Anna Sewell in Old Catton, Sewell wrote the manuscript of "Black Beauty" – in the period between 1871 and 1877. During this time her health was declining; she was often so weak that she was confined to her bed. Writing was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed. Although the book is now considered a children's classic, Sewell originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said "a special aim was to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses". In many
Anna S. Dolgorukaya Anna S. Dolgorukaya Anna Sergeyevna Dolgorukaya (1719–1778) was a Russian pedagogue, noble and courtier. She was the first principal of the Smolny Institute in Saint Petersburg in 1764–1764. She was the daughter of Councillor prince Sergei Petrovich Dolgoruky (1696-1761) and princess Irina Petrovna Galitzine (1700-1751) and sister of prince V. S. Dolgoruky (1724-1803), Russian ambassador in Prussia, and married in 1746 to prince Alexei Golitsyn (1713-1765). She had been a courtier prior to marriage. Described as well educated, intelligent and witty, she was appointed to the post of the newly founded Smolny Institute by Empress Catherine the Great. However, she