Penelope Steel

Penelope Steel ( Winde; later Mason; c. 1768 – c. 1840) was a Jamaican-born merchant, publisher, and cartographer active in London during the early 19th century. She is noted for managing the Steel & Co. navigation warehouse, a major supplier of maritime charts and naval registers to the Royal Navy and merchant fleets. As a woman of colour in the Georgian era, her successful navigation of the male-dominated scientific publishing industry makes her a significant figure in British maritime history.

Early life and Jamaican origins Penelope Winde was born in Jamaica circa 1768. She was the daughter of Scudamore Winde, a wealthy Kingston merchant and member of the House of Assembly of Jamaica, and Sarah Cox, described in contemporary records as a "free woman of colour."