Mrs. (Ethel) Alec-Tweedie

Born Ethel Brilliana Harley in London in 1862, she later became widely known by her married pen name, Mrs. Alec Tweedie. She was a remarkably versatile writer whose work stretched across travel writing, biography, history, journalism, and memoir, and she was also active as a photographer and illustrator.

Her books often grew out of first-hand experience. She traveled extensively and wrote vivid accounts of places including Iceland and Finland, helping bring distant landscapes and unusual journeys to a broad reading public. She also published more personal and social works, including memoir and commentary drawn from her life and times.

Tweedie remained a prolific public voice well into the early twentieth century, and her work still offers a lively window into the world she moved through. She died in 1940, leaving behind a substantial body of writing under the names Mrs Alec Tweedie, Mrs. Alec-Tweedie, and Ethel B. Harley.