Frances Mary Peard (16 May 1835 – 5 October 1923) was an English author and traveller who wrote over 40 works of fiction for children or adults between 1867 and 1909. Most were domestic novels or short-story volumes, often historical in nature and set abroad.Frances Mary Peard – The Orlando Project: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
–

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

Background

Born in

Exminster Exminster is a village west of the Exeter Canal, Exeter ship canal and River Exe in Devon, England, south of Exeter, with a population of 4,379 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Exminster is an ancient village associated with a A ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, the daughter of Commander George Shuldham Peard (1793–1837), a naval officer who went to the Arctic regions in search of Sir

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Northern Canada, Canadia ...

, and Frances Cooke (née Ellicombe, 1805–1895), she was one of five siblings, of whom two died young. Her grandfather was Shuldham Peard and her uncle was

John Whitehead Peard John Whitehead Peard (1811–1880) was a British soldier, renowned as 'Garibaldi's Englishman'. He was the second son of Vice-Admiral Shuldham Peard. At one point of his life he lived in Penquite, a manor house in rural Cornwall, near Golant o ...

. Her older brother George Shuldham Peard (1829–1918) was a veteran of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

and likewise an author. With so many distinguished soldiers and sailors in her family it is not surprising that military themes and battles frequently appear in her stories. It appears that she was widely travelled, perhaps venturing as far as India, but in later life she lived in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

, with her mother.John Sutherland, ''The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction'', Routledge (Second edition, 2009), p. 501.
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Fiction

Frances Peard wrote children's books for boys and girls and fiction for adults, all drawing on her travels abroad, especially in France and India. Her fiction for adults includes ''Unawares'' (1870); ''The Rose-Garden'' (1872); ''Thorpe Regis'' (1874); ''Cartouche'' (1878); ''Schloss and Town'' (1882); ''The Asheldon School-Room'' (1883); ''Prentice Hugh'' (1887); ''The Blue Dragon''; ''The Interloper''; ''The Abbot's Bridge''; ''Donna Teresa'' (1899) and ''Number One and Number Two'' (1900). Her novel ''The Ring from Jaipur'' (1904) is rather more sober than its title, which suggests jewels and Far Eastern promise. She also wrote for the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a United Kingdom, UK-based Christians, Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christians, Christian faith in the Un ...

(SPCK) and was a friend of

Christabel Rose Coleridge Christabel Rose Coleridge (25 May 1843 – 14 November 1921) was an English novelist and an editor of girls' magazines, sometimes in collaboration with the novelist Charlotte Mary Yonge. Her views on the role of women in society were conservati ...

Charlotte Mary Yonge Charlotte Mary Yonge (11 August 1823 – 24 March 1901) was an English novelist, who wrote in the service of the church. Her abundant books helped to spread the influence of the Oxford Movement and showed her keen interest in matters of public h ...

and

Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (; 25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secr ...

, and in later life in

of fellow novelist Anna Harriett Drury.

Death

Peard died unmarried in

in 1923. She left her estate of £15,276 0s 4d to her sister Helen Charlotte Peard. She is buried with her parents in the Church of St Martin of Tours,

, Devon.Peard Family Monument - Maritime Memorials database
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External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peard, Frances Mary 1835 births 1923 deaths Victorian novelists Victorian women writers 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists English women novelists 19th-century English women writers English children's writers 19th-century English short story writers English women short story writers