Baker, Louisa Alice (1856–1926)

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Baker, Louisa Alice (1856–1926)

New Zealand journalist and novelist. Name variations: Louisa Alice Dawson; (pen names) Alice, Alien and Dot. Born Louisa Alice Dawson, Jan 13, 1856, in Warwickshire, England; died Mar 22, 1926, in Deal, Kent, England; dau. of Henry Joseph Dawson (carpenter) and Elizabeth (Bratt) Dawson; m. John William Baker (house painter, died 1916); children: 1 son, 1 daughter.

Immigrated to New Zealand with family (1863); wrote successful women's and children's columns under pen names Alice and Dot for Otago Witness (1886–early 1890s); returned to England with daughter (1894); referred to as "a colonial George Eliot," wrote 14 novels and volume of short fiction, which dealt with contemporary feminist issues, including A Daughter of the King (1894), The Majesty of Man (1895), In Golden Shackles (1896), Wheat in the Ear (1898), The Devil's Half Acre (1900), A Slum Heroine (1904), The Perfect Union (1908), and A Maid of Mettle (1913); penned weekly column from England for Otago Witness under name Alien (1903).

See also Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Vol. 3).

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