Marian Favel Clair Stockfeld was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 1 February 1936.
Eldridge graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1957 with a BA and then taught high school English and History in Traralgon and in Canberra.
[1] She was a member of the "Canberra Seven" or "Canberra Seven Writers" along with Marion Halligan, Dorothy Johnston, Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar and Dorothy Horsfield, who met to critique and encourage each other's writing.
[6] Her anthology, The Woman at the Window, was highly commended in the 1990 Barbara Ramsden Award, while The Wild Sweet Flowers won the NSW International Year of the Family Award in 1994.
[7] Eldridge Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Garran was named in her honour.