Gatty, Alfred, Mrs., 1809-1873

Margaret Gatty (1809-1873) was the youngest daughter of the Reverend Alexander John Scott (1768-1840), who was private secretary to Nelson and chaplain on HMS Victory . She married Alfred Gatty (1813-1903) in 1839. In 1842 she and her husband published a memoir of her father. She started writing for children in 1851, with The Fairy Godmother, and was the author of Aunt Judy's Tales (1858), one of the most successful mid-Victorian volumes of fiction for children. She also published Parables from Nature, in five series between 1855 and 1870, Aunt Judy's Letters (1862), and Aunt Judy's Magazine (started in 1866, and continued by her daughter Horatia until 1885). She also published a book on British Seaweeds in 1862, as well as Book of Emblems and Book of Sun Dials in 1872.

For the last ten years of her life she suffered increasing paralysis.

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