Eleanor Edith Orlebar (1841 – 23 January 1906) was an English writer. She authored the historical novel Sancta Christina: A Story of the First Century (1878) and the vegetarian cookbook Food for the People; or, Lentils and other Vegetable Cookery (1879).
Biography
Early life and family Eleanor Edith Orlebar was born in Nottingham in 1841 to the Rev. Cuthbert Orlebar () and Eleanor Orlebar (). Her father was for a time vicar of Podington. Her mother was a writer whose works included Cinderella, a Fairy Tale in Verse (1848) and the novel Frank Bennet: A Story of the Stocking-Loom and of the Lace-Frame in 1811 (1869).
Orlebar had two brothers and two sisters. The children's writer William Henry Giles Kingston and the meteorologist George Kingston were her uncles. Her maternal great-grandfather was Giles Rooke, Justice of the Common Pleas, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was Valentine Knightley.
Writing
Sancta Christina In 1878, Orlebar published the historical novel Sancta Christina: A Story of the First Century, with a preface by the Bishop of Winchester. The Bulletin of the Public Library of the City of Boston described it as a "story illustrating the growth of early Christianity in Etruria during the first century."
Food for the People Orlebar published the vegetarian cookbook Food for the People; or, Lentils and other Vegetable Cookery in 1879. She was prompted to write on the subject after reading letters in The Times by William Gibson Ward, a vice-president of the Vegetarian Society, on the use of lentils. The book contains lentil-based recipes and other vegetarian dishes. The Oxford Companion to Food described it as "one of the most eccentric, and endearing, food books of the 19th century", and stated that Orlebar showed knowledge of classical studies, persuasive writing, and attention to detail.
Death Orlebar died on 23 January 1906, at the Home of the Holy Rood, Worthing, aged 65.
Publications Sancta Christina: A Story of the First Century (London: Sampson Low, 1878) Food for the People; or, Lentils and other Vegetable Cookery (London: Sampson Low, 1879)
Further reading
References