Mary Anne Barker, Lady Barker (29 January 1831 – 6 March 1911), later Mary Anne Broome, Lady Broome, was an English author. She wrote mainly about life in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Biography

Grave of Frederick Broome in Highgate Cemetery

Born Mary Anne Stewart in Spanish Town,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, she was the eldest daughter of Walter Steward, Island Secretary of

. She was educated in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and in 1852 married Captain

George Robert Barker Brigadier-General Sir George Robert Barker KCB (9 February 1817''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975'' – 27 July 1861) was a British soldier. Born in London, he was the youngest son of John Barker, a former deputy-storekeepe ...

of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, with whom she had two children. When Barker was knighted for his leadership at the Siege of Lucknow, Mary Anne became "Lady Barker". Eight months later Barker died. On 21 June 1865, Mary Anne Barker married

Frederick Napier Broome Sir Frederick Napier Broome (18 November 1842 – 26 November 1896) was a colonial administrator in the British Empire, serving in Natal, Mauritius, Western Australia, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The Western Australian towns of Broom ...

. The couple then sailed for

, leaving her two children in England. The couple's first child was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in February 1866, but died in May. By this time, they had moved to the

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

''Steventon'', which Broome had partnered with H. P. Hill to buy. They remained there for three years; they lost more than half their sheep in the winter of 1867, and in response Broome sold out and the couple returned to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. Both Mary Anne and her husband then became journalists. Still calling herself "Lady Barker", Mary Anne Broome became a correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' and published two books of verse: ''Poems from New Zealand'' (1868) and ''The Stranger from Seriphos'' (1869). In 1870, she published ''Station Life in New Zealand'', a collection of her letters home. The book was successful, going through several editions and being translated into French and German. Over the next eight years, Lady Barker wrote ten more books, includin
''A Christmas Cake in Four Quarters''
(1871), a sequel to ''Station Life'' entitled ''Station Amusements in New Zealand'' (1873), and ''First Lessons in the Principles of Cooking'' (1874). This last title led to her being appointed Lady Superintendent of the National Training School of Cooking in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

. When Frederick Broome was appointed Colonial Secretary of Natal in 1875, Lady Barker accompanied him there. Broome's subsequent colonial appointments had him travelling to

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

, and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. Drawing on these experiences, Lady Barker published ''A Year's Housekeeping in South Africa'' (1877) and ''Letters to Guy'' (1885). Frederick Broome was knighted on 3 July 1884, and thereafter Mary Anne called herself "Lady Broome". She published the last of her 22 books, ''Colonial Memories'' under this name. After Sir Frederick Broome's death in 1896, Lady Broome returned to

, dying there on 6 March 1911. She is buried with her husband Frederick on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Works

*''Station Life in New Zealand'' (Whitcomb and Tombs, 1870, reprinted 1950)Jarndyce Catalogue CCXLIX, Travellers. Spring 2021. . *''Station Amusements in New Zealand'' (1873) *''A Year's Housekeeping in South Africa'' (Macmillan, 1877) *''The Bedroom and Boudoir'' (1878)

References

* * * * *
Lady Barker (as writer) on Canterbury Library websiteLady Barker (as pioneer) on Canterbury Library website

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Mary Anne 1831 births 1911 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Jamaican non-fiction writers Jamaican women writers Australian diarists British writers Women diarists 19th-century New Zealand writers 19th-century New Zealand women writers

Biography

Works

References

Further reading

External links