Catherine Louisa Pirkis - Loveday Brooke

Catherine Louisa Lyne was born in London in 1839. She was the daughter of Lewis Stephens Lyne, an accountant and comptroller-general of Inland Revenue. When her father died in 1859, his obituary gave the cause of death as "the consequences of excessive exertion of the brain." In 1872, at the age of 33, Catherine married Frederick Edward Pirkis, fleet-paymaster for the Royal Navy. The couple tended to move fairly often. In 1874 Catherine gave birth to a daughter and two years later a son whilst in Belgium. It was only a few years later that her sister, Susan was to marry her husband's brother, George. The couples eventually decided to live together. Catherine wrote her first novel, Disappeared from Her Home, in 1877. This was followed by many short stories and fourteen novels. Her last writing was perhaps what she is best remembered for. The creation of Loveday Brooke, a lady detective who was very popular and made regular appearances in short stories in the Ludgate magazine. In 1891 she and her husband had formed the National Canine Defence League and she was active in the anti-vivisectionist movement. It left little time for writing and by 1894 she had transited entirely to her animal charity work. Catherine Louisa Pirkis died in on October 4th, 1910 after a long illness. She was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London. Her husband died a few days later.