Mary Frere

Mary Eliza Isabella Frere (11 August 1845 – 26 March 1911) was an English author of works regarding India.

[4] Nicknamed May, she was the eldest of five children of Henry Bartle Frere and his wife Catherine (died 1899) who was the daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet.

Her most popular work was Old Deccan Days; or, Hindoo Fairy Legends, Current in Southern India.

[7] The extensive background and 'Narrator's Narrative' supplied in the work is unusual for the period, placing the tales in the context of the difficult life of the teller.

[8] The book was a success; by the time of the third English edition (1881) it was printed in German, Hungarian, Danish, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati languages.

Photographic portrait of a lady, probably Mary Frere, by the royal photographers Walery of 164 Regent Street, London, made between 1888 and 1896. Cory Library.