Joan Coggin (22 July 1898 – 11 August 1980) was a British crime writer during the golden age of detective fiction. She also wrote children's novels under the pseudonym Joanna Lloyd.
Early life Coggin was born in Lemsford, Hertfordshire in 1898, the daughter of the Revd Frederick Ernest Coggin (1859–1947) and his wife Clara (née Lloyd) (1866–1906); Clara Lloyd was the daughter of the publisher Edward Lloyd. At the time of her birth, her father was Vicar of Lemsford (1891–1905); his successor, the Revd A.E. Ward (1905–1920), was the father of the society osteopath, Stephen Ward.
Joan Coggin was one of four children. Her siblings were: Maurice Edward Henry, who married Eleanora Illeris, a member of the SOE during WWII. Their daughter Janet Coggin was a novelist, and the first wife of the KGB spy Dieter Gerhardt. (Frederick) Leslie, who was a schoolmaster: in 1937 he travelled to Moscow to learn Russian and thereby set up the Russian department at Marlborough College. He married Elaine Wood, the headmistress of the Geelong C of E Girls' Grammar School, The Hermitage in the 1960s. Enid, who married another clergyman, Geoffrey Hilder."A Meads Engagement", Eastbourne Gazette, 7 December 1938, p 3.
Immediately prior to her mother's early death, Coggin's father retired to Eastbourne; on her death he was left the large sum of £54,871Probate Register, 1906, p 113. (worth £4m in 2017). Apart from her schooling, Coggin lived the rest of her life in Eastbourne."Death of Miss Joan Coggin", Eastbourne Gazette, 20 August 1980, p 2.
Coggin attended Wycombe Abbey School from 1911 to 1916, and was then a ward nurse at the De Walden Court Military Hospital in Eastbourne during the remainder of the First World War."Death of Miss Joan Coggin", Eastbourne Gazette, 20 August 1980, p 2.
Literary career Her crime novels featured Lady Lupin Lorimer Hastings, a clergyman's wife, as her detective. She also wrote children's novels under a pseudonym.
List of works Coggin's first novel was And Why Not Knowing (1929).J.O.B., "Review: And Why Not Knowing", Eastbourne Chronicle, 21 September 1929, p 11.
Crime novels Who Killed the Curate? (1944). Republished 2023. The Mystery at Orchard House (1944). Republished 2003. Penelope Passes or Why Did She Die? (1947). Republished 2003. Dancing with Death (1947). Republished 2022.
Children's novels She also wrote children's novels as Joanna Lloyd. Betty of Turner House (1935). Girls’ Adventure Book (1935). Most of her children's novels were in a series called Bramber Manor. Catherine Goes to School (1945). Jane Runs Away from School (1946). Catherine, Head of the House (1947). Audrey, A New Girl (1948). Three New Girls (1949).
Personal life Coggin was unmarried; she died in 1980. She died at Southfields Nursing Home in Eastbourne."Death of Miss Joan Coggin", Eastbourne Gazette, 20 August 1980, p 2. Her funeral was a requiem mass at St Michael and All Angels in Eastbourne"Death of Miss Joan Coggin", Eastbourne Gazette, 20 August 1980, p 2. and she was buried at Ocklynge Cemetery.St Michael and All Angels, Eastbourne, parish burials register 1962-1982, page 42.
References