[1] Born in Headford, County Galway, Ireland,[2] Kelly was educated privately with other members of her family.

Her first poems were translations, including one of Alphonse de Lamartine's Dying Christian.

[7][8] Mary Eva O'Doherty died at Rosalie, Brisbane on 21 May 1910[9] and was buried in Toowong Cemetery.

[10] Mary's grandson Kevin Louis Vincent O'Doherty was killed in action at Dernancourt on 5 April 1918.

[11] Her granddaughter Isabel Maud Mignon O'Doherty married actor Thomas Hunter Nesbitt on 30 April 1919 in Brompton, London.