#263, Fanny Emily FARR

Fanny was named Fanny after Fanny Kitchener (with whome she was very friendly at school) and Emily after her mother. This is the sister to whom Charles Cobbold Farr wrote in great detail after he had left home. Wrote on Feb 21st 1920 from 3 Park Hill, Ealing, W5

Fanny Emily Penny was born in 1847 in Covchithe, the daughter of the Rev. John Farr and Emily Caroline Cobbold. Her great uncle was novelist Richard Cobbold. In 1877, she married the Rev. Frank Penny and the couple moved to Madras, India, where her husband was the chaplain for the Madras Ecclesiastical Establishment. They would have two children, a son and a daughter. While in India, Penny contributed articles on Indian life for the Madras Mail. In 1888, the couple moved to the Nilgiri Hills. It was there that Penny met novelist Bithia Mary Croker who encouraged Penny in writing fiction. A few years later, Penny's first novel Caste and Creed (1890) was published. In total, she wrote about thirty books, many of which included Indian characters and settings. Early in the twentieth century, the family moved to Ealing. Her husband wrote a history, The Church in Madras (1904). He died in 1928 and she died in 1939 in Ealing.