She gave up her job as a cook/maid and married a shoemaker in 1802 but two years later he died of tuberculosis and she was a single parent.
[1] Her benefactor was Catherine Cappe who knew her from her four years at school and her brother had been the Richardson family's doctor.
Over 600 books were sold by subscription and a second printing enabled Richardson to open a small school.
[1] By 1809 the school was gone and Richardson was ill. Cappe had a second book of poetry published titled Poems Chiefly Composed during the Pressure of Severe Illness (1809).
Her poetry refers to her thoughts on French invasion, the slave trade and her reading of Thomas Clarkson and Walter Scott.