Jungle Tales: "Well, what do you think of India?"

Bithia Mary Sheppard was born in Kilgefin, County Roscommon, Ireland, the only daughter of an Anglican Church of Ireland rector.

She was educated at Rockferry, Cheshire and in Tours, France.

Her initial fame rested as a horsewoman with the Kildare Hunt.

In 1871, she married John Stokes Croker, an officer in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and later the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

In 1877, the couple moved to Madras and then Bengal. They would spend 14 years in India.

Bithia only began writing at the age of 33 and in her life wrote 42 novels and 7 volumes of short stories. Within her short story creations are much anthologized ghost, supernatural and macabre tales. Many of her novels reveal a side of Empire that is undeniably of its time and a fine example of both talent and observation.

After her husband's retirement at the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1892, the couple moved to County Wicklow, then London, and finally Folkestone, where her husband died in 1911.

Bithia Mary Croker died at 30 Dorset Square, London, on 20th October 1920.

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