Cora Minnett

Cora Minnett (1868 – after 1918) was an Australian author, actress, and confidence trickster. Her birth name was Minnie Warren Jones, but she later assumed the stage name Cora Minnett Vane, and wrote under the pen name Pellew Hawker. She is known for her science fiction and fantasy novels.

Early life and education Minnie Warren Jones was born in 1868, with her birthplace registered as Pittwater in the Colony of New South Wales. Her parents were Eliza Warren (1840–1902) and James Jones, and her sister, Ruth Jones, was later an artist and/or actor.

Career Jones left school at 19, and in 1888 started her career as a stage actress called Cora Minnett Vane. She married Adolphus J. Braggett in Sydney in 1892, but left him a few years later, returning to the stage as Cora Minnett. Her agent, subsequently manager, was Herbert Cowell, the year she divorced Braggett in New South Wales.

She moved to London in 1910, where she lived at 117 St. George's Square. She registered herself in the telephone book as a journalist and author, and began writing novels under the names Cora Minnett and Pellew Harker. She also wrote and articles for Answers, the Ladies' Home Journal, and the Ladies' Home Companion. In this world, women enjoy equality with men, and it is regarded as an example of early feminist utopian science fiction. It is regarded as belonging to the sub-genre of "Pax Aeronautica".

During the trial, it emerged that Minnett had told the bank manager that she had spent £3000 of money received from Robson to entertain suffragettes, intending to make use of the movement to recruit more emigrant to Australia, as part of her large settlement scheme. She also intended to get her "brother" (Cowell) into the House of Commons. Robson was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Minnett's lawyers said that she did not know that the money she got from Robson was stolen, believing it to be a loan. The judge found that she and Cowell were liable to return the money to the bank, as they had tried to conceal its existence, and must have known that a bank cashier would not typically have access to such large amounts of money. Minnett appealed against the verdict in May 1914. The Day After To-morrow. London, F. V. White & Co., 1911. Lucky, with Pellew Hawker, illus. A. MacNeill-Barbour. London, F. V. White & Co., 1911. The Model Millionaire. London, W. J. Ham-Smith, 1911. Fortune-Telling by Numbers. London, C. Arthur Pearson, 1912. The Girdle of Kaf (verse). London, W. J. Ham-Smith, 1912.

As Pellew Hawker God Disposes. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1911. Lucky, with Cora Minnett.