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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Ella Napier Lefroy

Author: Ella Napier Lefroy (1854–1919)

Alternate Name(s): E.N. Leigh Fry (pseudonym); Hastie (maiden name)

Biography: Isabella [Ella] Napier Lefroy was born in 1854 in Glasgow, the eldest daughter of merchant and politician Alexander Hastie of Luscar. In 1873, she married Thomas Charles Perceval Lefroy, an Irish businessman who worked for the brewers Guinness and Bass. The couple lived in London and had four children. In the 1890s, Lefroy wrote two novels under the pseudonym "E. N. Leigh Fry." Thereafter, it appears, she gave up literature. Her husband died in 1893 which may have influenced her decision. Lefroy never remarried and died in 1919 in London.

References: British Census (1881, 1901); M. F. Conolly, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Men of Fife (1866)

Fiction Titles:

  1. A Scots Thistle.  2 vol.  London: Bentley, 1892.
  2. Janet Delille.  2 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1894.