# Alexandra Orr > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alexandra_Orr > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alexandra_Orr.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Orr > Source revision: 1335694614 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English biographer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Infobox Person | name = Alexandra Orr | image = Alexandra Orr nee Leighton by Frederic Leighton.jpg | image_size = | caption = in 1892 by [Frederic Leighton](/source/Frederic_Leighton) | birth_name = Alexandra Leighton | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1828|11|23}} | birth_place = [Saint Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg) | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1903|08|23|1828|10|23}} | known_for = Biography of [Robert Browning](/source/Robert_Browning) | spouse = Sutherland Orr | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Alexandra Orr''' or '''Alexandra Leighton; Alexander Sutherland Orr; Mrs Sutherland Orr''' (23 November 1828 – 23 August 1903) was an [English](/source/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland) biographer of [Robert Browning](/source/Robert_Browning). She was a model for her brother [Frederic Leighton](/source/Frederic_Leighton) in at least two paintings. ==Life== Orr was born in [Saint Petersburg](/source/Saint_Petersburg) in 1828, because her paternal grandfather Sir [James Boniface Leighton](/source/James_Boniface_Leighton) was Emperor [Nicholas I of Russia](/source/Nicholas_I_of_Russia)'s physician. thumb|left|Sir James Boniface Leighton Orr had one sister, Augusta and an elder brother [Frederic](/source/Frederic_Leighton). Her parents were Augusta Susan and Frederic Septimus Leighton who was also a medical doctor. Her grandfather's dealing's in Russia gave his family financial independence.Christopher Newall, ‘Leighton, Frederic, Baron Leighton (1830–1896)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16399, accessed 30 April 2017] [Alexandra, the Empress of Russia](/source/Alexandra_Feodorovna_(Charlotte_of_Prussia)), was her godmother.Elizabeth Lee, ‘Orr, Alexandra (1828–1903)’, rev. Katharine Chubbuck, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35332, accessed 30 April 2017] She was educated as her family travelled in Europe. When she was sixteen she lost some of her sight due to rheumatic fever. After this she had to have books read to her and to use an amanuensis. In 1855 she had met her brother in Paris and she was introduced to his good friend, the poet, [Robert Browning](/source/Robert_Browning). She went to India as the wife of Sutherland George Gordon Orr who led the 3rd regiment of cavalry.{{cite book|author=Colonel George Bruce Malleson|title=History Of The Indian Mutiny Of 1857-8 – Vol. V [Illustrated Edition]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oANvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP41|date=13 June 2014|publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing|isbn=978-1-78289-211-3|pages=41–}} They had married on 7 March 1857 so they arrived as the [indian mutiny](/source/indian_mutiny) took place. Sheikh Baran Bukh is given the credit for her survival.{{cite book|author=Nile Green|title=Islam and the Army in Colonial India: Sepoy Religion in the Service of Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cy51FBmKI0gC&pg=PA168|date=14 May 2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-89845-4|pages=168–}} Her husband was involved in numerous operations where the British officers were trying to establish order with Indian troops. The mutiny led to her husband's death. Hence known as Mrs Sutherland Orr she returned to her parents who were living in Sunderland or Bath. Her portrait by her brother [Frederic Leighton](/source/Frederic_Leighton) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1861. [[File:Portrait of Alexandra Leighton (later Mrs. Sutherland Orr) 1853.jpg|thumb|"Portrait of Alexandra Leighton (later Mrs. Sutherland Orr)" 1853 by [Frederic Leighton](/source/Frederic_Leighton)]] In 1869 she and her parents were living in London. Orr's friends were interested in art and literature and she cemented her friendship with Robert Browning. Browning would read to her twice a week and she joined and donated money to the [Browning Society](/source/Browning_Society). Encouraged by the society she created a ''Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning''{{cite book|author=Mrs. Sutherland Orr|title=A Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ys9AQAAIAAJ|year=1887|publisher=Bell}} assisted by advice from the animal artist [John Trivett Nettleship](/source/John_Trivett_Nettleship). She was given access to Browning's letters by his sister and in 1891 she published ''Life and Letters of Robert Browning''.{{cite book|author=Mrs. Sutherland Orr|title=Life and Letters of Robert Browning|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeandlettersr09orrgoog|year=1891|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin}} The following year she re-published what became the sixth edition of ''Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning'' which contained her corrections. Orr published other smaller works including a description of the Browning's religious beliefs and articles against the proposal of [Women's suffrage](/source/Women's_suffrage). Her essay on ''The Future of English Women'' caused much debate and caused [Millicent Fawcett](/source/Millicent_Fawcett) to publish ''The Future of Englishwomen: A reply''.{{cite book|author=Gertrude Himmelfarb|title=The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UNlByiZSaoC&pg=PA248|year=2007|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12330-2|pages=248–252}} Orr died at what had been her parents house at 11 [Kensington Park Gardens](/source/Kensington_Park_Gardens) on 23 August 1903. ==Legacy== Her brother's house became the Leighton Museum at her insistence. Her portraits are in the National Portrait Gallery in London. An 1892 portrait by her brother is at Leighton Museum.[https://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/7027/alexandra-leighton-mrs-sutherland-orr-lord-frederic-leighton Sutherland Orr in 1892], Frederic Leighton, Retrieved 30 April 2017 ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * {{Gutenberg author|id=336}} {{Frederic Leighton|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, Alexandra}} Category:English biographers Category:English women biographers Category:1828 births Category:1903 deaths Category:19th-century English women writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alexandra Orr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Orr) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Orr?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.