Annie G. (Annie Gregg) Savigny

Annie Gregg Savigny was a Canadian novelist, probably born in England around 1838, though records about her early life are inconsistent. Sources agree that she died in Toronto on July 10, 1901, and that much of her personal history remains uncertain.

She was known in her time as one of Toronto’s active authors. Her novels included A Heart-song of Today (1886), A Romance of Toronto (1888), and Three Wedding Rings (1892), and she also wrote for younger readers. Among those books were Lion, the Mastiff and Dick Niven and his Horse Nobby, both tied to her interest in teaching kindness to animals.

Savigny’s interests reached beyond fiction. She contributed to scientific writing, presented work connected with the Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto, and has also been remembered as an advocate of animal welfare through her work with the Toronto Humane Society. Even though the details of her life are fragmentary, the range of her writing shows an author with wide curiosity and strong social concerns.