Marie Connor Leighton

Marie Connor Leighton (4 February 1867 – 28 January 1941) was a prolific author of serial fiction and melodramatic novels. She married fellow writer Robert Leighton and her most famous work Convict 99 was written jointly with him. However her writing income was far in excess of his.

Paternity and birth

While most sources describe Connor as the daughter of James Nenon Alexander Connor (1835 – 21 June 1897) this is not accurate as Marie's mother Elizabeth Ann Treglown (c. 1842 – 16 April 1908) had a different husband when Connor was born and only married James Nenon Alexander Connor in the first quarter of 1869, when Marie Connor was already two years old.

While Elizabeth Anne Treglown was living at Camborne, Cornwall, with her parents, Josiah Henry Harris (c. 1848 – 18 April 1917), a newspaper reporter, visited her and courted her. He was accepted as her fiancé by her family and the couple had been engaged for some time. In April 1865, the pair travelled to Paris, and were married there, on 6 April 1865, at the English Episcopal Church, in the presence of the British Ambassador. The marriage had been a surprise to the family, and Harris had announced it by letter.

The new couple returned to England, and lived with Elizabeth's parents in Camborne, but after a week, Harris walked out, without saying where he was going. Elizabeth found that he had gone to Bristol and joined him there, but after a time, he again left, this time for Torquay. She joined him in Torquay, but after a time, he again deserted her. By now, her family had moved to Montpelier in Bristol, where Elizabeth gave birth to her daughter at 7 York Road, on 4 February 1867, initially registered as Martha Annie, but later known as Marie. Elizabeth registered the birth at Clifton on 13 February 1867. Elizabeth was running a school in Montpelier with her sisters Mary Ann (c. 1851 August 1913)and Ellen (c. 1845 –) while living with her mother.