Alfred Ollivant (1874–1927) was an English novelist known best for his novel Owd Bob. Ollivant also published about a dozen other novels ranging from small-scale cautionary tales to grand historical stories. Alfred Ollivant was born in Nuthurst, Sussex, in 1874 and became an author after a horse-riding injury ended his brief military career. Owd Bob, his first novel, was published in 1898. Set in rural Cumbria, in northern England, the novel concerns a suspected sheepkilling collie, Bob. Even though most of the book's dialogue is written in the Cumbrian dialect, it became popular in the United States. Ollivant published a sequel, Danny, in 1902. He was also a short story contributor to the magazines The Atlantic Monthly and the Boston Evening Transcript. Alfred Ollivant died in London on 19 January 1927. Bibliography Owd Bob - Being the story of Bob, son of Battle, the last of the grey dogs of Kenmuir (1898) Danny (1902) The Redcoat Captain: A Story of that Country (1907) The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea (1908) The Taming of John Blunt (1911) The Royal Road (1912) The Brown Mare, and other studies of England under the cloud (1916) Boy Woodburn: A story of the Sussex Downs (1917) Two Men: A romance of Sussex (1919) One Woman: Being the second part of a romance of Sussex (1921) Devil Dare (1923) "Old For-ever": an epic of beyond the Indus (1923) Boxer & Beauty: A tale of two cart-horses (1924) Tomorrow (1927) The Next Step, an essay on the missing policeman dedicated to the masses of mankind, silent and suffering (1919) External links 20th-century English novelists 1927 deaths 1874 births English male novelists 20th-century English male writers