Bithia Mary (or May) Croker (née Sheppard, c. 1848 or 1849 – 20 October 1920) was an Irish novelist, most of whose work concerns life and society in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Her 1917 novel ''The Road to Mandalay'', set in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, was the uncredited basis for a 1926 American silent

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, of which only excerpts survive. She was also a notable writer of ghost stories.''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 248. Rosemary Cargill Raza: "Croker, Bithia Mary (c. 1848–1920)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
(Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) Retrieved 30 October 2015. Pay-walled.

Life

Bithia was born in Kilgefin,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

, Ireland, the only daughter of Rev. William Sheppard (died 1856), the Anglican

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

rector of Kilgefin, County Roscommon, who was also a writer and controversialist. She was educated at Rockferry,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

and in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, France. She became famous as a horsewoman with the Kildare Hunt. In 1871, she married John Stokes Croker (1844–1911), an officer in the

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Mar ...

and later the

Royal Munster Fusiliers The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company, East India Company's Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment ...

. In 1877, Bithia followed her husband to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and then to

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. She lived in India for 14 years, spending some time in the

hill station A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia (particularly in India), but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

now in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, where she wrote many of her works, having begun to do so as a distraction during the hot season. After her husband's retirement with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1892, the couple moved to

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

, then to London, and finally to

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, where her husband died in 1911. She had one daughter, Eileen (born 1872), who was also educated at Rockferry. Bithia remained immensely interested in reading, travel and theatre. She died at 30

Dorset Square Dorset Square is a garden square in Marylebone, London. All buildings fronting it are terraced houses and listed, in the mainstream (initial) category. It takes up the site of Lord's (MCC's) Old Cricket Ground, which lasted 23 years until the ...

, London, on 20 October 1920 and was buried in Folkestone.

Writing

Croker's prolific literary career spanned 37 years, from 1882 when she was 33 years old, until her death in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1920. Her last novel, ''The House of Rest'', was published posthumously in 1921. She wrote 42 novels and 7 volumes of short stories. Her first novel, ''Proper Pride'' (1880), was written secretly in

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

in 1880, then read aloud to other women. The original manuscript was lost, but Croker rewrote it and had it published anonymously in the UK. Thought to be by a man, it received good reviews and had been reprinted 12 times by 1896.

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

was observed reading it in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. The book, according to a present-day account, "shows open sympathy with the male viewpoint and metes out punishing treatment to its spirited, horse-riding heroine, whose distrustful pride separates her from her devoted husband." Croker's work has been praised in general for "a sensitive ear for speech, for idiom and the diction of different classes, which she reproduces in lively and entertaining dialogue." Tension often derives from threats to conventional order in society. Her second novel, ''Pretty Miss Neville'' (1883), was as popular as the first. The burden of social convention for a woman in India unwilling to marry the man for whom she has been sent out is explored in ''The Cat's Paw'' (1902), and that of a man who sinks socially in ''The Company's Servant'' (1907). Her ''Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies'' (1895) reflect a parallel interest in Indian rural life. Altogether 17 of the novels were set in India, one in

, and seven in Ireland. There are intimations of

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

in some of Croker's work. Her 1905 story "The Little Brass God", for example, involves a statue of

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...

, described as a "goddess of destruction", who brings various misfortunes on the Anglo-Indians who possess it. The curse is dispelled when the statue is stolen from them and dropped down a well. Several of Croker's novels appeared in French, German, Hungarian and Norwegian translations. A volume of her ghost stories appeared at the turn of the millennium. Her story "To Let" (c. 1896) was included in ''The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories''. One of her novels set in Ireland, ''Terence'' (1899), was adapted for the stage and ran for two years in the United States. Croker had a wide literary acquaintance in London. Her novel ''Angel'' (1901) was dedicated to another novelist whose work centres on India: Alice Perrin. The author and academic

Douglas Sladen Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen (5 February 1856, London-12 February 1947, Hove) was an English author and academic. Life Educated at Temple Grove School, East Sheen, Cheltenham College, and Trinity College, Oxford, in 1879 Sladen migrated to Aus ...

went so far as to call her, with her "valued friends" Perrin and

Flora Annie Steel Flora Annie Steel (2 April 1847 – 12 April 1929) was a writer who lived in British India for 22 years. She was noted especially for books set in the Indian sub-continent or connected with it. Her novel ''On the Face of the Waters'' (1896) desc ...

