Sutherland Orr

Alexandra Sutherland Orr (1828–1903), born in Saint Petersburg and the only sister of the painter Frederic Leighton, married an army surgeon and was widowed young. She became one of Robert Browning's closest friends and confidantes during the last two decades of his life, and drew on that friendship — along with access to his letters and family — to write A Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning (1885), a guide to his poetry that went through several editions, and Life and Letters of Robert Browning (1891), the first full biography of the poet, published two years after his death.