A. N. Hartley

Annie Norah Hartley (1902 – 1994), usually known simply as Norah Hartley, was a dog breeder and the first female board member of the Kennel Club.

Hartley was born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, the daughter of a Yorkshire solicitor and businessman who settled in the Fen country and successfully invested into bricks. She had an elder sister and a brother, the novelist L. P. Hartley. The family moved in 1908 to Peterborough. Norah studied at Cheltenham and Oxford University, graduating in literature with honours at the latter.

As an adult Norah became fond of dogs. Her first dog was a fox terrier called Ray, but afterwards she took a passionate interest in Scottish Deerhounds. Her first deerhound was called Silver Cloud and from then on she became a prolific breeder of the dogs, setting up a successful breeding kennels in Rotherwood. In 1982, she won the hound group at Crufts with her bitch Betsinda, a product of the kennels. Her book on the breed The Deerhound is considered the leading work on the subject by the Deerhound Club, of which she was an active member and served for many years on its committee.