(1829-1925) English writer and philanthropist. Great-granddaughter of Joseph Priestly, the discoverer of oxygen, and mother of Hilaire Belloc and Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, she was a member of the brilliant literary circle which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina, the Brownings, and Ruskin. She became a Catholic in 1864. Her works include La Belle France, Historic Nuns, and The Flowing Tide.