Frances Brooke (1724–1789)

Frances Brooke, née Moore, was born in Lincolnshire, the daughter of a clergyman, and was educated at home. She moved to London in the 1740s to follow a writing career, and had become a prominent figure in literary circles by the time she married the Rev. Dr. John Brooke, another clergyman, in 1755. Under the pseudonym of "Mary Singleton, Spinster," she edited her own weekly periodical, Old Maid. Mrs. Brooke spent five years with her husband in Quebec, Canada when he was stationed there as an army chaplain. She was the author of the first novel written in Canada, The History of Emily Montague (1769). She also wrote the immensely popular musical play Rosina (1783), and a translation of the Abbé Milot's French History of England (1771). In 1985, Frances Moore Brooke was honoured by having a crater named after her on the surface of the planet Venus. The International Astronomical Union and Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN), officially adopted a crater which is now attributed to the English-Canadian Novelist. Crater BROOKE is located at 48.4 degrees North Latitude, and 296.6 degrees West Longitude. The Venusian crater is located Northeast of GUINEVERE Planitia, and has a diameter of approximately 22.9 Kilometers.