Mrs. Alfred Gatty

Born Margaret Scott in 1809, she later became widely known as Mrs. Alfred Gatty. She was an English children's author and writer on marine biology, and her work brought together moral storytelling, close observation of nature, and a warm, approachable voice.

She is best remembered for books such as Parables from Nature and for helping shape Victorian children's reading. Alongside her literary work, she had a serious interest in seaweeds and natural history, writing in a way that made science more accessible to general readers.

Gatty died in 1873, but her books remained well known after her lifetime. She is also remembered as the mother of writer Juliana Horatia Ewing, another important name in nineteenth-century children's literature.