Janet Ross

Janet Ann Ross (1842–1927) was an English historian, biographer, and Tuscan cookbook author. Early life Janet Duff Gordon was the daughter of Sir Alexander Duff-Gordon and Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her father held a number of government positions, including Commissioner of Inland Revenue and her mother wrote the classic Letters from Egypt. She had a brother, Maurice and a sister, Urania. She was the granddaughter of Sarah Austin, a famous translator, and the influential legal philosopher John Austin. She grew up in a highly cultured atmosphere among England's leading intellectual and literary figures. Her parents' friends and regular visitors to her home included: William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Thomas Macaulay, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Caroline Norton, Tom Taylor, and Thomas Carlyle.