, "three who have long divided the Indian Empire with

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

as a realm of fiction. Each in her own department is supreme."

Bibliography

Novels

*''Proper Pride: A Novel'' (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1882) *''Pretty Miss Neville'' (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1883) *''Some One Else'' (London: Sampson Low, 1885) *''A Bird of Passage'' (London: Sampson Low, 1886) *''Diana Barrington: A Romance of Central India'' (London: Ward and Downey, 1888) *''Two Masters: A Novel'' (London: F V White, 1890) *''Interference: A Novel'' (London: F V White, 1891) *''A Family Likeness: A Sketch in the Himalayas'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1892) *''A Third Person: A Novel'' (London: F V White, 1893) *''Mr Jervis'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1894) *''Married or Single?'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1895) *''The Real Lady Hilda: A Sketch'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1896) *''Beyond the Pale'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1897) *''Miss Balmaine's Past'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1898) *''Peggy of the Bartons'' (London: Methuen, 1898) *''Infatuation'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1899) *''Terence'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1899) *''Angel: A Sketch in Indian Ink'' (London: Methuen, 1901) *''The Cat's Paw'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1902) *''Johanna'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1903) *''The Happy Valley, etc.'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1904) *''Her Own People'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1905) *''A Nine Day's Wonder'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1905) *''The Youngest Miss Mowbray'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1906) *''The Company's Servant: A Romance of Southern India'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1907) *''The Spanish Necklace'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1907) *''Katherine the Arrogant'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1909) *''Babes in the Wood'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1910) *''Fame'' (London: Mills and Boon, 1910) Jarndyce Booksellers' catalogue ''Women Writers 1795–1927 Part I: A–F'' (London, Summer 2017). *''A Rolling Stone'' (London: F. V. White & Co., 1911) *''The Serpent's Tooth'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1912) *''In Old Madras'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1913) *''Lismoyle'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1914 *''Quicksands'' (London: Cassell and Company, 1915) *''Given in Marriage'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1916) *''The Road to Mandalay. A Tale of Burma'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1917) *''A Rash Experiment'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1917) *''Bridget'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1918) *''The Pagoda Tree'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1919) *''Blue China'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1919) *''The Chaperon'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1920) *''The House of Rest'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1921)

Short stories

*''To Let, etc.'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1893) *''Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies, etc.'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1895) *''In the Kingdom of Kerry and Other Stories'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1896) *''Jason and Other Stories'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1899) *''A State Secret and Other Stories'' (London: Methuen, 1901) *''The Old Cantonment and Other Stories of India and Elsewhere'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1905) *''Jungle Tales'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1913) *''Odds and Ends'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1919)

Analysis

An in-depth and detailed study of her novels, with special reference to her depiction of India has been carried out by Dr S. G. Vaidya, under the supervision of Dr B. S. Naikar, former professor and chairman, Department of Studies in English, at

Karnatak University Karnatak University is a public state university in Dharwad district of Karnataka state, India. The university is recognized by University Grants Commission (India), University Grants Commission and accredited by National Assessment and Accre ...

. A discussion of the cultural context of Croker's fiction, together with close readings of several of her novels and stories, can be found in John Wilson Foster, ''Irish Novels 1890–1940: New Bearings in Culture and Fiction'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2008). Some present-day scholars have seen in Croker's work examples of a "conjoining of gender and colonialism".Anindyo Roy: ''Civility and Empire. Literature and Culture in British India, 1822–1922''
(Routledge: Abingdon, UK, 2005), p. 90 Retrieved 31 October 2015 Roy's example is Croker's ''Angel: A Sketch in Indian Ink'' (1901).