Mary FrereMary Eliza Isabella Frere (nicknamed May) was an English author who wrote about India. Frere released Old Deccan Days, the first English-language field-collected book of Indian storytales, in 1868. On August 11, 1845, Frere was born at the rectory ofBitton in Gloucestershire, England. She was the eldest of five children (the others were Catherine, Georgina, Eliza, and Bartle) of Henry Bartle Frere and Catherine (died 1899), the daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet. Mary's father had worked in Bombay's colonial administration since 1834, and he was appointed Governor of Bombay in 1862. The family lived in Wimbledon's Parish of St Mary, where Mary was educated privately. Frere wrote several poems as well as a drama. Old Deccan Days; or, Hindoo Fairy Legends, Current in Southern India was her most popular work. Collected from Oral Tradition, illustrated by her sister Catherine Frances Frere, was published in 1868. According to Frere's preface, she began collecting Indian mythology while traveling with her father on long journeys. Anna Liberata de Souza, a local ayah, was her only female friend. She was a Christian descendant of the Mahratta's Lingaet caste. Read More Read Less