View source for F. M. Mayor

{{Short description|English writer (1872-1932)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
'''Flora Macdonald Mayor''' (20 October 1872, Kingston Hill, [[Surrey]] – 28 January 1932, Hampstead, London), was an English novelist and short story writer, who published under the name '''F. M. Mayor'''.
==Life and work==
Flora MacDonald Mayor was born on 20 October 1872, at Kingston Hill, Surrey. Her father, [[Joseph Bickersteth Mayor]] (1828–1916), was an [[Anglican]] clergyman and professor of classics and then of moral philosophy at [[King's College London]]. [[John E. B. Mayor]] was her uncle.<ref name="cambridge">{{acad|id= MR844JE |name= Mayor, John Eyton Bickersteth}}</ref> Her mother, Alexandrina Jessie Grote (1830–1927),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/?q%5B%5D=%22CV%2FPers%2FMayor%2C+Alexandrina+Jessie+%281830-1927%29+wife+of+Joseph+Bickersteth+Mayor%22&field%5B%5D=four_part_id&reset=true|title=ArchiveSearch &#124; ArchiveSearch|website=archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> was niece of the [[utilitarian]] [[George Grote]] as well as the [[Anglican]] clergyman and Cambridge moral philosophy professor [[John Grote]]. Flora had two older brothers – Robert J. G. Mayor (1869–1947) and Henry B. Mayor (1870–1948) – and a twin sister, Alice M. Mayor (1872–1961). Flora was educated at [[Surbiton High School]] and read history at [[Newnham College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRYhAAAAMAAJ&q=surbiton+high+school|title=Local Heroines: A Women's History Gazetteer of England, Scotland and Wales|first=Jane|last=Legget|date=2 March 1988|publisher=Pandora|isbn=9780863580376|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Afterwards she became an actress. She later turned to writing. Her first book was a collection of short stories, ''Mrs Hammond's Children'', published in 1901 under the pseudonym Mary Strafford.
In 1903 she became engaged to a young architect, Ernest Shepherd, who died in India of [[typhoid]] before Mayor was able to travel out to join him. She never married, and lived with her twin sister Alice MacDonald Mayor (1872–1961).
In 1913 her short novel, ''The Third Miss Symons'', was published, with a preface by [[John Masefield]].
Her best-known novel is ''The Rector's Daughter'' (1924). (In October 2009 this was described in the BBC's 'Open Book' programme as one of the best 'neglected classics'.)
She also wrote ghost stories, which were much admired by [[M.R. James]].
She died on 28 January 1932 in Hampstead, London. Her correspondence and some literary papers are held at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]].
==Selected works==
*''Mrs Hammond's Children'' (1901)
*''The Third Miss Symons'' (1913)
*''The Rector's Daughter'' (1924) (reprinted by [[Persephone Books]] in 2021)
*''The Squire's Daughter'' (1929)
*''The Room Opposite and Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' (1935) (reprinted by [[Solar Press]] in 2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Room Opposite & Other Tales by F.M. Mayor |url=https://solarpressbooks.com/products/the-room-opposite-other-stories-flora-m-mayor |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=Solar Press |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*S. Oldfield, ''Spinsters of this parish: the life and times of F.M. Mayor and Mary Sheepshanks'' (1984)
==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=32438| name=Flora Macdonald Mayor}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Flora Macdonald Mayor}}
* {{OL author|OL961532A}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1558}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayor, F.M.}}
[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:British short story writers]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:20th-century English short story writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Surbiton High School]]
[[Category:Bickersteth family]]
[[Category:Writers from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames]]