May Crommelin (1850–1930)

May Crommelin was born Maria Henrietta de la Cherois Crommelin at Carrowdore Castle in County Down, Northern Ireland, to a family of impoverished gentry of French Huguenot descent. She was educated at home by governesses and became a writer and storyteller at an early age. During her childhood, political unrest caused the family to move to England. After the death of her father in 1885, she earned a living by writing, and was allowed to live independently in London. She also travelled widely, going to Europe, the West Indies, North Africa, the Middle East, and South America, a trip she described in Over the Andes From the Argentine to Chili and Peru (1896). Beginning with Queenie in 1874, she published 42 novels, which were often based on her travels. She also contributed travel pieces and short stories to magazines like The Idler. Her younger sister Caroline Crommelin also became a writer. The astronomer Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin was a cousin.