(1839 – 1908)
Using the pen name, ‘Ouida’, allegedly from her mispronunciation of ‘Louise’ when she was younger, Ouida was a popular sensationalist novel writer with 40 titles to her name, as well as an author of short stories, essays and children’s books.
Ouida’s lifestyle has been described as lavish but one that was often beyond her means. She moved with her mother and grandmother to London in 1857 (her French father being largely absent) and wrote for serialized publications where her popularity grew with her first novel published, Held in Bondage in 1863. Taking up residency in a London hotel and schmoozing with the glitterati, the lifestyle worked while her writing was popular. Her most renowned works was the novel Under Two Flags (1867) and the children’s book A Dog in Flanders (1872) which was made into film.
She moved to Italy with her mother in 1874 where her glamourous life continued, although her writing popularity was on the wane. There’s an account of missed copyright too. Either way her lifestyle did not adjust accordingly and when her mother died in 1893, she was buried in a pauper’s cemetery and Ouida had to rely on the support of others to sustain a living.
Ouida was a major supporter of animal rights and was against the hunting and fur trade as well as vivisection – values demonstrated in her book The New Priesthood: A Protest against Vivisection (1897) and her love of dogs, of which she had up to 30 in any one time.
Soon after her death, her friends organised, through public subscription, the statue that now stands in Bury St Edmunds complete with a drinking fountain at its base for dogs and horses in recognition of her love of animals.
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