Amabel Kerr

Lady Amabel Frederica Henrietta Kerr ( Cowper; 24 March 1846 – 15 October 1906) was a British aristocrat and writer of religious literature, biographies, children's literature, and novels. She was also a translator from German to English, and a magazine editor. She was described in the University of Ottawa Review as "a rare example of strenuous devotion to the service of God and His Church, rendered all the more forcible by reason of the obscurity in which she endeavored to shroud her work". Kerr was the author of a number of books, among them: Unravelled Convictions, being the reasons for her conversion; Before Our Lord Came, an Old Testament history for little children; A Mixed Marriage, a novel; Life of Joan of Arc, and Life of Blessed Sebastian Valfre.

Early life Lady Amabel Frederica Henrietta Cowper was born in St George Hanover Square, London, England, 1846. Her father was George Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper, her mother Lady Anne Florence de Grey (who after her husband's death succeeded as sixth Baroness Lucas of Crudwell), daughter of Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey. Her siblings were: Lady Henrietta Emily Mary Cowper (d. 1853) Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper (1834–1905) The Honourable Henry Frederick Cowper (1836–1887) Lady Florence Amabel Cowper (1837–1886), married the Honourable Auberon Herbert in 1871. Lady Adine Eliza Anne Cowper (1840–1868), married the Honourable Julian Fane in 1866.

Career While still a girl, and before her conversion, she started her literary career with a journal, afterward published with the title Unravelled Convictions, in which she recorded the various mental stages through which she was led through many doubts and bewilderments to find peace and rest in the Catholic Church. It was an instructive history of her feelings and convictions up to November 1868. Thirty years afterward, it was republished in a second edition by the Catholic Truth Society. After her conversion, Lady Amabel was constantly publishing what might serve for instruction or edification. In particular, she was a most strenuous and efficient member of the Catholic Truth Society, a regular attendant at its committee meetings, and one of the most prolific contributors to its literature, most of her work being done for it. As Lady Amabel's brother, Lord Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper, died childless and there were no other male-line descendants of the first Earl Cowper at the time of his death, his wealth stated mainly devolved to issue of his three married sisters. Amabel's descendants, who later succeeded as Marquesses of Lothian, inherited the Melbourne part of the Cowper estates including Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire and Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire.

George Robinson, Marquis of Ripon was her cousin.

Lady Amabel Kerr died at Melbourne, Derbyshire, England, 15 October 1906, and was buried at St. David's Churchyard, Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland.

Selected works

Unravelled convictions; or 'My road to faith''', 1878 A Mixed Marriage, 1893 Auguste Marceau, a sailor's life, 1893 Alexis Clerc, Sailor and Jesuit (1819–1871.)., 1893 Blessed Margaret Mary, 1895 Mother Margaret Hallahan (1803–1868), 1896 The Life of the Blessed Sebastian Valfré of the Turin Oratory, 1896 Unravelled Convictions ... Second Edition, 1897 The Life of Cesare Cardinal Baronius of the Roman Oratory, 1898 A Bible Picture Book for Catholic Children, 1898 Saint Martin (317–397.), 1899 Sister Chatelain: Or, Forty Years' Work in Westminster., 1900 A Life of Our Lord, 1900 A Son of St. Francis. St. Felix of Cantalice, 1900 A Saint of the Oratory: The Life of Blessed Antony Grassi of the Fermo Congregation, 1901 St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 1207–1231, 1901 Saint Cecilia, 1902 The whole difference, 1902 Saint Philip Benizi, 1902 Jeanne d'Arc, glorifiée par une anglaise, 1903 A precursor of st. Philip, Buonsignore Cacciaguerra Lives of the Saints for Children: 2nd Series, 1905 Saint Francis Xavier, 1905 Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1905 Saint Genevieve, 1906 Saint Francis of Assisi, 1906 St. Thomas of Canterbury, 1906 Christopher Columbus, 1908 Saint Philip Benizi (1233–1285)'', 1908