Arabella Kenealy (1859–1938)

Arabella Madonna Kenealy was born into the large family of E.V.H. Kenealy, an Irish barrister, whose biography she would later write. Her sister Annesley Kenealy became a nurse, writer, and journalist, and her brother Alexander Kenealy became editor of the Daily Mirror. Arabella graduated from the London School of Medicine for Women and practised medicine for four years (1888-1894) before retiring from chronic ill health caused by a case of diphtheria. She went on to become a writer of both fiction and nonfiction, much of it anti-feminist. Her debut novel, Dr. Janet of Harley Street, appeared in 1893. A collection of her short stories was published as Dr. Smith of Queen Anne Street (1907). Her other books include The Failure of Vivisection (1909), Feminism and Sex-Extinction (1920), and The Human Gyroscope (1934).