Louisa Sarah Ann Parr (1848? – 2 November 1903) was a British writer who wrote under the name of Mrs Olinthus Lobb.

Early years

Louisa Sarah Ann Taylor was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in about 1848. She was brought up in Plymouth as her father was a Naval officer.

Career

Her first published writing was a success. It was published in English in 1868 in the evangelical magazine ''

Good Words ''Good Words'' was a 19th-century monthly periodical established in the United Kingdom in 1860 by the Scottish publisher Alexander Strahan. Its first editor was Norman Macleod. After his death in 1872, it was edited by his brother, Donald Macleod, ...

'' as "How it all happened" and the story was soon reprinted in French and later in German. The English version was also printed as an American pamphlet. The story was issued under the pen name of ''Mrs Olinthus Lobb'' but for most of her work she used her own name.Louisa Parr (née Taylor) (1848?–1903)
salamancacorpus.usal.es, retrieved 18 March 2015 In 1869 she married a surgeon and collector named George Parr and they lived in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. The following year ''Dorothy Fox'', her first novel, was published. The story of Quaker life was another success and an American publisher paid her an advance of £300 against her next novel. Her next two novels were published in 1874 and 1875 but neither of them were very successful. Her next novel was titled ''Adam and Eve'' and this was another success in 1880.Elizabeth Lee, 'Parr , Louisa Sarah Ann (1848?–1903)', rev. Katharine Chubbuck, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 17 March 2015
/ref> This novel recalled her nautical childhood; it was set in Cornwall where the protagonist "Adam" lives and smuggles. The "Eve" in the book's title is the name of Adam's cousin who lives in London. The stories in this novel were based on fact as she re-used situations recorded in the ''History of Polperro'' which was written by

Jonathan Couch Jonathan Couch (15 March 1789 – 13 April 1870) was a British naturalist, the only child of Richard and Philippa Couch, of a family long resident at Polperro, a small fishing village between Looe and Fowey, on the south coast of Cornwall. A ...

in 1871. The dialect used in the novel was used as a source for

Cornish English The Cornish dialect (also known as Cornish English, Cornu-English, kw, Sowsnek Kernowek) is a dialect of English spoken in Cornwall by Cornish people. Dialectal English spoken in Cornwall is to some extent influenced by Cornish grammar, and o ...

Joseph Wright Joseph Wright may refer to: *Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), English painter *Joseph Wright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist *Joseph Wright (fl. 1837/1845), whose company, Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons, became the Metro ...

in his ''

English Dialect Dictionary English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

''. Parr published several other books, but none was as successful as her "''tour de force''", ''Adam and Eve''. Her books were written with style and humour that dealt pointedly with the oppression of women. Her last novel, ''Can This Be Love?'', told the story of a woman looked down on by her lover and his ill-mannered family. It was published in 1893. In 1897, ''Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign'' was published and this included a short biography written by Parr about her fellow writer Dinah Mulock Craik. Parr died at her home in London in 1903 leaving £6,400.

Selected works

*''Dorothy Fox'' (1870) *''Hero Carthew'' or ''The Prescotts of Pamphillon'' (1874) *''The Gosau Smithy'' (1875) *''Adam and Eve'' (1880) *''Robin'' (1882) *''Loyalty George'' (1888) *''Dumps and I'' (1891) *''The Squire'' (1892) *''Can This Be Love?'' (1893)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parr, Louisa Sarah Ann 1840s births 1903 deaths Writers from London 19th-century British writers 19th-century British women writers