Mary played her first tournament in July 1885 at the Midland Counties Championship Cup at Edgbaston where she reached the final and lost to Margaret Bracewell, she did however win the women's doubles event with her sister Bertha Steedman.

In 1891 she chose not defend her Northern singles title instead granting a walkover to Ireland's Florence Stanuell.

In 1894 she played her final doubles event at the Northern Championships in Liverpool where she won that title partnering with Blanche Hillyard.

She married at High Ercall parish church[9] on 24 June 1891 the Reverend Gilbert Holles Farrer Vane, younger son of Sir Henry Morgan Vane and younger brother of the 9th Baron Barnard, a Church of England clergyman, who was Vicar of High Ercall 1889-1895 and ultimately Rector of Wem, Shropshire, from 1895 until his death on 27 June 1905.

[10][11] The couple had one daughter, Mary Louisa Vane, born in March 1892, who died aged 17 on 29 June 1909.