Catherine Louisa Pirkis was born October 6, 1839 in London, England. She was one of eight children born to Lewis and Susan Lyne. Her grandfather, Reverend Richard Lyne, was best known for authoring a widely used school manual, The Latin Primer. BCatherine led a quiet life out of the public eye (and public record), until she was 32 and married Frederick Edward Pirkis. They had two children, a girl in 1873, and a boy in 1876. Between 1877 and 1894, including the collection of the Loveday Brooke stories. Catherine was one of the first people to feature a woman as a detective in literature. In 1891, Catherine and her husband Frederick co-founded the British National Canine Defense League. Their goal was to fight against cruel muzzling, chaining, experimentation or treatment of dogs. Today the League is known as the Dogs Trust, a nonprofit animal welfare charity and humane society.