Mary Crawford Fraser (April 8, 1851 – 1922), usually known as Mrs. Hugh Fraser, was a writer noted for her various memoirs and historical novels.

Early life

Mary Crawford was born in Italy on April 8, 1851. She was the daughter of American sculptor Thomas Crawford and Louisa Cutler Ward. She was sister to novelist Francis Marion Crawford and the niece of Julia Ward Howe (the American abolitionist, social activist, and poet most famous as the author of " The Battle Hymn of the Republic"). After her father's death in 1857, her mother remarried to Luther Terry, with whom she had Mary's half-sister, Margaret Ward Terry, who later became the wife of

Winthrop Astor Chanler Winthrop Astor Chanler (October 14, 1863 – August 24, 1926) was an American sportsman and soldier who fought in the Spanish–American War and World War I. Chanler, a descendant of many prominent American families including the Dudley–Winthr ...

. Her father died when she was young, and she was raised in Italy, as well as in England and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. She was educated at a girls' boarding school run by the Sewell sisters, famous for their contribution to Victorian educational literature, on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. The school received a number of pupils whose parents lived or worked in the British colonies and the sisters also took their charges on a number of foreign trips.Fraser, ''A Diplomatist's Wife in Many Lands'', 1911 She credits the school with providing her with many of the skills necessary to be successful as a diplomat's wife, including proper correspondence and social graces.

Career

As the wife of British diplomat, she followed her husband to his postings in Peking, Vienna, Rome,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, and Tokyo. In Rome in 1884, over the opposition of her mother, she converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In 1889, her husband Hugh Fraser was posted to Japan as " Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary (head of the British Legation) to Japan—a diplomatic ranking just below that of full Ambassador. before the establishment of full and equal relations between Britain and Japan which Fraser was, in fact, negotiating. A month before the signing of the final treaty, her husband died suddenly in 1894, leaving her a widow after twenty years of marriage. Still under her married name of Mrs. Hugh Fraser, she was the author of ''Palladia'' (1896), ''The Looms of Time'' (1898), ''The Stolen Emperor'' (1904), ''The Satanist'' (1912, with J. I. Stahlmann, the pseudonym of one of her sons, John Crawford Fraser)

Haining () is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is to the southwest of central Shanghai, and east of Hangzhou, the p ...

(1971)Peter Haining ''A circle of witches: an anthology of Victorian witchcraft'' 1971 p220 "THE SATANIST Mrs Hugh Fraser Mrs Hugh Fraser (1864–1925). With the death of Queen Victoria and the end of her long and restrictive reign, a great many aspects of the social climate changed : not the least of these being in the world of literature. Of course, there had been the occasional outspoken writer... To close, then, I have selected the following story of Satanism with its quite chilling scenes and vivid descriptions of a black mass. "The Satanist", along with several other stories of the same period set the standards for today's occult fiction and can be seen mirrored in the tales of August Derleth, Dennis Wheatley and, ..." considered that Fraser's "The Satanist" was one of the stories of the period which set the standards for 1960s occult fiction and is reflected in the stories of

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the ...

and

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yeats Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series ...

Personal life

In 1874, she was married to Hugh Fraser, son of Sir John Fraser and Lady Charlotte Fraser. Hugh, through his paternal grandmother, Isabel (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Skinner) Fraser, was a descendant of General Cortlandt Skinner and Stephanus Van Cortlandt. Together, they were the parents of two sons: * John Fraser (1875–1931) * Hugh Crawford Fraser (1876–1915), who became a

Second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

with the 3rd Battalion, the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

in 1897. Mary's husband died in Tokyo in 1894. Mary died twenty-eight years later in 1922.

Publications

* ''Palladia'' (1896) * ''The Looms of Time'' (1898) * ''A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan - Letters from Home to Home, Vol I - II'' (1899) * ''The custom of the country Tales of New Japan'' (1899) * ''The Splendid Porsena'' (1899) * ''A little grey Sheep'' (1901) * ''Marna's Mutiny'' (1901) * ''The Stolen Emperor'' (1903) * ''Letters from Japan : a record of modern life in the Island empire'' (1904) * ''The Slaking of the sword ; tales of the Far East'' (1904) * ''A maid of Japan''(1905) * ''The Heart of a Geisha'' (1908) * ''The Golden Rose'' (1912) * ''The Queen's Peril'' (1912) * ''Italian Yesterdays, vol. 1 and vol. 2'' (1913) * ''The Honor of the House'' (1913) * ''Seven years on the Pacific slope'' (1914) * ''More Italian Yesterdays'' (1915) * ''Her Italian Marriage'' (1915)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Mary Crawford 1851 births 1922 deaths 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists American women novelists Converts to Roman Catholicism