Eleanor Stredder

Born in 1835 in Royston, Hertfordshire, Eleanor Stredder was an English writer who published fiction for children and young readers during the Victorian period. Reliable reference sources connect her with a family of siblings that included Sarah Stredder, who was also an author, and census records describe Eleanor at different times first as an upholsterer and later as an authoress.

She wrote from at least the 1860s onward, with titles including The Raven of Redruth, Lost in the Wilds, Doing and Daring, and Alive in the Jungle. Her later books are especially associated with colonial and frontier settings, using adventure plots to carry young characters through unfamiliar landscapes and difficult choices.

Stredder never married, and after her parents' deaths she appears to have lived with members of her family. She died in 1913, leaving behind a body of popular juvenile fiction that reflects both the excitement and the attitudes of its era.