Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Evelyn Beatrice Hall, who wrote under the pseudonym

S.G. Tallentyre

, was an English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire, The Life of Voltaire and a second volume The Friends of Voltaire, which she completed in 1906.

Hall created the phrase: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," (which is often misattributed to Voltaire himself), as an illustration of Voltaire's beliefs in The Friends of Voltaire. Hall's quote is often cited to describe the principle of freedom of speech.

Hall appeared to be an important influence in the life of Hugh Stowell Scott (pseudonym Henry Seton Merriman). Upon his death in 1903, Scott left £5,000 to Hall, writing that it was "in token of my gratitude for her continued assistance and literary advice, without which I should never have been able to have made a living by my pen." Adjusting for inflation, this amounts to about £419,000 in 2010, using the retail price index.