Hilda Gregg

Hilda Caroline Gregg (20 June 186822 June 1933) was an English author who wrote novels and short stories under the name Sydney C. Grier. She had her fiction printed in The Bristol Times in 1886, then William Blackwood and Sons published her first novel in 1895. She then published a novel every year until 1925, mostly heroic tales about the adventures of English people in places such as Afghanistan, Baghdad, and India.

Early life Hilda Caroline Gregg was born on 20 June 1868 in Bagendon near Cirencester in Gloucestershire. Her parents were Sarah Caroline Frances French and John Robert G. Gregg. She was brought up in a strictly religious household, with her father following the Irish Protestant tradition and later becoming vicar of Deptford. She was the eldest daughter, and, from her siblings, John became Archbishop of Armagh, and Katherine was one of the first women to qualify as a doctor in England. Gregg was privately educated before gaining a master's from the University of London.

Career Gregg first had her fiction published by The Bristol Times in 1886. She then won a short-story competition organised by Cassell's Family Magazine and contributed work to periodicals such as Argosy, The Girl's Own Paper and The Lady's Realm. Her second novel, An Uncrowned King: A Romance of High Politics, came out in 1896.

Gregg would publish a novel every year until 1925, all with Blackwood. She wrote 33 in total. Her other novels include The Uncrowned Prince (1896), His Excellency's English Governess (1896, set in Baghdad), The Wardens of the Marches (1901, Afghanistan) and One Crowded Hour (1912, Sicily). Gregg discussed this issue, immodestly, in "The Medical Woman in Fiction" in Blackwood's Magazine in 1898. Another piece published in the magazine was the 1897 article "The Indian Mutiny in Fiction". Also her novel An Uncrowned King was serialized in Blackwood's from December 1895 until September 1896.

Death and legacy Gregg died at home in Eastbourne on 22 June 1933. She left £4,200 (equivalent to £ in ) in her will.