Cora Minnett (1868 – after 1918) was an Australian author, actress, and

confidence trickster A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibili ...

. Her birth name was Minnie Warren Jones, but she later assumed the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Cora Minnett Vane, and wrote under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Pellew Hawker. She is known for her science fiction and fantasy novels.

Early life and education

Minnie Warren Jones was born in 1868, with her birthplace registered as Pittwater in the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

. Her parents were Eliza Warren (1840–1902) and James Jones, and her sister, Ruth Jones, was later an artist and/or actor.

Career

Jones left school at 19, and in 1888 started her career as a stage actress called Cora Minnett Vane. She married to Adolphus J. Braggett in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1892, but left him a few years later, returning to the stage as Cora Minnett. Her agent, subsequently manager, was Herbert Cowell, who said he was an actor who was born in New Zealand. They met in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1907, the year she divorced Braggett in New South Wales. She moved to London in 1910, where she lived at 117 St. George's Square. She registered herself in the telephone book as a journalist and author, and began writing novels under the names Cora Minnett and Pellew Harker. She also wrote and articles for ''

Answers Answer commonly refers to a response to a question. Answer may also refer to: Music * Answer, an element of a fugue Albums * ''Answer'' (Angela Aki album), 2009 * ''Answer'' (Supercar album), 2004 * ''Answers'' (album), 1994 * '' The Answers ...

'', the ''

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'', and the ''Ladies' Home Companion''. She also advertised her services as a

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to ...

. Her 1911 science fiction novel, ''The Day After To-Morrow'' is set in America, which has become a monarchy, in 1975. In this world, women enjoy equality with men, and it is regarded as an example of early feminist utopian science fiction. It is regarded as belonging to the sub-genre of "Pax Aeronautica". ''The Girdle of Kaf'' (1912) is a verse fantasy about the

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

. Minnett published a story and poem titled "The Failure" on 16 April 1914 in the ''

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''.

Financial trickery

Minnett appears to have engaged in conning victims in England by selling them non-existent or wrongly described plots of land in Australia, setting up an office in The Strand. She travelled to Australia and opened an account at the

Commercial Bank of Australia The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited (CBA) was an Australian and New Zealand retail bank which operated from 1866 until it merged with the Bank of New South Wales, which was established in 1817, to form the Westpac Banking Corporation in ...

in Sydney in the name of Pellen Hawker, later transferring the account to their London office. She also travelled to Canada to view land prospects there. Various investors parted with their money, including a Mr. White who subsequently sued her for the return of his £373. Walter Robson, a cashier at the Commercial Bank of Australia, loaned her total of £2700, anticipating repayment with profits from her company in 1914. However, Robson stole the money from the bank to pay her. Minnett and Herbert Cowell, who pretended to be siblings, shuffled the money to various accounts, but to no avail. In 1914 she was put on trial in London for theft of £2700, which Robson was alleged to have wrongfully delivered to her from the

. During the trial, it emerged that Minnett had told the bank manager that she had spent £3000 of money received from Robson to entertain

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

s, intending to make use of the movement to recruit more emigrant to Australia, as part of her large settlement scheme. She also intended to get her "brother" (Cowell) into the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. Robson was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Minnett's lawyers said that she did not know that the money she got from Robson was stolen, believing it to be a loan. However, she and Cowell (who had also gone under the name Herbert Hawker) were sued for the return of the stolen money. The judge found that she and Cowell were liable to return the money to the bank, as they had tried to conceal its existence, and must have known that a bank cashier would not typically have access to such large amounts of money. Minnett appealed against the verdict in May 1914.

Later life

Minnett was living in England in 1918, but no further records of her existence have been recorded.

Works

As Cora Minnett

* ''The Haunted Selection and other verses''. Melbourne, Victoria, McCarron, Bird & Co., c.1900. * ''The Day After To-morrow''. London, F. V. White & Co., 1911. * ''Lucky'', with Pellew Hawker, illus. A. MacNeill-Barbour. London, F. V. White & Co., 1911. * ''The Model Millionaire''. London, W. J. Ham-Smith, 1911. * ''Fortune-Telling by Numbers''. London, C. Arthur Pearson, 1912. * ''The Girdle of Kaf'' (verse). London, W. J. Ham-Smith, 1912.

As Pellew Hawker

* ''God Disposes''. London, Stanley Paul & Co., 1911. * ''Lucky'', with Cora Minnett.