Ada Barnett was a British novelist and social activist whose literary career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Tooting in 1864, she was one of nine children of Edward Barnett, a gun manufacturer, and Jaquetta Wright Sanders. She spent much of her early life at her family's estate, Kenton Court, located in Sunbury-on-Thames. Although she never married, she wore a wedding ring throughout her adult life to commemorate her deceased fiancé.\n\nBarnett's writing career was divided into two distinct periods. During the 1890s, she published four novels under the pseudonym G. Cardella. Following a hiatus, she resumed publishing in the 1920s, this time using her birth name. Her most notable work from this later period is The Joyous Adventurer, a fantasy novel that follows a mystical being named Copper Top who experiences human life before returning to a higher spiritual plane.\n\nIn addition to her writing, Barnett was a dedicated advocate for animal welfare, actively campaigning as an anti-vivisectionist. During the First World War, she contributed to the war effort by serving as the commandant of the Kingswood Auxiliary Hospital and the Rust Hall Auxiliary Hospital. For her administrative and humanitarian services, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1919. Barnett passed away in Sunbury-on-Thames on April 11, 1953.
