workers in Honduras. She had read Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women too, proving her forward-thinking.

### Cause and romance

In 1800, her father Ralph had falsely accused an abolitionist, Edward Despard of betraying the Crown. Ned was the Superintendent of Honduras and the freeing of slaves had damaged Ralph's business. He came back to England to pursue new business deals and ensure Ned was ruined. Her mother had passed away and she and her father wanted to get to know each other better. Because of their opposing views, she was uncertain if she even liked her father but felt a duty to get to know him better.

Her father wanted to pursue a business deal and spoke to the powerful George Warleggan. He took Cecily to Cornwall and introduced them at Cardew. She spoke up during their meeting to oppose their views on slavery but Ralph, George and Cary Warleggan laughed at her. Cary began to wonder if she would make a good match for George and encouraged him to pursue her for the intention of marriage.

Cecily was reading a book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women at home in Cornwall when she gives it to Ralph.
Ralph wonders what else a woman could want beside a marriage, and Cecily tells him the book will tell him but he doesn’t care. He asks her to call by George's house, but she won't go. Her father later took her to London, where Ned had been freed by Ross Poldark.

She attended a play where she met and befriended Geoffrey Charles Poldark. They began to form a romantic attraction, but warned him of the disapproval her father would have of him. She saw him getting fitted for a uniform to attend military school and he told her that he was going to have to get it on credit. She tells him to find a wealthy benefactor by charming an elderly duchess.

At a party, Cecily escaped her chaperone and found Geoffrey Charles. They laughed at duchesses and talk of her father trying to secure her a good marriage and if she had found anyone. She told him that she hadn't found anyone that her father would approve of. He asked if she wouldn't decide her own fate, and speak of how their own parents couldn't and how it cost them. He told her to decide her own fate then. She encouraged him to go up to Ralph and tell him that, but Ross intervened.

Cecily later saw Geoffrey Charles crying in a park, and they share their grief for their mothers who had died, and she agreed Elizabeth was very beautiful when he showed her a picture. Demelza saw the two laughing in a park, and they persuaded her to keep their friendship secret. She agreed but she was concerned what would happen if Ralph knew. Ralph tells Cecily she would be accompanying him to Cornwall and she cannot decline. Because she knows she will see Geoffrey Charles, she agreed.

Back in Cornwall, she and Geoffrey Charles reunited in the Red Lion. He later takes her on a tour of Cornwall, and stopped by Wheal Grace to speak to Drake and Morwenna Carne about marriage. She says she couldn't imagine marrying and losing her independence. That evening when he got back to her father, he asked where she was and she lied, saying she was shopping in Truro.

The next day, she and Geoffrey Charles continued their tour and saw Valentine in the countryside on his own. They took him to Nampara where the Poldark family was holding a celebration. Cecily stayed for the evening, and she, Geoffrey Charles and Ross eventually took Valentine back to Trenwith. She and Geoffrey Charles looked at a painting of Elizabeth, and he told Cecily that Elizabeth would have liked her.

She was then surprised to find her father there, and he was surprised to find her, and he told her they had to go away for a few days on business.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ According to Poldark, Series 5, Episode 1, Cecily was then a teenager. The year in that episode was 1800. She had to be born in the early 1780s.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Poldark, Series 5, Episode 1
3. ↑ BBC's Poldark character profiles: Cecily Hanson
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Poldark, Series 5, Episode 2
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Poldark, Series 5, Episode 3