Richard Cumberland (19 February 1732 – 7 May 1811) was an
English dramatist and
civil servant. In 1771 his hit play
The West Indian was first staged. During the
American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with
Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived critical journal called
The London Review (1809). His plays are often remembered for their sympathetic depiction of
colonial characters and others generally considered to be margins of society.